Jon Buatti, who in December 2019 opened The Bearded Bakery Company in Manchester, competed in the most recent ‘Holiday Baking Championship’ series on the Food Network. (Food Network photo)

The Bearded Bakery Company opened its doors at 819 Union St. in Manchester in December 2019, taking the neighborhood locale over from the former Michelle’s Bakery. New owner Jon Buatti, an Auburn resident, is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University’s culinary arts and culinary management programs and has experience in “a million and one places — every small kitchen or bakery in the area.”

Buatti is not a sit-still kind of guy, and that trait has served him well, especially in the Food Network’s most recent “Holiday Baking Championship.” The competition was filmed at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., last November and December with Covid-19 protections in place.

“It was stressful at first,” Buatti said. “Everything is just scattered about. The first couple of challenges are crazy as you’re running around just trying to find things.”

Buatti placed a respectable sixth in the 12-person competition against eight professional and three aspiring professional bakers.

Q. How have you weathered the pandemic?

A. We’ve been steadily increasing. It’s tough to tell what we’d be doing had we not been in a pandemic, but in a lot of strange ways it’s helped us being one of the local bakeries in this area and staying open. It almost heightened our availability, put a spotlight on us. Here we were, a small business open during this time, so run over and support this guy.

Q. What were your major takeaways from the culinary programs at SNHU?

A. You obviously learn all the technical stuff and fancy skills, but something as simple as product management, labeling and dating — making sure that everything is in its place, comes from work experience. The plan was always for me to do my own thing. I just never knew how I was going to get there.

That’s why I went to culinary school. Each different boss along the way taught me so much too.

Q. Do any teachers stand out?

A. My advisor Chris DeCloux, Chef (Vicki) Connell, Chef (Karina) Pasternak and Chef (Kristy) Ammann were all huge helps. Chef Ammann put me in contact with someone who knew one of the producers on the Food Network a few years ago. A friend-of-a-friend thing. Chef Connell was just in the other day, actually.

Q. What creation were you proudest of in the baking championship?

A. Everybody told me the carrot cake I made on the show was awesome. That and the hat cake. My challenge was to make a winter-style hat, like a beanie.

Q. What is a ‘Chocolate Overload’?

A. It’s a flavored cake with chocolate frosting. Chocolate ganache. Chocolate everything. The description is in the name.

Q. How difficult was it to be away from your business?

A. I was gone three and a half weeks. I’m fortunate to have the staff that I do. Lori Wertman and Amy Chirchiello held it down. They kept it open. My parents helped too.

Q. You offer a lot of creative presentations with your cakes. Are there any requests that stand out?

A. They’re all fun. Harry Potter is real popular since Christmas. A customer ordered one, posted it on Instagram and that opened the floodgates. Anything where the customer gives us an idea and says, ‘Do your thing. Do what you want to do!’ is great.

Q. What do you look for in staff? Is there a steep learning curve in this business?

A. Experience is helpful, but you have to love it. You have to want to do it. In a business like this where you’re making products for other people, you can tell when someone doesn’t care about it. It sounds cliché, but you need a good attitude. It’s a small work area and we can be in each other’s faces. If you give someone creative control, a little more effort goes into it because they enjoy it more. Our baker Lori was here when it was Michelle’s Bakery. It was perfect, as she’d had past experience.

Q. What kind of advertising have you done?

A. It’s pretty much all social media. I am working with EA Creative, a friend of Amy’s actually. Dante is a cool guy. He’s done my website.

Q. How do you find the time to coach sports?

A. I jam it into my schedule and try to make it work. I played basketball and volleyball at Salem High School — tall people’s sports. I coach in Londonderry. Girls’ volleyball in the fall, boys’ basketball in the winter, and boys’ volleyball in the spring.

Q. What’s going to happen if you decide to shave?

A. I don’t think I can shave now. It’s here to stay and it’s for the best. I look about 12 years old without a beard and people take me more seriously when I look like an adult. It was going to be The Man Bun Baking Company, but if I ever cut my hair …