Intro/Outro (00:04): It takes a bit of a blend of art and science to get baking just right and having extra eyes, ears, and hands can make a big difference along the way. That's where AB Maori North America comes into play. We are the team behind industrial and artisan bakers that help optimize success. We'll discuss more on this episode of the Oven light. So let's get going. Flip the switch.

Rick (00:31): Alright everybody, welcome back to the Oven light. I'm your host Rick OSHA with AB b Mario North America. Today we're doubling down on high profile guests within the US baking industry. If you recall, we recently had Aaron Ball who heads up the Green Foods Foundation on the program. Now it's time to sit down and chat with the newest executive director of the American Society of Baking A SB based in Indianapolis. So lemme tell you about our guest first, a former executive leadership faculty member at Butler Butler University in Indy. A former founder of a brand experience company. So we want to go down that path in a minute. A holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and PR at Indiana State University. Go Sycamores, Larry Bird, all that kind of good stuff. A lot of good hoops in the Hoosier State and a lot more. Let's welcome to the program Kristen Riggs. Hey Kristen.

Kristen (01:25): Hey Rick.

Rick (01:25): So good to have you here. You're live. We're doing this in St. Louis.

Kristen (01:29): We are. It's beautiful. When

Rick (01:31): Was the last time you were in the Gateway City?

Kristen (01:33): It's been a few years, but I'm just a short drive away and I was reminded driving through the heartland, just how beautiful this part of the country is and then seeing the arch coming over the mighty Mississippi. It's just incredible.

Rick (01:45): Did you make it in less than four hours and if so, I'm trying to lead the witness that you were speeding. Indie is known for speeding, right? So just check it.

Kristen (01:54): I cruise control at seven five.

Rick (01:55): Okay. Alright. You did okay. But there are some spots there though. They'll pick you off. Alright, we're going to start fast and fresh. Here we go. We have a segment called the Hot Pan Series of quick Hitting Questions. Let's start Raceway fast. Apple fritter or pecan roll from Longs Bakery in Indie. Have you been there?

Kristen (02:13): Yes, yes. Yep, yep. Tell me all about it. I have a long tradition of going to the Indianapolis 500 as a kid, so absolutely love the 500. I mean when we say it's the greatest spectacle in racing, it truly is. And I used to go back in the heyday with my parents in the eighties, seventies and eighties when there was the snake pit and it was crazy. And we lived just a few miles away from it. And actually we had quite a few racing families that lived in our neighborhood. Do

Rick (02:39): You want to throw some names?

Kristen (02:40): Sure. Greta tell's, but yeah, we lived, we had the racing families would have what they called just their May homes.

Rick (02:46): Okay.

Kristen (02:47): And so we lived,

Rick (02:49): I was thinking unserved. Fos, what do we got?

Kristen (02:51): Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got some andrettis. I went to school with some andrettis and

Rick (02:55): Just a name dropper.

Kristen (02:56): Yeah. So it was really fun. So we would always get a police escort into the track on race weekends. So that was really fun. But I do remember sometimes, depending on where we had to park or where we would end up parking, we would go by longs and so we would get a bag of the donut holes. I'm a yeast and cake are my favorites, so here I am. Yeast. You guys kind of like yeast around here. Cake. Donuts too. Yeah.

Rick (03:22): I like a good old fashioned to be honest, but

Kristen (03:24): Sour cream, old fashioned. There you go. My favorite. Yeah, with a good cup of coffee. Yeah,

Rick (03:28): Absolutely. But long's I'd never been. So Long's

Kristen (03:30): Is an icon. It's an

Rick (03:31): Institution.

Kristen (03:31): It is.

Rick (03:32): Did you ever have the apple fritter?

Kristen (03:33): I didn't. I had actually look it up on the website cause I was like, wait, I don't know this, but they do have some seasonal favorites. But if I had to go in and choose between one of those, I probably would go with the pecan roll because I just kind of really love a nutty donut

Rick (03:47): When Ab Mery goes down the road, Connor, when we do this again and we come up to Indy, we will go to Longs with you for a cup of coffee and a pecan roll.

