While Denise O’Keefe spent years living in Europe during high school and college, her business is built on a distinctly American product: pancakes.
When she decided to go to school in the United States she chose California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (fondly known as Cal Poly). She majored in arts and graphics and then became the art director for advertising agencies in Southern California.
“My husband and I had been married for 5 years, and we decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area,” she relates. “The reasons for our move and our decision to radically change our life were complex, but the most important had to do with our health. My very athletic and fit husband became seriously ill, and the only cause we could identify was the extreme stress of his high-pressure job.”
The O’Keefes felt that “life is to short to not take on an adventure,” so they decided to start their own business and began researching locations. They decided on Lafayette in the Bay Area. “It met our most important criteria: low crime, good community and good schools,” explains Denise. “Once we choose that spot, we opened a whole wheat organic bakery in the Rockridge area of Oakland.”
The bakery was perfect for them. “It was hard work, but we loved it. We started out not knowing anyone, but through the bakery we felt so connected to the community.” Denise remembers how gratifying it was to see their regular customers and to hear, “Your bread was the best thing at our Thanksgiving dinner!”
Over the next 8 years, the O’Keefes’ family expanded to three children, and it was time for another change. Denise’s husband wanted the challenge of the corporate world again, and Denise had a new project in mind.
She had developed her buckwheat and vanilla pancake mixes for the bakery. “I started with buckwheat. We had the grain at the bakery, so I could experiment. After a while, I thought that I had something here!”
The first batch of pancake mix made 50 bags. Denise was making labels for the bags on her computer and realized she didn’t have a name. She casually asked her husband, and he just as casually said off the top of his head, “Bo’s Best,” using a nickname of Denise’s. Those first bags sold out immediately, and requests for more were pouring in, so a new and very popular product line was hatched for the bakery.
Denise is thrilled with the balance in her life. “When we sold our bread business, we didn’t sell the pancake company because I wanted to have a business that I could do part time and also be a full time mom to our 3 children. I work while they are at school. When they come home, I take off my pancake hat and apron and change into a mom. I get the best of both—children I love to be with and a job that is fun.”
|
