Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of Tri-Cities. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Tri-Cities, Tennessee.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 30: From Nurse to Baker: Mitchell Falconer’s Vision for Crumb Bum Bakery and Community Hub in Kingsport
What makes Mitchell Falconer with The Crumbum Bakery a good neighbor?
What drives a nurse to leave a stable career and open a bakery that doubles as an art gallery? Join us in a warm conversation with Mitchell Falconer, the visionary behind Crumb Bum Bakery in downtown Kingsport. Discover how Mitchell and his wife turned a former art gallery into a bustling community hub that marries the love of art and the joy of baked goods. Crumb Bum offers an array of delectable treats, from pain au chocolate to cinnamon rolls, while also spotlighting the creations of 32 local and regional artists.
Mitchell opens up about the intertwined journey of entrepreneurship and parenting, sharing the joys and challenges of balancing a family with running a business. You'll hear about his aspirations for The Crumbum as a community-centric coffee shop, complete with superb Wi-Fi, unique seasonal treats like house-made pumpkin spice syrup, and a calendar full of special events. Listen as Mitchell reflects on his transition from nursing to baking, and the pivotal role community support plays for small businesses. Don’t miss out on this heartening episode that truly celebrates the spirit of local enterprise in Kingsport.
To learn more about The Crumbum Bakery go to:
https://thecrumbum.square.site/
The Crumbum Bakery
(423) 245-2800
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. If you're like me and love baked goods, artesian baked goods, appreciate art and love coffee, Then you're in for a real treat today. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your neighbor, Mr Mitchell Falconer of the Crumb Bum Bakery. Welcome, Mitchell.
Speaker 3:Hey, how's it going? Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be on here today.
Speaker 2:Very good, well, we are thrilled to have you with us. Thank you for joining. Very good, well, we are thrilled to have you with us. Thank you for joining. I'm sure that our listeners, if they're like me and appreciates all that I just mentioned, are very excited to learn about you and the Crumbum.
Speaker 3:So, if you don't mind, just tell us a little bit about your business. So the Crumbum is a bakery, coffee shop, art gallery located in downtown Kingsport and I think it just kind of offers, you know, a little bit different environment and kind of different selection than a lot of the other bakeries and stuff in our area offer. You know, we, we do a lot more like patisserie type stuff, so you're going to find a lot more. You know we, we do a lot more like patisserie type stuff, so you're going to find a lot more, you know, penne au chocolat, almond croissants, danishes and stuff like that In addition to you know you can't have a bakery without a good slice of cake, chocolate chip cookie, you know, or a cinnamon roll. We've got all that stuff too.
Speaker 3:But I think this stuff that makes us stand out a little bit more is the, is the other patisserie type stuff. And then we, we also have a full service coffee bar with all of our coffee is locally roasted by Doe River Roasters. They're really awesome, really awesome little bean supplier and you know they just make a really great product. And then, as far as our art gallery goes, I think right now we host 32 different local and regional artists, um, and so it's just uh, just another thing that I think makes our uh, you know, our environment really kind of uh cool to just see a cool display of a bunch of talented artists. So come check it out sometime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow. Well, number one. You're making me hungry describing all that stuff, but it sounds amazing to me. It's a unique, unique business. Actually, you came highly recommended for multiple people to be a guest on our show, so we're glad to have you. How did you get into the bakery business? And art gallery business.
Speaker 3:So the simpler. I'll answer kind of the simpler part of it first is the art, how we kind of lean more into opening a business. We wanted to do it in downtown Kingsport, just because me and my wife are both from Kingsport, we love Kingsport, and it's just where we wanted to put our business. So we both had been talking and, um, we both like envisioned where the building that our business was going to be in, as, uh, cindy sadi's art gallery, like that spot, and we both thought that it was ab, you know, just absolutely gorgeous. And I don't know when we were just imagining that's where we our mind put it, both of us, you know, independently. And so it was when we were just imagining that's where we our mind put it, both of us, you know, independently. And so it was actually when we were looking to purchase a building downtown to put the bakery in. We had found out we'd looked at a couple spots and weren't really happy about it. But we found out that Cindy was looking to sell in the coming months, years or something, and we were like you know what, let's hold off, let's wait. And literally the day after we had that conversation, you know, hold off and wait because we wanted to, you know, have our chance to get that spot, since that was kind of our dream spot.
