Today we’d like to introduce you to Zoya-Margaret Elsisura.
Hi Zoya-Margaret, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story started during the passing of my mother, Jan. 2020. She suffered a sudden stroke and we had to unfortunately place her in hospice care unwillingly at the end. It was the hardest thing for me and my siblings to do but my mom has always told us not to place her into life-saving machines when she cannot function anymore. I stayed home with her to help take care of her and to be with her in her last days. I was unable to work so I decided to sell cakes and cookies during that time thanks to the encouragement of my friends and family. This helped pay for my bills while I was unable to work and still grieving. It was a rough time for everyone during the rise of COVID. Shortly after her passing I returned to my nursing job (specializing in wound care, RN) in which they cut my hours upon my immediate return and forced me into a part-time position without a warning after coming back from my bereavement period. It was quite shocking since I wasn’t working while my mother was in hospice and was hoping that when I came back to work to get caught up on bills. About a month back at work my right foot was becoming a problem and I had to have surgery on my right foot which prevented me from working for 3 months. Once again, I was out of work and back to doing what I knew how to do which was baking. I started baking tres Leches cakes, cake pops, cookies and other Filipino desserts out of my apartment to help pay the bills. We even bought a small batch freezer to start making ice cream. I would have my little sister Zylene do the deliveries for me since I was in a cast at the time. My friends and husband would encourage me to keep baking while I was in a cast and still grieving.
Halfway through the year I started to feel burnt out as a nurse. I was losing my passion for nursing after dealing with covid as a nurse, shifts being cut, being bed ridden from my surgery all on top of the passing of my mother. My husband believed that if I could bake some pastries, we could probably open a store front and sell desserts. We both agreed that when it comes to desserts, we both had one thing in common that we both loved which is ice cream. We would always go out for ice cream when we were dating and still do. We invested our time in doing research & traveled all throughout Texas to find the best ice cream supplier that we thought would be the best to serve the Garland community and neighboring cities. We chose a local family-owned ice cream maker to be our supplier of ice cream alongside our in-house unique flavors like ube or vegan ice creams. The concept of Scoop N’ Buns roots deeply in my Filipino culture where we have a sliced “pan” or bread and stuff ice cream in between them. We then chose donut buns and ice cream concept to be served in our shop. Now, we also serve Filipino inspired desserts and treats just to show the community the other side of what our desserts taste like if you can’t make a trip to Philippines.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like many of us, this past year had many obstacles to get to where we are at right now. It took us about 6 months to finally open our doors. Turning an old thrift shop into an ice cream shop came with its own set of challenges as well. We learned a lot about construction and did the majority of the work ourselves to help save on costs since we were on a limited budget and bootstrapped the entire flip. During covid many offices were closed and freezers were on back order as well as shortages of materials. We also got hit with the snowstorm that happened in February which backed up some of the few contractors that we did hire. We took everything as a learning experience and hope to pass on any of these lessons to anyone looking to open up their own restaurant.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a Registered Nurse, specializing in wound care. I left my job at the hospital and I now do HomeHealth nursing. It has been very flexible for me allowing me to continue nursing and manage Scoop N’ Buns simultaneously.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in the Philippines up until I was 17. I am the 4th youngest out of 5 children. I enjoyed cooking as a child alongside with my mother when she was with us in the Philippines. My mother was a registered nurse here in the states so we wouldn’t see her for a few years at a time. Eventually she petitioned for us to come to the U.S. to be with her. When I arrived to the U.S it was a major culture shock. I was used to living in a small town where I would get water from a water well, so coming from that background really gave me an appreciation for how good we have it here in the U.S. There was a variety of food here and I learned that everything was bigger here in Texas, including the portion sizes.
Contact Info:
- Email: scoopnbuns@gmail.com
- Website: www.scoopnbuns.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scoopnbuns
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scoopnbuns
Image Credits
Kathy Tran Photography Marley Photography