Kristen (03:54): All right.

Rick (03:54): Alright, here we go. Hamburger bun, hot dog roll or to your tea wrap. What's your choice and what do you put in them?

Kristen (04:02): Yeah, so love them all and love them all for different things and different reasons and different things I'm eating, but hot dog roll would probably be my favorite right now. I love a good Chicago dog. And then we go to this place locally that we love where they make a, it's a Hawaiian Asian rule and they're putting sriracha and coleslaw and this just amazing. And then they put some dill pickle relish in it. That's like a little sweet and spicy. It's incredible.

Rick (04:28): It's fantastic.

Kristen (04:28): I know, right? Little

Rick (04:29): Pooling. A little heat.

Kristen (04:30): Exactly. So there's so much you can do with a hot dog. I don't know. And it's just so easy. And

Rick (04:35): Let me tout one for you. So I just had this again the other day. The Battle Hawks are a professional football team that we've had here at the UFL and I had this dish a few years ago. The folks at High Point, which is a local burger joint, has a thing called grilled cheese tacos. You talk about a mashup, so they remove the tortilla, you have a grilled cheese that's folded and they put all the taco meat and seasonings and lettuce and tomato and all that off the chart's. Good.

Kristen (05:03): That sounds amazing.

Rick (05:04): So I just wanted to share that. That is off the board, but it's really good at High point. And here we go. Last one on the food front, Chicago, Detroit, New York, or St. Louis. Not where you want to go, but what style of pizza do you like best?

Kristen (05:17): So I had to look up, I did not know what St. Louis style pizza was. I had to look it up when you sent me this list of questions and I now know I am a St. Louis pizza lover fan. It's always, yeah, so I love the cracker thin crust and did not know that it was an actual style, I just

Rick (05:34): Call it. Oh it is.

Kristen (05:35): So I just refer to the places where we go and get it at home and then I'm like, oh my gosh, I guess it is actually St. Louis style pizza.

Rick (05:41): Now if you had provel cheese though, that's the St. Louis kind of local thing. It's not provolone, it's not mozzarella. It's called Provel and it is gooey and it's creamy and it's yummy. So we'll have to, before you leave, we try a little emos or somebody their pizza. So alright, let's get into the nuts and bolts

Kristen (06:01): Question. I

Rick (06:02): Love it. Here we

Kristen (06:03): Go. Wait, wait. We're going to actually talk more serious things. Other stuff we

Rick (06:06): Pizza stuff, but I guess we just did, we just talked baked goods, so it's in there. That's a lot of baked goods. It's baked in. Alright, so we both know about a SB a little bit, but hey, somebody's new to the industry. Tell me, give me that little elevator speech about the American Society of Baking, what you do and what do you try to accomplish.

Kristen (06:24): Yeah, thank you so much. And it was great. I think we're going to talk about why I am here in St. Louis this week, but I was just sitting in a room full of people and less than five of them were familiar with a SB or had familiarity with A SB before. So I actually just got to introduce a SB to many people. So we always refer to it as we are your baker's community. So we are about empowering, raising people up, giving them tools to be successful in their baking career and wherever they are in that career, whether they're just getting started, they have aspirations, maybe they're moving from a retail operation and want to expand. They are a commercial baker. They've come into a baking facility, discovered that they love this baking and want to be able to expand their career into this field. And even those very seasoned veterans who maybe have a degree in it or have been in a bakery operation for 40 years, we are the community giving them resources, tools, training, connectivity, mentorship, all the things that you would typically think of as a professional development organization. That's where we're really focused.

Rick (07:28): Okay, so why are you here in St. Louis? You teased it.

Kristen (07:31): I know I did. You

Rick (07:32): Offered.

Kristen (07:32): So we are in this beautiful facility that you have here in this innovation center

Rick (07:37): Cortex Innovation community.