Speaker 3:And the day after we had that conversation, cindy herself actually called because she's a family friend and I guess my mom had mentioned to her that we were looking for a spot. And she called us and said hey, I'm looking to sell. It's not even on the market yet. Are you interested in my business? And we absolutely were thrilled, jumped on it immediately. But one thing she's, you know, she'd spent years building this art gallery and so she would. So she even asked, even asked us. She was like would you be interested in maintaining the gallery aspect? And I was like, absolutely, I think that that's you know the way I kind of looked at it, you know, not to not to sound too cynical, but you know, I just thought it was kind of funny. You know, what I tell people is that way a, I don't have to pay for decorating the walls myself and b, I make a little money off of it. So you know there, you go.
Speaker 3:It is really nice to get to support some local artists too. So that was so. We really just took over the gallery aspect from her, and I loved the gallery before. It was one of my favorite shops downtown, so that was really nice too. That's kind of how we got into the gallery, but more so how I got into the bakery section of everything was I used to be a nurse before and I was actually in anesthesia school and honestly I just I didn't like it and I didn't want to continue.
Speaker 3:Me and my wife, long story short had a conversation at one point when I was I was about two and a half years into a three year doctorate program and I was just talking to my wife and I was like, oh God, how, how long do I have to do this for? And she was like, well, ideally until you retire. And I was like, ah, don't know about that. So I ended up actually leaving the program and I was trying to kind of figure out what my next move was. What you know, was I going to go back to school? Was I going to go back into nursing, like what, what I was going to do? And in that, in that time period, I'd always I've always had like a big passion for cooking and baking and everything. And in that time period I, you know, just to kind of give myself something to do. So I wasn't just sitting around all day, cause I took a, I took like two months off to really kind of like figure out what I was doing. I was baking stuff every day and I baked so much stuff that I was sending it to my um, to my wife's office. She works at, uh, the Ballot Oncology Center.
Speaker 3:And eventually, you know kind of the time period I'd given myself to kind of make some decisions ran out and I started doing travel, nursing. It was kind of the height of COVID and the contracts were really good. So I went and did that and when I left to go do that, a bunch of the doctors in her office were like what happened to the breakfast catering we were getting? We were getting all these danishes and croissants and stuff. And my wife is kind of like well, that wasn't catering, that was just the extra stuff my husband was making. And they said, you know, a couple of doctors were like, well, you know, we'd like pay him every week if he kept doing that. We really enjoyed getting all those treats every day, and it kind of clicked in my head. I was like, wait, you pay me to do the thing I already like doing. And that was what I think kicked off the like what if I? What if? Instead of like trying to like figure out like I don't know what the next thing to do is, it was like what if I just pursued that Like what if I pursued that passion that I already had? So that kind of kicked it off.
Speaker 3:And after that, um, me and my wife went, um, we started doing like pop-up shops and, uh, started having a stall at the farmer's market. Um, and after a while we actually, I actually, um, we went to Paris for a little while, um, to actually study like patisserie and bakery management and stuff. But that did end up getting cut short. We were right at the our time in Paris. We were right at the start of I think it was the Omicron variant of COVID, and while we were in Paris we actually got a message from the embassy being like hey, we're going to close the borders down again. So you need to make a choice to either be ready to stay in Paris for an undetermined period of time or come home in a couple of days.
Speaker 3:So we were only there for probably half the time we were supposed to be, but I still got. It was nice to get some actual instruction and stuff. But anyway, we came home with a little more knowledge under our belts. And that's when the whole stuff with trying to find like an actual brick and mortar and that story with Cindy happened. And I was still traveling during that time period and sure enough, you know, a couple of years after we kind of conceptualized the idea of maybe this is what we want to pursue. We had we were opening our brick and mortar store and it was just really exciting and yeah. So that's kind of the short story for how it, how it really all came together.
Speaker 2:So it all grew out of you being a nice husband. You know to provide her co-workers with croissants and danishes. Wow, that's a great story, man.
