Meet Bakery Manager Misty Gonzales! She is busy behind the scenes making sure Mana customers have all their favorite baked goods available for the holidays.
In the midst of Mana’s busiest baking season of the year, the woman behind the scenes making magic happen is Bakery Manager Misty Gonzales. From making sure the bakery is fully staffed, to baking literally thousands of pies, decorating specialty cakes, preparing stuffing and rolls, and everything in between, Misty deserves to be recognized for her role overseeing the bakery at Mana Foods.
Misty recently took some of her precious little free time to share a bit more about herself – including how her love of baking began, which aspects of her job she finds most rewarding and challenging, and the accomplishments she is most proud of since joining the Mana team over 3 years ago.
How did you decide to pursue a career in baking?
I wasn’t a fan of school, and I was given an ultimatum to go to college, so I decided to go to culinary school. I attended California Culinary Academy (before it was affiliated with Le Cordon Bleu). I got pneumonia and missed a week of school. Chef Bo Friberg, who at the time was one of only four master pastry chefs in the world, was an instructor at the academy, and I got moved into his class because of the timing when I got sick. I graduated with a degree in Baking and Pastry Arts.
Where are you from and how did you end up on Maui?
I am from New Mexico, and we moved to Maui in 2019.
We were traveling to Paris out of Denver, and there was a bomb cyclone and they canceled our Paris trip. The only other place they could send us was Maui. When we were getting ready to go home, I said, “I wonder if there are any jobs I could apply for.” We got back to New Mexico and decided we wanted to relocate.
What initially inspired you to work at Mana Foods?
I was supposed to work for the police department as a 911 dispatcher. But I came to Mana Foods and they had a pastry chef job available. My kids said, “Mom, that’s you. The hours would be perfect because you’ll get to be home with us after school.” I took the position and two weeks later I was the bakery manager. They didn’t have a manager at the time; nobody wanted to take on the role because of the time and work involved. But I’ve always been a manager, so it was just natural for me to take the lead and direct others.
What is your favorite part of your job/the thing you most look forward to on a daily basis?
I look forward to the cake decorating, although I don’t get to do it as much now. Cake decorating is my favorite thing to do, so I look forward to being able to bring back more special orders.
What are you most proud of when you think about your contribution to Mana?
The bakery puts out about three times what we used to produce, and we put out more variety of things and new items that we didn’t used to do – purple potato pie, cherry berry pie, gluten-free products, to name a few.
What was the most outrageous excuse an employee had for not being able to make it to work?
“A tree fell on my car.” I got a picture with that one, though; she knew she wasn’t getting out of that without proof!
What challenges you the most in regard to your job at Mana?
Staffing and product sourcing are the biggest challenges… and maintaining prices that are affordable to the community. All of our items are made from scratch, and we try to use local, fair-trade, organic whenever possible. We also live on an island, so shipping those items here costs more, so all of that has contributed to a higher cost of goods to make the products that we do.
What has been the most rewarding thing working at Mana?
Mana has a really good work-life balance. So the life benefits have been most rewarding. Like being able to be out by 2 and have the afternoons with my family. As far as work work goes, knowing that we’re providing really good quality baked goods for the island.
What hobbies do you enjoy when you’re not at Mana?
My hobbies are actually baking and traveling. I travel anywhere to try new foods so I can learn how to make them at home.