Kristen (07:39): Yeah, thank you for the exact terminology. And we are doing our first of our commercial bread production courses, which will now become a quarterly offering. We have this one here in October. We're going to be doing it again in March. And then quarterly is the plan, which is the beginning of our very exciting expansion for A SB to really bring in the hands and dough training that the industry needs so desperately.

Rick (08:04): There's a little bit of a gap since a IB huge gap,

Kristen (08:07): Right? Yeah.

Rick (08:08): And how long has a SB been around?

Kristen (08:10): So we're a hundred plus years old. So we were founded in 1924 and we were founded as the American Society of Bakery Engineers. And that was really as

Rick (08:18): I did not know

Kristen (08:18): That. Yeah, and so if you look at our URL, you'll still

Rick (08:21): EI know. I was like, what's the E?

Kristen (08:23): Yeah. So we sometimes affectionately refer to that E is we're part of the education side. We do the education and the sneaky

Rick (08:29): How you changed it.

Kristen (08:31): Yeah, thanks.

Rick (08:32): You're stuck with a letter E. What do we got? Exactly? I don't know. The education works.

Kristen (08:38): So when I came into this industry in 2023, that was what I was hearing. I was hearing the significant gap, and especially as so many industries talk about this as the retiring generation and the baby boomers exiting, we have this learning gap and this knowledge gap, and so how are we going to fill that? Then also you add to it that this industry is so rapidly changing that even if you have a four year degree in baking science or a food degree, a food technology degree, there's so much that's rapidly changing. We got to be able to help support people with emerging trends, emerging issues, and emerging technology.

Rick (09:12): Got it. It fantastic stuff. So networking is so important in your space. Why is it important to network, especially with bakers, you talk about staying on top of trends. You always have to kind of take a look at your background and continuous learning. I think you use the term that A SB is an indispensable resource. So how does that kind of play into networking to being up and ready to go?

Kristen (09:41): The indispensable resource, we really think of that as our vision. We always want to be aspiring to whatever is next and the indispensable resource of, because baking is a both art and science, and so even from a networking standpoint, there's the traditional networking that I think of, let me help you meet people. Let me make an introduction for you. Let's make a connection. Maybe I'll need that relationship at some point or there's a sales connection I might need that kind of relationship. But even networking that I'm observing. Sitting in the room today in the training, we have a subject matter expert who's leading this very technical course and we're looking at how does low salt, no salt make a difference? High salt make a difference in our bread and the exchange in the room is about the practical application, the mixing speed, the water, the saturation.

Rick (10:31): Your average person on the street doesn't know. They just want to know, does it taste good? Does it toast well? Would it be great for my burger or right? But there's a lot of science.

Kristen (10:40): There's so much science, there's so much science in that, and so the networking even comes in. People in that room are exchanging practical experiences and saying, when my bread does this or when my dough does this. And so even making comments to help one another expand our knowledge and our understanding of this art science wonderful connection that we have in the baking industry.

Rick (11:03): Fantastic. Let's talk February because we just moved past IBIE. I think it was wildly successful. More than 19,000 people. I think a hundred different countries represented in Las Vegas, but again, it only happens every three years, so you got to do it. Well now we're talking annually. You have an event that historically has taken place in cold, wintry, snowy, icy Chicago in February, and you moved to Orlando last year and now you're back to Chicago and you're going to be moving around a little bit. But tell us about A SBI believe it's February 16th to the 19th and a new location.

Kristen (11:37): That's right. Historically we're in Chicago and that was where historically people felt very convenient, centralized for many of the bakeries. As we started to come together, there was also a lot of technology that when we first started that utilizing cold water, for example, bakeries and the cool temps bakeries were using that. And so when I go back and I read our history books, that's one of the things that I love to zero in on is why did we pick Chicago in February? Which as you said, is not your typical choice of meeting destinations perhaps. But obviously February works really well in the timeframe for bakeries because we're away from so many of the other seasonal impacts to our business. So back and forth Chicago, it was a big move for us. After our 100th celebration, the task force of members came together and decided to move it out of Chicago, and that was a big risk.

