Buddy Valastro shares the story of taking over his father’s bakery at 17 and overcoming a career-threatening hand injury. He talks about how reality television flipped his family’s life upside down and skyrocketed his family bakery to becoming a household name. Buddy shares the history of Carlo’s Bakery, the humbling life lessons his father taught him, and the importance of carrying on his father’s legacy. Buddy reveals some exciting new concepts in the works for Carlo’s Bakery (did someone say cake vending machine?!) and growing the Cake Boss empire. He talks about his genuine friendship with Duff Goldman and how heated the competition gets with him on Buddy vs. Duff before giving advice to aspiring pastry chefs and his keys to success.
Buddy Valastro shares the story of taking over his father’s bakery at 17 and overcoming a career-threatening hand injury. He talks about how reality television flipped his family’s life upside down and skyrocketed his family bakery to becoming a household name. Buddy shares the history of Carlo’s Bakery, the humbling life lessons his father taught him, and the importance of carrying on his father’s legacy. Buddy reveals some exciting new concepts in the works for Carlo’s Bakery (did someone say cake vending machine?!) and growing the Cake Boss empire. He talks about his genuine friendship with Duff Goldman and how heated the competition gets with him on Buddy vs. Duff before giving advice to aspiring pastry chefs and his keys to success.
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Find episode transcript here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/buddy-valastro-on-family-business-cake-vending-machines
JAYMEE SIRE: Hello, hello. And welcome to Food Network Obsessed, the podcast where we dish on all things Food Network with your favorite food network stars I'm your host Jaymee Sire. And today, we have a boss on the show to talk about how his life changed when he took over his father's bakery at the age of 17 and how reality television skyrocketed the family business into becoming a household name.
We also caught up with him about his recent hand injury that nearly threatened his baking future and how he's back and better than ever for a new season of his competition show. He is a Baker reality television royalty, owner of Carlo's Bakery and now back on Food Network in Buddy Vs. Duff. It is the Cake Boss himself Buddy Valastro.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAYMEE SIRE: The Cake Boss himself, Buddy, welcome to the podcast. And first things first, we want to know how your hand is doing.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Oh, thank God. My hand is actually feeling really good, getting back to normal. It was really a crazy accident, but the fact that I was able to complete the season of Buddy Vs. Duff that we just did, and the cakes were as good, I feel very confident that I'm probably 90% back to where I was.
JAYMEE SIRE: That is amazing news. And we're definitely going to talk all about those shows. For fans that don't know, you had a pretty, as you mentioned, terrible accident last year. At one point, you said that you didn't even know if you'd be able to bake again. So we're glad to hear you are on the road to recovery. How scary was that?
BUDDY VALASTRO: It was the most scary thing that's ever happened to me. My hand was impaled, and I had this big metal spike that went through it. My son actually cut me off, and the machine that I was on was a Sawzall. And it was probably until, I would say, February of this year, I couldn't even really-- my fingers were like curled, and I couldn't really squeeze. I couldn't bend them, or I couldn't do any of this.
And then I went for my fifth surgery. And that was the surgery where the doctor really released the tendons. And the next day after the surgery, man, I was like a new man. I felt like I can move. So he did that, and then I had to rebuild muscle and stuff like that. But I wasn't sure up until I had that surgery my exact capabilities And being a righty and being in the baking profession, without your hand, you're nothing.
JAYMEE SIRE: And in true Buddy format, I understand you baked them a cake as well as a sign of appreciation.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Always. Honestly, that was the least I could do. Dr. Carlson and the whole team at HHS, really, if it wasn't for them, I don't know where I would be today. I really don't. And my occupational therapist, Dina, would come to my house three or four or five nights a week. And we would just go and go and go to really get me to where I am today.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, we are so, so thankful to hear that. And obviously, you and your big amazing Italian family have been a fixture in reality television, pop culture since Cake Boss aired back in 2009. I don't know what was more entertaining, the incredible cakes or the very relatable family drama. Do you remember when you were first approached about that show?
