Antrim-based cook and personal chef Bailey Bocci has almost a lifetime of experience.
In her BB's Kitchen business, she brings her extensive experience to provide personalized meal preparation services to residents throughout Southern New Hampshire.
“I started cooking and baking at home with my grandmother and mother,” Bocci said. “They're Italian and they love to cook, so I learned a lot from them.”
At the age of 15, Bocci was invited by a close family friend to work at a cafe and bakery where he rose through the ranks and further developed his love for culinary arts. He worked there until he turned 18, when he decided to enroll at Franklin Pierce University and pursue a degree in psychology.
“I was pretty sure I was going to go into psychology. I wanted to be a marriage and family therapist,” she says, “but I ended up hating it. I love psychology, but I realized I just wanted to stay in the kitchen.”
So she gave up psychology and took a job as a cook in the Franklin Pierce kitchen, where she gained experience in a more “commercial style of cooking,” she says, rather than the “little country style cooking” she preferred.
After leaving Franklin Pierce, Bocci returned to his native Connecticut and continued working at a cafe owned by a family friend, eventually becoming kitchen manager, a job that included planning menus, managing staff, opening and closing the restaurant, and a variety of other big responsibilities.
“I was there seven days a week for almost two years,” she said, “but I loved it there. I gained so much knowledge from that place.”
But Bocci's heart was back in New Hampshire, and she ended up back in the kitchen at Franklin Pierce, working as a sous chef. But it just wasn't her style; she wanted more freedom and the opportunity to be more creative. She ended up working in a senior care facility, but “it was never where I thought I'd end up,” she says.
“Their philosophy was to eat fresh and local,” she says. “That's where I got a lot of experience. I cooked fresh seafood that was delivered twice a week, different kinds of meat. It was like a high-end kitchen for seniors.”
Bocci eventually entered Bridges by Epoch Nursing Home in Nashua.
“They have a large culinary team. I got to work with a lot of other directors across the 18 buildings that they own, so I got to get a lot of experience working with some really talented chefs there.”
With all that experience under her belt, Bocci decided to pursue her dream of owning her own business. She started a small bakery in her home and sold her products at a farm stand in front of her house.
After about two years of running her home bakery while working full time, she decided to leave her job as kitchen director in Nashua to focus on her business full time.
“So I decided to expand BB further and offer home-cooked meals,” she says, “so I could specialize in working with a variety of people with different dietary needs.”
Bocci highlighted his ability to cook for a variety of dietary restrictions, an experience he gained thanks to catering to a variety of diets while living in a senior housing complex.
In the three years since running BB's Kitchen, she's slowly expanded the business to include as many fresh, locally sourced ingredients as possible, and she recently finished work on a backyard vegetable garden so she can serve fresh herbs that she grows and picks herself.
“All my cooking is really about fresh, local ingredients,” she says. “It's really beneficial to be able to grow your own food, and I try to offer that to my customers and also offer it at my farm stand.”
Bocchi also keeps ducks and chickens and uses their eggs in cooking and baking.
Bocci is a member of the United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA), is fully insured and is ServSafe Manager certified to ensure food safety.
“I strive to provide the full culinary experience people are looking for with fresh, healthy and creative dinners and baked goods,” Bocci said.
BB's Kitchen offers personal chef services including menu planning, shopping, prep and cooking. For more information, visit bbskitchennh.com.
