A Personal Note About Thumb Bread®

For nearly twenty years, my sisters and I have poured our hearts, our savings, our sacrifices, and much of our lives into building something that could and would save our sick father’s life, while also helping us support our disabled mother.

Thumb Bread® was never just a product to us. It was born out of necessity, built through hardship, and carried forward by three sisters who believed that hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of faith could turn something small into something extraordinary.

We have never had the luxury of an easy road. Everything we have accomplished, every door we have opened, every relationship we have built, and every small victory we have celebrated has come at a tremendous personal cost.

And yet, here we are.

For nearly four years, we have been engaged in litigation with Vieira's Bakery, Inc., over what we allege is the infringement of our intellectual property and the violation of a confidentiality agreement.

As if fighting to protect something we created wasn't difficult enough, we have watched our personal and professional social media activity become a source of scrutiny throughout this litigation.

Our posts have been monitored, collected, screenshotted, and submitted to opposing counsel. In one instance, a LinkedIn post was recorded using another phone, and that recording was subsequently produced in discovery.

Even this website, where we have chosen to tell our own story in our own words, has become part of their efforts to challenge our credibility.

We are three sisters who spent nearly two decades building a business from nothing. We have worked through economic recessions, personal hardships, financial uncertainty, and the unimaginable grief of losing both of our parents.

And now, in addition to defending the intellectual property we worked so hard to create, we find ourselves defending our character, our intentions, and even our right to speak openly about our experiences.

Apparently, in our view, challenging our rights to the packaging we created wasn't enough. Now, even the story of how we built our business is being used in an effort to discredit us.

There is something profoundly heartbreaking about watching years of honest work, sacrifice, and perseverance reduced to screenshots and litigation exhibits.

When we share a milestone, announce a new retail partnership, or celebrate a small victory, it isn't to boast. It's because we remember what it took to get there. We remember the sleepless nights, the bills we weren't sure we could pay, the doors slammed in our faces, and the parents who believed in us long before anyone else did.

Those moments matter to us. They are pieces of a life we have spent building.

And it is deeply painful to feel that even those moments can no longer be shared without wondering how they might be used against us.

For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to become more selective about what we share publicly regarding Thumb Bread® and our business activities.

Until this litigation concludes, we will no longer publicly disclose the identities of our retail partners, where our products are being sold, or the details of how we are growing our business.

We are NOT ashamed of our accomplishments. We are proud of our journey. We are proud of what we have overcome to get to where we are. We have nothing to hide.

We have also NOT stopped fighting for what we believe is right.

But we should be able to build a business without feeling that every step forward must first be examined through the lens of a lawsuit.

We started this journey to build something meaningful for our family. We never imagined that protecting what we created would come at such a personal cost.

What hurts most is knowing that our parents are no longer here to see how far we've come. So much of what we do is about honoring them, their sacrifices, and the life they worked so hard to give us.

We will continue building. We will continue protecting what we created. And we will continue telling our story, because it belongs to us.

Our work does not become less meaningful because someone challenges it. Our sacrifices do not disappear because someone questions them.

And our story does not become any less true simply because someone would prefer that we stop telling it.

They can turn our posts into exhibits. They can scrutinize our accomplishments. They can challenge our credibility. And they can make up lies about us.

But they cannot erase the twenty years we spent building something from nothing.

And they cannot take away what it took to get here.

We move forward.

With Love,
Arzu Esendemir