BUDDY VALASTRO: I do. It's crazy. You know what? I think that it was that long ago where it all started. I feel like I'm getting old now. It's pretty crazy, but I never had any ambitions or ideas of being on television. I kind of got into television because I would always be featured in a bridal magazine, which is pretty crazy because now, you don't even really-- doesn't even exist, right?
It's an industry that doesn't-- but if you were getting married in the '90s or the 2000s or early one, you went and bought every single bridal magazine. You look through all the pictures. You picked your wedding cake, your dress. This is kind of how it went. So I--
JAYMEE SIRE: It's a big deal.
BUDDY VALASTRO: [INAUDIBLE] it was. It was different than today. And I was always-- as one of the featured bakers in the magazine, I always did amazing cakes. And Food Network started doing baking competitions. So they would always look to, all right, who is in the magazines, right?
So I was always there, and they would say, look, do you want to compete? And even when I competed-- I'm going back in 2002, 2004, I could have never-- I never thought like, oh, I want to be on TV. I'm going to do this and stuff like that. It was more to grow the business, and really any publicity is good publicity for what we were trying to do.
And it wasn't until like my third episode where one of the cameramen who filmed me was like, yo man, was like, you need your own television show. I started thinking about. I was like, my crazy family, the crazy cake. And I was like, I was thinking of my life and laughing. Like, you know what? It would probably make an entertaining show, stuff that I've been--
And then in 2008, I got a call one December from TLC, who said to me, hey, look, we saw some footage of you, and we were thinking of doing a cake show. What do you think? And I said, well, I have a good idea. Just follow me and my family.
It's a 100-year-old bakery, crazy big Italian family, yeah, see what happens. And before you know it, went on in 2009, and boom, here we are today.
JAYMEE SIRE: Did you have family members at the time that were initially against the idea.
BUDDY VALASTRO: No, I don't-- you know what? We were really in it together. We had a big family meeting. And I said, look, we just have to be who we are. And the truth of the matter is-- it's funny I just got back from vacation. We were-- my sister got married in the Bahamas. So we went the whole family, my sisters, my nieces. It was like 40 of us.
And I am so blessed that we have the relationship that me and my family have, and we're in business together, just to put one other layer on there. But we love each other. We still get together. We want to vacation together. We hang out on a weekend together.
When there's a problem, we're there for one another. When we fight, we fight, but nobody stays mad at each other. It's like-- I can never like-- sometimes you talk to people like, oh, I haven't spoke to my brother for years. I can never imagine that relationship with my family because it's just not who we are. I really believe that's a testament to my parents of always keeping us close. And sometimes--
The party is always at my house. It's either at my house down the shore or my house at home. But there's always-- I look around, and I see 30 or 40 of us, and then like, people don't always have this. And I really truly feel blessed to have it.
JAYMEE SIRE: What was a day of filming like?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Back in the old days, filming was very interesting. Let's rewind to 2009. The first season was not as hard to film. But the minute that the show aired, and we were filming the second season, that's when all hell broke loose because now, fans were coming from all over the country.
It would be like seven or nine-hour line to get into the bakery. Literally, thousands of people would be down the street. We were trying to run a business. We're trying to film a television show, trying not to piss off the fans, trying not to piss off the original customers.
It was a balancing act. You have no idea, even just trying to push people through the door in and out constant throughout the day. It was like Christmas Eve every single day. The original bakery was tight. The camera crew and everybody, they were another 15 people. Then we had like 175 employees working 24 hours, 7 days a week, 3 shifts. It was insane.
JAYMEE SIRE: Let's talk about the bakery a little bit more. Carlo's Bakery founded in 1910 by an Italian pastry chef, and then purchased by your father in the '60s. It's been in your family ever since. What were some of your first memories at the bakery as a kid?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Well, again, I remember starting my first day with my dad. I was probably 11 or 12 at the time. I got punished. I got in trouble, and my dad's like, now, you got to come to work on a weekend. So I went to work with my dad. And I was like, oh, what am I going to do?
