Somerville resident Carla Barile always had a "dream" of owning her own food establishment.

"I wanted to make a life of my own," she said. "I wanted to build my own dream instead of helping somebody else build theirs."

After being stuck in many different jobs in the restaurant and food industry for a number of years, Barile finally decided it was time to go out on a limb and create her own business.

"If I had a job, it would be me going to a job, and I had a boss, and that was my life," she explained. "I didn't want that life anymore."

In May 2016, she decided to open her own bakery, called END Bakery, out of her home at 110 Powder House Blvd. in Somerville. After running the business out of her house for a few years, she is now ready to expand to an actual store in Medford on 17 Playstead Road.

"I am looking forward to it," she said. "I know they have a lot of bakeries that are in Medford, but we are a different type of bakery, and we are not trying to step on anybody's toes. We are just trying to make a living and make it work."

END Bakery, which stands for Everyone Needs Dessert, will offer a variety of baked goods that are "professionally home-baked," and Barile is hoping to open in September. The business will be open seven days a week in the beginning, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and once she notices what their slow days are, they may close on Sunday and Monday.

"It's basically trial and error," Barile explained. "I am hoping to be open every day for the first few weeks just to see what my quotas are and what days I will be able to take off to be able to buy products and stuff."

Her husband, Gene Murray, and her two sisters, Tricia and Michelle Barile, all help with the Somerville business and will continue to run their bakery out of the Somerville home. Carla will focus on being in the Medford store and will ultimately have to hire an employee to help out with the new place.

"We have started to make the transition," Carla said. "We are going to try to still do the residential because the space is very small. Once everything is in there, it's going to be tight but hopefully, we will make it work."

Medford City Councilor Frederick Dello Russo said he loves Barile's initiative to start her own business in Medford.

"It is inspiring to see this entrepreneurial effort," Dello Russo said. "It is good to see someone put themselves out there."

Developing a passion for baking

Barile always knew she wanted to be involved in restaurants, but she didn't initially know she wanted to bake. However, after working in the seafood department at Bread and Circus, which is now Whole Foods, for a couple of years after graduating from high school, she realized she really liked to bake.

"I would get in trouble because I would use so many different things and make lobster pies for the customers," Barile said with a laugh. "The customers loved it."

Barile went to Newbury College for Culinary School for two years, and she started baking at a restaurant while taking some classes on cake decorating on the side. Then, her family suggested she sell her baked goods. After thinking about starting her own business for many years and "procrastinating" out of "fear," she decided to just go for it and start a place out of her home.

"We wanted to open a residential bakery because we couldn't afford a storefront and who knows if you are going to last in a storefront," Barile explained. "We had to just make things that were shelf stable that could stay on your counter for a week."

Barile started selling her products to customers, at farmers markets and to other companies as well, and although it was convenient to have a place from her home, she said it was "tough to make money."

"I can't hire anyone to work in my home, I can only hire within the family," Barile explained. "We have to cap everything. We can't take on more than we can chew."

At the end of last year, Barile found it was the right time to expand to a storefront, and she and her sister started looking for potential places to expand the business. Then, this year, her sister found the place on Playstead Road in Medford.

"I live so close to Medford, I feel like I am already there," Barile said. "I love a lot of places in Medford, I am always in Medford, I do my taxes in Medford so I really hope that they enjoy a bakery that I like to say is professionally home-made because everything is small batched, it's not processed, we make everything in small form, and it's a really good product."

Although there are many bakeries in Medford, Barile said her place is unique and will offer a bunch of different baked goods for breakfast and evening desserts, such as apple crostatas, baked fruit pies, mini cheesecake, cream puffs, cupcakes, cakes, and of course, their "famous" pecan bars.

"People always say these are famous," Barile said. "People always talk about the pecan bars."

Although Barile said it can be stressful at times when they have to make a specific wedding cake by a specific date, she explained the most meaningful part of baking is seeing the joy from a child after the kid receives Barile's birthday cake.

"When a parent orders a cake for their child, and their child is so excited, sometimes they will send me a little video or sometimes pictures of how excited that kid is," Barile said. "They are more excited for the cake than the toys they just got.

"It just fills you with joy," she continued. "It's like, 'Wow, you just made him or her 3-year-old's birthday so exciting.' That's the fun in it. That's the stuff that gives you happiness because they were happy about it."

Getting to know her customers



One of Barile's main goals of the business is to get to know her customers and the Medford residents personally.

"I like to get to know people," Barile said. "That's what I like. I hope the people that come in to the bakery come in there more than once, and you get to know them. I love that about certain stores when you go in all the time and they know your name. I want to know your name. That's one of the goals is to just to get to know the people."

Barile further explained she doesn't know what she is doing, but hopes it all goes well when they open in the next month or two.

"I have never done this before," she emphasized. "Every step of the way, it's kind of just blind. I am just going blind and kind of pushing everything out of my way and moving forward with no clue as to what is to happen next but just dealing with it and overcoming it and moving on to the next thing."

Barile knows there will be challenges, such as finding the time to sleep, but she still hopes people will come visit her place and enjoy her baked goods.

"When the doors open is when it will really be tough," Barile recognized. "I really hope that people just bear with us and our newness and trust that it's going to be good. We want to stay open. We want people to like our product."