Meet Dante Leigh-Nedbor | Head Chef/Baker & Co-owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dante Leigh-Nedbor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dante, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
To be honest, I didn’t really intend to start a business. The whole thing was more a product of circumstance. After working in the restaurant industry for over two decades, I was feeling a little alienated. I felt that the industry as a whole had a lot of problems, but once the pandemic hit, it made it very hard to ignore them. Anyways, I decided to take a break from restaurants for a little while, and in that free time I had started baking. I had started playing around with the idea of milk bread cinnamon rolls, and a friend suggested that I should try selling them at a local farmers market. From there it has grown into a business, that wasn’t my plan but I just went with the flow of it. I cannot take all the credit for getting the business to where it is now, my partner has been a huge part of this as well.

What should our readers know about your business?
We specialize in milkbread, which is a Japanese-style bread that is known for its creamy, fluffy texture and slightly sweet flavor. A main cardinal for us is that we are only creating products that we love. For example, we are obsessed with the perfectly cube-shaped shokupan loaves you would normally find in Japanese bakeries. We love it so much that we asked one of our customers-turned-friend to pick up baking pans while visiting Japan. In addition to our loaves, we love playing around with a variety of unique and flavorful milkbread rolls. Our classic rolls like cinnamon will reel you in but it’s the rotation of special flavors like apple cinnamon, pepperjack cheese, and chai spice that will you coming back for more. We believe that our rolls are a great way to experience the deliciousness of milkbread in a new and exciting way.

We are so excited about the future of Earlybird Milkbread. We are currently working on expanding our product line to include new types of milkbread and other baked goods. We are also looking for new ways to connect with our customers and build relationships with other small businesses in the community.

One of the biggest challenges we dealt was with ourselves. Imposter syndrome really kicked our butts and still does from time to time. We weren’t completely sure how this would all work and if anyone would even be interested. What we knew was that we believed in our product and we would regret if we didn’t take this chance; honestly, we had nothing to lose, but getting to that point, it took a while.

To be a small business operator, we’ve learned that it’s critically important to be flexible and adaptable. The food industry is constantly changing, so it’s important to be able to pivot your business as needed. And that, there will always be challenges to overcome whether it’s related to scaling up, space constraints or paper goods availability.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In our biased-opinion (and many others), the San Gabriel Valley is home to some of the best Asian food. Lucy grew up in the area and learned her foodie habits from her dad. The main lesson is that no matter how large or small the menu is, you only stick to restaurant’s namesake item. With that, let’s begin. You’ve got Banh Mi My Tho (multiple locations) that is pretty institutional in the area. The top favorites are #1 combo sandwich and the grilled pork. Sticking with Vietnamese food, Pho Saigon Pasteur in Alhambra has the hugest portion of delicious oxtail pho and Pho Ga Bac Ninh on New Ave. offers the freshest chicken pho. Boba is the drink of choice in the 626 and you cannot turn a corner without seeing a boba shop, all different in their own ways, You have Yi Fang that is focused on fruit teas, then you have older chains from Taiwan like Ten Ren Tea Station that established American roots in the early 2000’s. If you’re into tasting the tea, try Formosa Aroma and if you’re completely new to the boba scene, a milk tea boba from Sunright is the best place to set the stage for you. One major callout, you need to adjust the sugar level, never order a drink with 100% sweet level, you’ve been warned.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our family and friends have been incredibly supportive of our bakery from the very beginning. They helped taste test recipes, gave honest and crucial feedback, and even helped set up at the farmer’s market.

We also want to shoutout to the other vendors and the managers at the farmer’s market. They are such a welcoming community and have been so helpful to me as a new business owner. Thanks to Celena Groman and Gretchen Sterling for inviting us to join the Temple City Farmer’s Market. They fulfill their roles with great importance and because of their care, both vendors and customers are always safe while picking up the freshest produce. You can pick up all your basics from the wonderful assortment of vendors; the berries from J&J’s farm are so sweet year-round.

Finally, we want to shoutout to our customers. We love seeing their happy faces when they try our bread and newest creations for the first time. Their feedback and support is what keeps us going.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earlybirdmilkbread/