I'm going to make a cake. I'm going make this. I'm going to make that. And my dad brought me to the bathroom, and he said, clean the toilet. And I was like, wow, whoa, my God. And he goes, why, do you think you're too good to do it? And I said, no. And he goes just because you're my son, you're not going to get special treatment.
And I didn't realize it then, but I realized it now that he wanted me to understand what it was like to be the person to have to clean the toilet bowl. And he wanted to show the employees that just because I was his son, I wasn't going to get special treatment. And he looks me in the eye, and he says, you clean that toilet bowl with the same-- like if you were making a wedding cake.
In life, son, he said, you've got to take the same pride in everything you do. And if you take the same pride in everything you do, you'll be successful, no matter what you do. And those are life lessons that stuck with me my whole life, and it's kind of how I still live my life.
You'd be shocked that I still will get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floors here, present day. I always tell my employees I'll never ask you to do something that I'm not willing to do, or I'll never ask you to work harder than I have to work. And I think I was taught with the mantra of leading by example.
Like my dad would say if you want the employees to move, you got to move. It becomes contagious. If you're rolling on a bench, and you're making cookies, they're making cookies. They want to keep the tempo. And that's kind of the way I always worked.
JAYMEE SIRE: Have your kids had to clean the toilet?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Yeah, they have. Yeah, they have. They've learned to scrub the floors and do all that. Yeah, I'm blessed. I got great kids. I can't believe how big they're getting. It's kind of funny-- and that's one beautiful thing about Cake Boss. I kind of have this whole family history.
There's like 300 episodes of me, my family, my kids growing up. My son Carlo was born on the show, and now he's 10 years old. It's crazy,
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow. No, it's crazy. Essentially, we watched them grow up on the show. How cool is that as a parent to have this basically library of your family and your children's lives as they grow up?
BUDDY VALASTRO: It's truly a blessing. It really is a blessing, and they love it. It's funny to see them grow into their-- who they are, who they're becoming because my daughter's going off to college this year, and my boys are getting older. So it's a lot of fun.
JAYMEE SIRE: Did you have any formal training, or was it everything that you just learned with dad in the shop?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Yeah, no, all my training was with my dad. The only outside training I had is I did a sugar flower course with a wonderful woman by the name of Betty Van Nordstrom, who was amazingly talented, who taught some of the best of the best. I wanted to learn how to do the flowers at the time because I was doing a lot of these beautiful wedding cakes.
So I asked, who do I go to? And I called Betty, and I went there. And we became such good friends. We sat there. We were only supposed to go for like three or four hours. We were there to like midnight talking, baking. Yeah, she's so-- such a sweet lady.
JAYMEE SIRE: You mentioned your dad and spoke very lovingly of him. I know he passed away when you were 17, unfortunately. How important was it for you to carry on his legacy and keep the business going in such a meaningful way?
BUDDY VALASTRO: It was hard. I was a kid. I think about it. My son's going to be 17 soon, so in a couple of months. I'm looking at him at his age, thinking that at that time, I had to go, and I had 30 employees do what I had to do. It was hard, and my dad was like a legend. Everybody loved him.
He was great at what he did. He was so respected in the community. He was so loved. So I had these really big shoes to fill. And to be honest with you, I know exactly what I was going to do. And I just kind of went back to the roots and said, what would my dad tell me?
And he would say, you got to be the first one in and the last one to leave. You got to be the person who humbles themselves and respect your elders. So the bakers who knew more, I would tell them, please teach me. And I would be humble to them. It took me a couple of years to really hone my craft, but after probably three or four years, I really felt like I was a master baker at what I can do and my craft.