Kristen (12:26): We didn't know how people would respond and react to that. Orlando was wonderful. The other thing that we have found in moving it around is it gives us a chance to reinvent every time we can tweak the best parts of our recipe. And then as we move around to different hotels and we reimagine from year to year, what do we want to change? What are some new aspects that we can add to the conference? So yes, we're back in Chicago, completely new location though. This year we moved out of the historic Hilton into the Sheraton Grand, which is on the river right there. Very centrally located in the Streeterville one block off of Michigan Avenue. I think a familiar area that people will be really excited about.

Rick (13:05): Awesome. One thing kind of coming back from IBIE, it's not every industry, the participants within it play nice. If you think about craft breweries, they tend to play nice with each other. They try to share information. And I've really seen it in baking because you've got multiple organizations that head up IBIE. So you've got a B, A, you've got bma, which is for the manufacturers. You've got the Retail Bakers Association, and then you've got a SB and you've got multiple players. But it seems like people play nice, like, hey, there's one goal here. Right?

Kristen (13:40): It was one of the things that attracted me to this industry. I loved my experience in the mutual insurance industry space, which is where I spent majority of my career.

Rick (13:47): You enjoyed insurance? I did. Can we take that, cut, that comfort that, are you kidding?

Kristen (13:52): Really? It allows Americans to take risks.

Rick (13:55): Okay. Well, okay. Now that's an

Kristen (13:57): Interesting angle. It's like I used to market insurance or something.

Rick (14:00): Yeah, limu. Oh yeah. No. Can we go down and regress? It's not, we're slow. Is she here today? We got, they certainly have had fun within the industry. I will say insurance. They've made insurance.

Kristen (14:12): Yes. They're trying to make it interesting and entertaining. Something very just like you got to pay for water and stuff like that. So yes, we do play nice. It's great. I was so impressed when I came into this industry about the collaboration. Not only do we own events together and help support each other, we actually go to each other's meetings. We refer people back and forth to one another. We are co-partner with A, B, A and r, BA for the upcoming bakers in November next month where we go up to Capitol Hill and lobby on the issues A, B, A. They put it all together. They're terrific in the advocacy space. It's that kind of collaboration that just makes our industry stronger. And so thankfully our boards and our leadership have recognized that because all of us are association leaders and we recognize the collaboration necessity for an industry to be stronger. And it allows each of our organizations to do what we do best. So for example, A BA was very generous in taking all of their online training resources and now they don't host those any longer. We host them here at a SB.

Kristen (15:14): And so we're designed to be more of a one-stop shop for training and resources in the commercial industrial baking space.

Rick (15:20): Great. Stronger together.

Kristen (15:21): Yes.

Rick (15:22): We're going to move to the next topic. So hang with me as I try to riff through and I've got a little segue of where we're going to go. So there's a guy named Larry Bird. You went to school there. Did you ever meet Larry or did you go to basketball games when you college? Oh

Kristen (15:35): Yeah.

Rick (15:35): Okay. All right.

Kristen (15:36): I don't know that you can live in the Hoosier State and not go to basketball games.

Rick (15:39): I mean, the guy I

Kristen (15:40): Bit of your team isn't very good. You still go to basketball games

Rick (15:43): And I was a Sixers fan. I was a Dr. J fan. My dad was a Larry Bird fan,

Kristen (15:47): And

Rick (15:48): We used to battle Philly in Boston. So my theme here is, I'm sure he kept the coaches up at night. How are we going to guard this guy? He would tell you he's going to hit a shot and then he would hit it. So what keeps you up at night? How about that? Did you see that was a little lengthy to get there, but what is keeping you up at night is leading an organization that has a lot of stuff going on.

Kristen (16:08): So it's the unknown of what the players are going to need next. And so it's figuring out how is technology changing? How do we respond to the workforce gaps and challenges? How do we respond to using robotics? How do we respond to changing consumer demands and needs, and how do we help our members, the bakers, the people who are actually making the products, how do we help them anticipate and learn and respond to what they're going to need next? Sometimes even before they know that they need it?

