BTB: Karina Andelian
Keeps on bringing us back
To Rye Goods, to home. Her smile and warm welcome sends you down a nostalgic trip back to that special place you love. Pastry aside, many regulars can agree that she is the reason why they keep coming back.
This week we introduce you to,
Karina andelian
She’s our Shop Manager at Lido — with a track record of over two years, setting up the shop and opening our doors in the mornings. Without much effort, Karina orchestrates our busy and crowded rushes into smooth and enjoyable experiences for both staff and guests. You can hear it in her voice and see it in her smile that she is truly someone who loves what they do. We are lucky to have her on our team.
Here’s where Karina’s story begins…
“It’s actually a funny story, how I started. Right at the beginning of 2022 I was in between jobs and ran into our Head of Croissants, Brock”
Hearing what Brock had to say about working at Rye Goods (fun people) and how close to home it would be for her (she lives just a few blocks away), Karina felt it was a no brainer. Right away she connected with Rye and has been riding on her bike, to and from work as of February of 2022! She started off working as Front of House and quickly found herself a new space to help lead as she became our Shop Manager within a matter of a couple months.
Karina’s charisma remains unmatched. Which is helpful in a high-paced and high-trafficked area like the Marino Village in Lido. Yet, she has a way of slowing the environment down and connecting with all who step foot in the shop. Which is apparent when looking at numbers.
“2% of our customers are new, which leaves the majority of 98% as returning customers”
Karina shares that it’s the people she meets day to day that make her work meaningful. Every shift is filled with friendly familiar faces. What a dream job that must be, and one that she partially was destined to have. Her family has had a running joke that everyone her age in the family would all one day be a barista. And here she is fulfilling that prophecy, but in her special way.
I get the best of that world (coffee), as we serve the best of the best and are using high quality ingredients.
We couldn’t agree more, and because we pride ourselves over the ingredients we use, we asked Karina to dive in a little deeper with us. She tells us the impact it’s made in her life:
“Last 4th of July I was tasked with bringing hot dog buns.
I was so desperate I ended up having to buy some from the store. I kid you not, my stomach was a mess and I knew it was from the buns!”
Karina shares that her stomach is so accustomed to our (Rye Goods) bread that she can’t do any other breads - our bodies know what’s good for us! It wants simple, organic, and local ingredients. She then goes on to explain that what she once thought was a dairy sensitivity, turned out to be sensitivity to processed dairy! All of the organic cheeses and whole milks we use, she can eat and feel better than with processed dairy.
Aside from the ingredients, Karina also jibes with our seasonality, sharing that our seasonal flavors from Fall to Winter are her most favorite. Which holds her new favorite Rye Goods pastry (sorry poptarts): the Kringle.
The Kringle has really done something for me - our Cranberry Kringle had that tangy-ness to it which I love in a pastry and was probably our best yet!
Like the Kringle, Karina has seen many iterations of Rye Goods. The biggest being our expansion of Tustin and moving all bread baking/pastry making away from Lido. She confesses it was definitely an adjustment, but that we outgrew our space and it was good for what we needed to do. For the bakers, it’s what they needed. Surely the smell of the bread baking and being close together is missed, but…the space has also been good!
“It’s allowed us to be more creative with our menu and expand our offerings.”
We admire Karina for her optimism and cheerful attitude — it’s hard to not want to sit and chat with her all day long. So, we’ll leave you with a few fun highlights of our conversation:
If you were going to a dinner party, what would you take from Rye Goods?
Wine and bread. Our wine selection is crazy (crazy in wow we have a lot of great selections) and our bread is always a hit.
You open pretty early in the morning. What are you playing to get you and other staff going?
A lot of Beyonce. Or any other fun female vocalist.
*fun fact: Karina is an incredible female vocalist, too!
How do you like to spend your time off?
Well you know me, I never give myself a true day off and so I am doing nails. I am practicing to eventually be a private nail tech (which I essentially already am) but a licensed one! And I enjoy spending time with my girlfriends doing their nails and when I’m not doing that I love to spend time with my boyfriend and go and eat good food - and get outside!
Food rec: for a random place, that is really old school - Wedge Burger in Costa Mesa. It’s a staple that my boyfriend and I love to be glutenous! It’s a small business - support your local business!
Anything else you feel like people should know about you and your work at Rye Goods?
It is just as fun as it looks. Just as amazing as it seems.