JAYMEE SIRE: Did you know that you wanted to take over the family business all along, or was that something that you kind of were forced to decide really quickly at the time?
BUDDY VALASTRO: No, I always knew that I was going to go into the family business from a young age. And I was about 15 when I knew that. My parents had a great business. I loved it. I was good at it. Well, like some guys will pick up a bat and just a natural baseball player, well, I was a natural baker from that age. And it was really the cake decorating that I was good at.
And I remember when I was probably 14 or 15, the cake would get messed up in the bakery, right? They drop it or gets destroyed. I remember my dad saying to my sisters, oh, drive your brother to the bakery, so we'll make the cake or fix the cake. And then the weekends would come around, it was like I had to be there.
They were dependent on me to work and make. And I love it, and I was good at it. My parents made a good living from it. And I said, you know what? This is what I want to do.
JAYMEE SIRE: What about your kids? Are any of them in line to follow in dad's footsteps?
BUDDY VALASTRO: They all say they want to do it. So we'll see what happens. They got to go to college first. It's a little different dynamic what I run now and what they run. If they work hard, and I want to support them.
They got to-- in life, I feel like you've got to enjoy what you do. You got to find something that makes you happy, that you're passionate about. Because if you don't, I don't think you're ever going to be successful. I really attribute my success to loving what I do.
JAYMEE SIRE: It's so neat to see because you see your family and to hear you talking about them, you can tell that what you see on screen is exactly who you guys are in real life. That said, being-- you kind of alluded to it. Being in business with your family can be challenging at times, and you have all these different relationships and personalities.
How do you navigate all of that with a business? And then on top of that, you guys are also celebrities in your own right.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Well, listen, honestly, we'll start from the end. I never felt like a celebrity. I always still feel like a regular guy. And I just try to act the way that I always have. And we're kind of like what you see is what you get.
As far as my kids and-- it's all about hard work. And I still work harder than I've ever worked in my life. And I'm just trying to build something that I'm proud of, my father would have been proud of, my mother would have been proud of, my kids are proud of, and the legacy. I'm trying to build a legacy.
JAYMEE SIRE: I think you're pretty well on your way. The name, the business has grown significantly since the show aired. Multiple locations across the country. You've got merchandise. You can order things online. So when you're talking about that legacy, what do you see for the future of Carlo's Bakery and your family going forward?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Well, I think that we're going to continue to grow. We definitely have a lot of good projects in the works. We're launching more bakeries. We got this new vending machine where it's like cake slices. You're going to be-- I'm going to be putting them all over the country, potentially all over the world.
We got bakeries in Brazil and in the United States. And we're doing one in Canada soon. Television, I definitely going to continue to do more television. We just wrapped season 3 of Buddy Duff, which was pretty cool. We got to-- I'm just keep growing the empire. That's kind of what we were trying to do. If a good opportunity is there, why shouldn't we take it or try something?
JAYMEE SIRE: Definitely want to talk about Buddy Vs. Duff. But before we get there, could we just go back for a second to the vending machine concept. So you can literally get a piece of cake out of a vending machine at the airport or something like that.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Exactly. It's really, really a cool concept, because what I did is I kind of went what I'm going to call the European method. In Europe, when you go to supermarkets and stuff like that, rather than put preservatives in the food, they usually put more emphasis on packaging, right? So the packaging that we have, we have a thermalforming nitrogen plus machine. So which means once we feel that cake slice in there in the refrigerator, it'll have a 30-day shelf life without any preservatives.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's very cool.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Well, do you ever see the way they vacuum pack the steaks and stuff, and you could have it in your refrigerator for start?
JAYMEE SIRE: Mm-hmm.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Well, it's kind of same thing. I don't think it's ever going to sit there 30 days. But we have a 30-day shelf life.
JAYMEE SIRE: No.