Rick (16:39): Sure. That's great. I mean, hey, the use of ai, look how that is really starting to intensify. And if you don't embrace it, you're probably going to get left behind. So I'm sure there's some applications that you guys are aware of.

Kristen (16:53): Yeah, absolutely. And we're seeing it. We're seeing it in our bakeries. We're seeing it in the market leading, working to grow quickly, being efficient, taking maybe what was outdated processes or here's a great example, utilizing a AI in a area where there was quite a bit of demand for workforce. And so this bakery operation, they have bakery operations and they have distribution centers in this particular part of the country. And they were in a highly industrial manufacturing segment, and they were using technology as a means to recruit the necessary workforce because people were like, I don't know that I necessarily want to work on a bakery. But they were using ai, they were using technology, they were using all of this cutting edge technology to be able to recruit the workforce, and they had people lining up outside the door, several hundred people deep, wanting to work in those facilities because they heard that they were cutting

Rick (17:45): Edge. That's fantastic.

Kristen (17:46): So those are the kinds of things, also those issues that we are paying attention to figure out how can we share that insight among members. Like our recent workforce gap study that we did, we're getting ready to do case studies with that to share some of those insights with members so that they understand and can maybe take those ideas and implement them into their bakeries.

Rick (18:05): Fantastic. Alright, let's lighten the mood just a little bit. We'll kind of backtrack and we're going to go back to the hot pan questioning,

Kristen (18:12): But you didn't allow me to tell my story about meeting Larry Bird.

Rick (18:15): Oh, I'm sorry. Tell us more about Larry Legend.

Kristen (18:17): Yeah, I actually did. So he had a restaurant bar and hotel in Terre Haute, which is on my way back to Indianapolis. So I'm actually going to stop in Terre Haute, the home of the legend and have dinner with one of my sorority sister friends on my way back. Fantastic. Yeah. So he had a place in Terre Haute, so you would see him there

Rick (18:34): Regularly. Larry Legend, I mean something else.

Kristen (18:37): That was pretty incredible. Yeah.

Rick (18:39): Very cool. Very cool. Okay, here we go. We're back to the hot pan.

Kristen (18:42): Ready.

Rick (18:42): Any podcast you're listening to right now, or do you follow anybody or anything on Instagram

Kristen (18:48): In addition to the oven life?

Rick (18:50): Oh, now you're just pandering to the audience, but we love it.

Kristen (18:52): Yeah, actually it's interesting because I fluctuate. So yesterday in my drive I listened to a little bit of music. I listened to a sermon that my husband had shared with me, and then I was listening to a podcast on the way. So I'm really into these topics where it allows you to explore relationally differences. So I'm raising a teen tween girl, and so trying to understand. Congratulations. Thank you. So even though

Rick (19:21): 17-year-old son too, so I understand the high school dynamic junior year.

Kristen (19:26): Yeah, I think podcasts are really interesting because it allows you just to have a conversation with someone, but it's totally one way and you just get to listen and reflect. And so that's what I think podcasts are so great about.

Rick (19:36): Well, you said on the way in to the room here, you were like, I kind of enjoyed the windshield time. Oh, I And how often do you get that? Probably not

Kristen (19:44): Much. No, I don't commute and so oftentimes I'm flying and flying is a different experience for me than windshield time especially. So even Kathy Sargent, who's our third vice chair, she's with Bebo, she's coming in onto the leadership. She's here this week as well. And so we were talking about just the opportunity to have that mental reflection time. So that's where my podcasting loves are right now. But then my husband is always introducing me to different ones. He loves talk radio, he loves, I could never stand talk radio because of the am that always bugged me. So podcasts have modern day technology. Podcasts have solved that problem for me. So now I can listen to talk

Rick (20:25): Radio. Thank you. LP Creative and what KY does is our sound engineer. Alright, next one, big city, scenic country, warm sandy beach. Which path do you prefer to follow?