Speaker 3:Outside of work. What do you do for fun? Probably play too many video games, but when the weather's nice out I really like to just go on hikes or ride a bike. I read a lot of books and just kind of you know anymore. I've got, you know, a 20-ish month old son, and most of my free time these days is just doing whatever I can do with him. So lately my favorite activities seem to involve playing in the sprinkler and coloring books. So there you go.
Speaker 3:But no outside of you know that's mostly what I do is just hang out with an 18, 20 month old. You know.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, though, dude it's I have.
Speaker 3:I thought I was going to enjoy being a dad and it's even more fun than I thought it was going to be it's it's the most rewarding, coolest thing I've ever done. I love that, so much.
Speaker 2:Same here, same here. Um well, what's one thing, mitchell, that, if you one thing that you would like people to remember about the Chromebook, what would that be?
Speaker 3:One thing to remember. I think I think it's just that I, you know, want it to just be a cool community space. I think it's just that I, you know, want it to just be a cool community space. I think it's something that, like, anybody is welcome to come in and hang out, you know, even if you're not grabbing a coffee, I think it's just a nice place to meet people, spend some time in. You know, that's really what I wanted to make was just another cool place for people in Kingsport to get to spend time. And you know, I think that, like, downtown Kingsport is a place with a ton of potential and I think it really is on the up and up, especially the Brickyard Park development. And you know, I was just talking with Robin Cleary today and I literally said you know, you can stand on any street corner and half those buildings in downtown Kingsport have got a work crew in them right now working on stuff. So you know, I think it's just if I guess this is more a pitch for downtown Kingsport than my specific, than my specific, like business, but you know, I think just it's a, it's a cool place to be. I think it's a great place to meet people.
Speaker 3:I think we've got unique items and you know that you can't get elsewhere, and I think you know I've had a couple of people from like Europe and from, you know, france and stuff, even tell me that this is some of their favorite, like croissants and stuff that we've had. You know, but I think when, when I had, when, when I had some of that, I always really like, ah man, we're really nailing it If, uh, if, I'm getting the approval from people from France. So I think you know, absolutely good, a good place to hang out, a good place to get a coffee, a good place to see some beautiful art and eat some delicious treats. So you know, not much else to say.
Speaker 2:And I would. I would imagine it would be a great place to. You know, I like to go to coffee shops and do work, like you know this, and so I imagine you have pretty good wifi as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, we do. We actually just put in a new Wi-Fi standard to improve it. Awesome, we do now Very good Wi-Fi Okay awesome, very good.
Speaker 2:Well, how can our listeners learn more about the Crumbum?
Speaker 3:If you want to follow us at the Crumbum on Instagram or follow us on our Facebook, we post some silly stuff on a TikTok every now and again, so you know we've got a couple of places to check us out or even just swing. You can find all the links to that on our website. If you just Google the Crumbum, we're like the first thing that pops up. So just look at it. We we try and do special. You know we try and do special events like a couple of times a month, so we'll usually keep you informed on that.
Speaker 3:Like this Thursday we're doing like the local shop and hop thing, so we'll and we'll have like live music. We're launching our fall menu, so we're going to have some new coffee and some new treats. We do rotate our menu every. You know we have all the staples that stay, but we rotate some seasonal stuff every couple months, so there's always something fresh and cool to try out. But yeah, just follow us on any of our socials or just check us out on our website and we always have that stuff going on.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's that time of year for pumpkin spice right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and we actually speaking of pumpkin spice. We just finished testing. We have a house-made pumpkin spice syrup that I'm very pleased with, so come check it out. It is delicious.
Speaker 2:Well, I will absolutely do that. Count on it. I will come visit. I'm in Kingsport pretty frequently, so I will definitely check it out.
Speaker 1:Perfect, All right Well.
Speaker 2:Mitchell, you don't know how much I appreciate you being on the show, and I'm sure that our listeners do too, and we wish you and the crumb bum and your wife and your 20 month old all the best moving forward, Well, awesome.
Speaker 3:Hey, thank you much for having me. It's been a pleasure. I'm glad to help get the word out about you know, our nice little business downtown and yeah, but thanks again.
Speaker 2:Thanks for being with us and hopefully we'll have you back again.
Speaker 3:Sounds great, all right.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP try dash citiescom. That's GNP, try dash citiescom. Or call 4, 2, 3, 7, 1, 9, 5, 8, 7, 3. 423-719-5873.