BUDDY VALASTRO: [INAUDIBLE] so you know that, but it's an all-clear, beautiful packaging. Go up to the machine. It's kind of got my voice. It's got a great jingle. You buy your cake slice, and boom, you take it to go. And you want to eat it right there, you have some fun. And you go from there.
So it's just an easy way, where to your point, an airport, a college campus, a main street where-- who doesn't just want to once in a while ago and grab a slice of cake?
JAYMEE SIRE: That sounds amazing and genius. So kudos to you for coming up with that. Coming up next, we chat about the new season of Buddy Vs. Duff, and Buddy shares his best advice for aspiring pastry chefs.
Let's talk about Buddy Vs. Duff. You've alluded to it a couple of times. This is where you and, of course, Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes at Ace of Cakes go head to head in some very insane larger-than-life challenges judged by some of the top names in the industry. What did you learn from the first two seasons that you brought back for this season 3?
BUDDY VALASTRO: My favorite part of the show is over the two years, me, Duff, his team, my team, we've gotten really close. Truth be told, there's a rivalry, but there's not-- we have a great friendship and a great respect for one another as artists. And I bet you he would tell you that we bring out the best in each other in our work, right? We push each other to the brink.
When I had my hand injury, Duff was one of the first people to reach out to me and checking in and stuff like that. And he was like, you better get better because I'm still going to kick your butt this season. But he was just there the whole step of the way.
And the same thing. When he had his baby, I was-- because, again, I've been there and stuff like that. We have a great relationship. So one thing that I've learned over these two seasons is never underestimate them because they are amazingly talented, and they can come up with great stuff.
Another thing is as hard as you think you have to push yourself, you have to push yourself even harder, because you still don't know what the hell they're going to make and stuff like that. But reflecting back on the season just for me, I am so proud of what we made as a team. I look at our cakes and stuff like that, and it actually one of the cakes was one of two cakes that I've made in my lifetime that made me cry.
And what I mean by made me cry, you step back. You make this cake. And I looked at this cake, and I said, man, I just can't believe what the hell we did. I was just so in awe of the cake. And I thought back to my father, and I thought it back-- it's funny because we're talking about the nostalgic years of me going through it.
When I was that 15-year-old kid, I couldn't even imagine of making a cake like this. When I said, I'm going to be a baker and stuff like that, the mediums didn't even exist to do it. And the fact that we were able to make this cake and make it successful, I just really thought of my dad. And I was like, man, if my dad could see this cake.
JAYMEE SIRE: I'm pretty confident he saw it and was looking down and very, very proud of what you created and what you've created with the family business. So excited to see that unfold. But in terms of season 1, season 2, you've each won a season. So I guess this is kind of the tie-breaker. Are you guys competitive? How intense does the competition get?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Listen, I've also been very humble this year by my hand. I was just happy that I could still make cakes, never mind when-- and I'm being honest, right? Of course, you want to win, but the fact that I could still make cakes to the level that I once did, for me, that was the win enough, right?
And if I win this season, it's a cherry on top. That's kind of the way you got to look at it. There's not a bad rivalry. It's more of a two guys poking fun at each other like friends. And you know what the funnier part is? We really didn't know each other before the show.
We knew of each other, of course, but we never got together. You know what I'm trying to tell you? Guy, I know Guy. I've hung out with Guy. I've seen Guy Bobby. You know what I'm saying? I never really-- me and Duff never had to do an event together or we just never really spent time together. It was the first time.
JAYMEE SIRE: So what about now, do you guys hang out outside the show?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Now, yeah. Now, of course, we-- of course, we're buddies now.
JAYMEE SIRE: What about during filming, during these competitions? It's all hands on deck, of course, with you and your team. Do you and Ralph ever butt heads on which approach to take for the challenge?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Sometimes. Me and Ralph have a great working relationship. We're almost like a married couple. When you're married 20 years, you know when to shut up or you know when to speaker up, right? so me and-- And everybody who's married gets what I'm talking about.