Kristen (20:38): I have to have 'em all. I know too.

Rick (20:40): That is a bailout answer if I've ever heard, but okay. Tell me why each of them and then come on. If you had to Olympic medal stand, you can't have all three. Well, you could but,

Kristen (20:51): Well, I know there wasn't a D all of the above, but I think the mix, I reason that I have to say I have to have 'em all is because the mix is so important to me. I like the diversity in my life. I love that about my career choice. I love that about what I get to do. I love that. Even about going in and visiting bakeries. I get to see artisan bakeries. I get to see high volume retail. I get to see commercial, 14,000 bucks an hour being made. I love the variety. So love city. I can't be too far away from a target for too long in my life. That's important. We have a lake cottage in northern Indiana that's Amish country. I love organic. I love the peacefulness. The

Rick (21:29): Farms.

Kristen (21:30): Yes. And the rolling hills. I love that. And then we just returned from the beach and it's beautiful.

Rick (21:35): Where were you?

Kristen (21:36): We were in Clearwater Beach. Yeah,

Rick (21:38): It's been voted number one in the US multiple times. It's

Kristen (21:40): Absolutely beautiful.

Rick (21:41): Right? Right in the gold,

Kristen (21:42): Sugary white sand, the sand of the ocean. There's the life, even the river, there's the life to it, the water. So yeah, I really do have to have a mix of all of it in my life.

Rick (21:52): Okay. So we're going to go back to you listening to stuff a little bit. I like to talk music.

Kristen (21:57): Yeah.

Rick (21:58): Do you have a recent download or maybe there was a concert that you went to or maybe one that you have on the calendar that you're like, I just can't wait. I mean, besides Wang Chung at IBIE, is there anything out there that you're like, this is for me.

Kristen (22:09): So I really want to see Chris Stapleton in concert. Okay. So I got to see him at the CMA Country Music Award several years ago when he performed, he did a duet back with Justin Timberlake.

Rick (22:19): Wow.

Kristen (22:19): So I, well, I actually would like to go see Justin Timberlake in concert too, but Chris Stapleton, I love his soulfulness. I love that. Sit on a bar stool and just pluck the guitar kind of storyteller. So I really want to see Chris Stapleton in a concert. So I

Rick (22:37): Saw him open up, this is almost 10 years ago, Wrigley Field. He opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers before we lost Tom. Holy

Kristen (22:45): Cow.

Rick (22:45): Unbelievable show. You're on the turf, you're on the grass. It was fantastic. What, eight or nine years ago, I think.

Kristen (22:52): Wow.

Rick (22:52): Before Tom passed in 17.

Kristen (22:54): Those life moments. We as a family, we have similar interests in music. Even though our daughter is a Taylor Swift fan,

Rick (23:00): We have all who isn't nowadays.

Kristen (23:02): So we have all this interest in music. So we have said we want to go see a concert at Red Rocks. So now we're just planning the calendar. When does she have a break? Who can we go see over that time and do that as a family? So I look forward to reporting back to you on

Rick (23:17): That. Can I tell you about Red Rocks? Yeah. I've been once. Tom Petty and Heartbreakers, he of course grew up in Florida, but Steve Wynwood opened, right? Do you remember Steve Wyn? For sure. I mean, fantastic. Both iconic musicians and the scenery was just gorgeous. You can't fake it and you can't replicate it.

Kristen (23:35): And the acoustics, holy cow. We have so many albums that we have downloaded of artists that we love, but when they perform live at Red Rocks, it's just a different

Rick (23:44): Feel. It was a real rock concert. Wow. I didn't think I'd get that one. Okay. How long have you been waiting to use that one? About a minute. Okay. So let's get back in a little bit. We just got back from the Super Bowl of baking. I got to go back to IB one one time. It was my first. Okay. So tell us about your experience. What did you come away with? Like I'm thinking or were there some just other observations that you made that you said, wow, that was impactful?

