Bed and Breakfast owner competes on FOOD Network
Lately folks have said to Susan Steffan, owner of the Farmer’s Guest House in Galena, Illinois, "You are so lucky!" after hearing about my appearance on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship. Or it could be due to being selected as one of the top 10 B&Bs in the U.S. for 2015. But Susan doesn’t think it's about luck; she believes it is the result of hard work. “We look back over the four years since we bought the inn and see a steady line of dominoes that have fallen in place.” Susan says, “First, we decided to read and prepare ourselves for the Bed and Breakfast industry as best we could. We joined national organizations, read books and took classes. Then we thoughtfully evaluated destinations and inns for sale. We consulted experts and finally found a property that ticked most of our boxes - Farmers Guest House in Galena, Illinois.
From the first day we purchased the inn we asked ourselves what we could do to improve our business. We examined the guest experience and explored ways to elevate it. We wanted to exceed expectations in every area possible; making FGH a luxury option. We were inspected and joined Bedandbreakfast.com’s Diamond Collection, which was a leap of faith and finance that really paid off.
We noticed a difference in our clientele immediately.
With huge common rooms on the first floor of our inn, we took the un-used 2nd floor library and added a massage room by turning the space into a spa-like haven. This quadrupled our massage services and improved guest satisfaction.
One of the biggest improvements we made was our breakfast service. I love to cook and have spent many hours a day in the kitchen practicing and creating new dishes for our guests to enjoy. So, I entered Bednandbreakfast.com's Best Breakfast contest, earning 1st runner up in 2014. The only thing worse than last place in my book is 2nd place so the next year I was determined to win, and I did. Best Breakfast 2015.
In April of 2015, a casting agent for a production company in Los Angeles was looking for a home cook with no culinary training who was doing a bit more with their skills than just cooking at home, to be considered for a Food Network show. She found the Best Breakfast 2015 winner announcement on-line and called me. That was an exciting moment! The next several weeks were a flurry of Skype interviews, photo sharing, applications, background checks, video submission and more phone calls. This took work - many potential candidates don't get past the interview stage because of all the effort that goes in to making tasty treats, photographing them, videotaping yourself at work and in the kitchen, filling out 20 page applications, preparing for a Skype interview with a spread of baked goods all while running your business.
Then came the day in June where I received the call that I was selected from hundreds of candidates to be a competitor on the Holiday Baking Championship. I didn't believe it until the plane landed in LA and a driver from the Food Network picked me up.
Susan Steffan