But me and Ralph, we got each other's back. We have the utmost respect for one another as human beings, as cake artists, and so on and so forth. Sometimes we bump heads, but for the most part, we speak the same language.
My mantra for my business is whatever was good for the business. I could pipe on a cake like it's nobody's business, but for the life of me, when I write happy birthday, I have a bad handwriting. I have bad [INAUDIBLE], right?
So if Ralph has got a better handwriting, to me, I will gladly-- I'll make the cake look better than he could, but I might pass it over to him and say, all right, Ralph, write happy birthday on it. I do what I think is best for the cake. If it's time, I say give me the bag or give me the ball, that's what I do.
If I give it to Ralph, it's not an ego thing for me. It's about what I've been good at is to look at my team, assess everybody's strengths, and put them in the best position for success. And what I mean success, not only for them because they're doing what they love and what they're best at, but what's best for the cake. At the end of the day, the cake comes first, just rolling out.
So let's just use an example. If I get a cake that's an 8-foot long Sphinx, and it's going to be covered in modeling chocolate, you've got to probably cover the thing in 150, 200 pounds of chocolate. It takes a big guy like a moral to roll out all that chocolate.
And then between me and Ralph and Anna and the team where you don't even notice where the themes are, it's-- those are the little things that amaze me about my team, the way that we all work together for the greater good of the cake always.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, do you guys have any team rituals that you do to prepare for competition or superstitious things or anything like that?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Nothing superstitious, but our preparation is really just understand the cake, know what we're going to do, going in, and everybody stick to the plan and do their job. And again, if we're in the planning stages, if you don't like the idea, you've got to say it. I tell people anybody I hire, I don't hire yes men.
I know that I'm talented. I know that I have good vision for cake. I mean cakes, seven which ways from the sun, I know that the things that I think about on cakes are not normal. How are you going to pick this up? Is it going to fit through a door? Is the opening going to be this way. Do I need a forklift?
It's crazy but because we've done so many of them, but I'd be the first one to tell you that I still love to learn. I'm not the best. I value other people's opinion. I don't want to yes men around me. I want people to say, oh, that looks like crap, or this needs to get redone, or maybe this should go there. Because I'm not afraid to say it, and it's for the greater good of a finished piece.
JAYMEE SIRE: Do you have any pastries or confections that are your kryptonite that you just-- aside from handwriting, as you mentioned that you just can't master?
BUDDY VALASTRO: No. My Achilles heel would definitely be handwriting. That would be penmanship. And I think it's because I didn't like school very much. But if you see me like a pen and paper or draw something, you'd be scared. But I've always been able to visualize it.
JAYMEE SIRE: And then make it come to life.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Exactly.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I mean that's-- we see that every episode. What do you think is the secret ingredient or secret sauce to being a good baker?
BUDDY VALASTRO: I think you've got to stick to your guns. I always believe in quality. I always want to put out the best possible product that we possibly can, whether it's buying the finest ingredients, not taking any shortcuts on methods, or mixing or folding or resting. Like take pizza. The trick to good pizza is letting the dough ferment. It's a three day process.
If you want good pizza dough, you've got to wait three days. If you want in a day, it'll be OK. But it ain't the three-day one, because the longer it sits there, the more flavor it gets. And when that dough hits that hot stone, poof, you get that air burst. And it's that melody of that perfect balance of dough, enough cheese and sauce where if it's too much cheese, it gets soggy.
And it's got that crisp bite where you get that melody in your mouth. That's what you want. I'm a perfectionist. I like to make things perfect.
JAYMEE SIRE: Now, I'm craving-- I was creating a cake before, but now, I'm craving pizza. Any advice or encouragement for somebody out there listening who sees what you've done with your career and wants to be a pastry chef or own a bakery or get into the business.
BUDDY VALASTRO: All right, so I say this to people a lot. Before you go and go to pay money for, say, culinary school, I would recommend going to work in a bakery. Why? Because I would say, look, I want to make sure that this is what I want to do. You've got to work holidays. You've got to work weekend. Everything is not glory and everything else.