Kristen (24:14): Yeah, I think it was really interesting. So one of the things that we talked about a lot and we observed is how much in one specific hall is dedicated to what I would call for commercial industrial bakers, like the familiar brands. So that was the West Hall this year, that's where your beautiful booth, AB Maori's beautiful booth was located. And it was like you could really go and see those big industrial OEMs and technology there. And then we were located closer down to North Hall, which I understand grew significantly. Even the number of exhibitors and how many more companies were represented in North Hall significantly grew from 22 to 25.

Rick (24:56): Absolutely, yep.

Kristen (24:57): What I found so many people talking about was how innovative the exhibitors were in North Hall. That's where they were going. They knew who they needed to meet with in West Hall and they were having those conversations and they were having those meetings. They came down to North Hall to explore. And I thought that was really, and I heard it consistently enough from different sized organizations and different people in different roles from maintenance to RD to quality that I thought that that was really an insightful observation about maybe how IBIE is kind of, if you think about a department store versus your specialty boutiques, how you can curate those experiences between these two massive exhibit halls.

Rick (25:41): Kind of the best of both worlds. We actually had a smaller booth in the North hall too to entertain that. But the way they configure things, the lanes are probably half as wide. So you're kind of bunching people in. There's a lot of energy and a lot of action, but it really spoke to the artisan side of the business.

Kristen (25:58): It absolutely did. Yeah. That was very interesting. We were really excited to be a part of the education side of it and to have a role in that. As we've talked about that, that's really our focus. So the IBIE educate sessions that were introduced in mass this year on Saturday, Sunday, and some on Monday as well. Those were really solid and I heard a lot of people taking advantage of those and there was a lot of case studies and experiences shared that I think were what made some of those sessions so impactful for people.

Rick (26:27): Yeah, really well done.

Kristen (26:28): It was great.

Rick (26:29): Alright, so our time is starting to, were almost to the midnight hour, but hey, before you go, do you have any call outs or maybe last minute advice, or do you have a great quote from somebody that you always carry and you use as maybe a motivating factor that you could share with our audience? There's a quote that I like. I mean, there's always the, Hey, people don't remember what you did, but they'll remember how you made 'em feel. Right? There's one Bear Bryant always had one. If we lose, that's on me. If we win, it's on you team as a team team. So he always wanted to put the losses squarely on me as the coach, but on wins, it's really all about the players and I think that's

Kristen (27:10): Impressive. So this quote, for whatever reason, I mean there's so many different people that I can quote that have poured into me throughout my life. This one just consistently, when you ask me that question, this one just is what comes to mind for me first today? That which you do not change, you choose. Where did that come from? That which you do not change, you choose. So it's all about the choices that we get to make in life, the choice of how we treat people, the choice of how we, if there's anything in your life that is not working for you or doesn't feel healthy for you is not the right lifestyle for you, then you have the choice to change it. Right? I like it. We're all empowered by our own as human beings. We all have choice.

Rick (27:52): You are going deep for a marketing and PR expert. But I love it. I think

Kristen (27:57): I probably studied psychology somewhere along there. Those were my electives that I got to pick. But that what you do not change, you choose. And so it's thinking about every single day I start my day with, I am choosing to show up this way. I am choosing to treat this person this way. I am choosing to stay in this environment or this relationship.

Rick (28:14): That's great advice. Just beyond baking, just living. Right.

Kristen (28:17): So how about that one?

Rick (28:19): Those are really wise Sage words from Kristen Spriggs. Alright everybody, we're going to end on that high note. And boy we're closing out this edition of the Oven Light. We really want to thank Kristen from a SB for being here. And we had a great discussion. I hope you enjoyed it.

Kristen (28:34): I loved it.

Rick (28:34): Thanks. So for now, the switch is off. So is the oven light. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Cheers. Thank you.

Intro/Outro (28:42): We hope you've enjoyed this episode of The Oven Light. Until next time, when we discuss more about the wonderful world of baking technology trends and more, the switch is officially off. Goodbye for now. See you next time.