And when you make cakes for fun at home, it's one thing. But when you've got to do it every single day, it's a job. Truth be told, it's still a job. But once you've said, OK, this is what I want to do, I love it, this is going to be my life, then I think you go to culinary school. Because what you're going to learn in culinary school is the science of baking.
You're not going to learn that on the job. If you want to know how to make a good apple pie, you've got to work at Thanksgiving in the bakery. You make 5,000 apple pies, and then you can do it blindfolded, right? But that's where you learn the bulk work, but the science is what you learn at school.
And if you combine that and believe in yourself and work hard-- look, hard work is the key. You cannot be afraid to work. But when Buddy Valastro does something, he believes he's going to succeed, no matter what.
No matter how big the cake, no matter how crazy the obstacle is, you've got to believe you've got to work hard, and you've got to do it from your heart, and you've got to never give up. And if you apply that to good recipes and some good schooling, it's the recipe for success.
JAYMEE SIRE: I think that's great advice for any profession, to work hard and love what you do. And I'm curious-- you said that the people out there, if they're listening, that they need to really love it because at the end of the day, it is a job. So what is it about what you do that you love so much?
BUDDY VALASTRO: All right, so over the years-- and again, I've had this question asked to me. You try to think of how you tick, because everybody ticks different. I'm a problem solver. If you come to me and say, all right, Buddy, we're going to be 5,000 of these cakes. How are we going to get it done? Well, in my mind, I'm going to map out the lines and think of how many cakes per minute we can do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
If my wife says to me, I'm fighting with my sister, I'll get them. I'll sit them in a room. I'll hear the problems. I'll give them both sides of the coin and fix the problem. My mind works in processing in figuring out solutions. So I'm a problem solver, and that's what I feel is my greatest attribute. And whether I'm trying to figure out your plans on how to get your next trip and how are you going to get there and what's going to happen, it's just the way it is.
The only problem with that is sometimes you've got to turn it off, because my mind is always-- I'm always thinking of what's this going to be or you know. Like the season before Buddy Vs. Duff, every drive to work, I'll focus on one cake. And I'll process the cake and process the information and try to figure out, OK, well, maybe it should be this or maybe it should be slightly left, or maybe it should be bigger or maybe we should do it this or that or-- and that's just how--
I'm a little obsessive compulsive. But if you can hold in your disabilities and use them to your advantages, bingo.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's a smart man. You should put-- I think you should have problem solver on your business card right next to baker. This has been so much fun. We are going to wrap up with a rapid fire round, and then we have one final question we ask everybody on the podcast. So rapid fire questions. Here we go.
BUDDY VALASTRO: I'm ready.
JAYMEE SIRE: What is the weirdest request for a cake you've ever received?
BUDDY VALASTRO: The vampire cake because the guys actually thought they were real vampires.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's impressive. Who is the most famous person you've made a cake for?
BUDDY VALASTRO: It's been a lot. I'm going to probably say Oprah, would probably be up there. Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears.
JAYMEE SIRE: You just had Gigi in recently, right?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Gigi Hadid. Yeah, I'm just trying to-- by the way, Gigi, the nicest human being.
JAYMEE SIRE: Aw, I love hearing that. Yeah, I think you said-- you said that in your Instagram-
BUDDY VALASTRO: I did.
JAYMEE SIRE: Post as well when she--
BUDDY VALASTRO: I really did. She was the nicest.
JAYMEE SIRE: Most popular item at Carlo's.
BUDDY VALASTRO: The cannoli.
JAYMEE SIRE: What music do you listen to while baking?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Classic rock.
JAYMEE SIRE: Any particular artist?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Oh, man. I love them all from Zeppelin to AC DC to Bruce, Queen. I love it all. I go to whole span, the Rolling Stones to Bon Jovi, you know?
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh, yeah. I had a Bon Jovi poster in my room growing up, so I know you on that one.
BUDDY VALASTRO: [INAUDIBLE].
JAYMEE SIRE: Most important appliance in the bakery.
BUDDY VALASTRO: I'm going to say mixer.
JAYMEE SIRE: Life motto.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Work hard, believe in yourself, and never give up.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, before we let you go, we do have one final question. As I mentioned, we ask all of our guests this on Food Network Obsessed. What would be on the menu for your perfect food day? So we want to know your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner, and of course, your dessert.
And there are no rules. You can time travel. You can spend however much money, whatever you want.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Anything goes.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yep. Anything goes.
BUDDY VALASTRO: All right, so breakfast, oh, man, if-- my favorite-- if I got a breakfast bowl breakfast, it would be bacon and egg on everything bagel with cheese, salt, pepper ketchup, Jersey style, baby. Maybe Taylor Ham, you know Taylor Ham too.
JAYMEE SIRE: You say Taylor Ham, not pork roll.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Oh, Taylor Ham, man. We're from the North.
JAYMEE SIRE: I know. So it's a big debate I've learned since moving to New York.
BUDDY VALASTRO: And you learn, yeah, but it is Taylor Ham. Don't let anybody kid you.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK, all right, so that's breakfast. Sounds delicious. I'm on board. What's for lunch?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Lunch, that would be a toss up between a steak sandwich from Piccolo's in Hoboken or roast beef and mutz from Fiore's in Hoboken.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK, all right. You can have both.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Both, yeah. I get both.
JAYMEE SIRE: Like I said, there are no rules.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Yeah, let's get both.
JAYMEE SIRE: All right, what about dinner?
BUDDY VALASTRO: Dinner would definitely be my wife's cooking. My wife's an amazing chef. She would start with-- we'd probably start with an oven roasted tomato with roasted garlic pasta that she makes. It's so good.
Then we would have-- for appetizers, she'd probably do some-- she'd do these zucchini patties, which are really, really good. And then for main course, it would definitely be a bone in veal chop Milanese and her eggplant Parmesan with a nice loaf of Italian bread crusty.
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Yeah, that would be it. And I would definitely-- if it's my last, I would definitely have to have some pizza, because pizza is my favorite meal on the planet. If there was one thing, pizza would be the one.
JAYMEE SIRE: Agreed.
BUDDY VALASTRO: For dessert, it would be the lobster tail that we have at the bakery. Our lobster tail is this-- it's just flaky, crispy, creamy, dreamy deliciousness. You bite until you hear [BLOWS], and then that cream is like cold ice cream. It's delicious.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh, my gosh. I need to get one of those over here stat. And by the way, the dinner sounds like a dream.
BUDDY VALASTRO: Yeah, you come over sometime--
JAYMEE SIRE: That sounds exactly-- OK, I'm going to take you up on that, but--
BUDDY VALASTRO: That's how come I'm fat. My wife she-- I can't move these 30 pounds.
JAYMEE SIRE: You're eating well over there in the Valastro household. It's been such a joy talking to you about just your life, your journey and of course, all of the Food Network shows that we love watching you on. Thank you so much for taking the time.
BUDDY VALASTRO: No. Thank you. Appreciate it. Have a good day.
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JAYMEE SIRE: It is so clear that Buddy is a family man. And I loved hearing about the history of the bakery and his memories with his dad. Even though I'm not a huge sweets person, I have to make my way over to Carlo's Bakery and grab some cannoli very soon. Catch more of Buddy on season 3 of Buddy Vs. Duff, with new episodes premiering on Food Network Sunday nights at 9:00/8:00 Central and streaming on Discovery Plus.
As always, thanks so much for listening. And make sure to follow us wherever you listen to your podcast, so you do not miss a single thing. And if you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to rate and review. We do love it when you do that. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.
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