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1-yr report card [feeling groovy] [but no more lunch]
Thursday, July 24, 2008 posted by
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Time flies (to coin a phrase), especially when you’re having fun.
Last time we did a “State of the Bakery Report” was at our 6-month mark, back in February ‘08. Back then we were raising prices and we STILL had trouble meeting demand - we were selling out by the end of every weekend. We now have a second shift five days a week, and we NEVER run out of bread, or brownies, or muffins for that matter (though we’ve cut the muffins back to two kinds, the ones that freeze well; namely chocolate-zucchini and carrot/morning-glory). (see the new menu here.)
And no, thank G-d, we’re not raising prices this time. In fact, we’re starting to buy in enough bulk that, even though costs are rising for every other bakery in the world, our costs are stable (or even getting slightly leaner and meaner, poo poo poo.) We’re able to improve our sourcing, eliminating the middle-man, so to speak.
And we’re getting more efficient at what used to be really labor-intensive tasks so that breadsticks, for example, which USED to be $12/dozen are now $10.
It’s like, we’re hitting our groove, now. Thank you G-d — just in time!
One piece of bad news (do you like how I conveniently buried it DEEP into the post?) is that we’re cutting back on lunch. Every time we try to make FOOD-type food (as opposed to bakery-type food) we get into trouble. Financially speaking, time-wise, energy-wise, it’s a big drain on resources.
It takes Cliff just as long to prepare 24 trays of veggies for sandwiches (lettuce & tomato & cucumber & cole slaw) NOT INCLUDING the tuna salad or the egg salad that those trays were actually just a side of…, as it does for him to prepare 12 cheesecakes or 12 apple tarts.
But the tarts and cheesecakes are why we are here, why YOU are here! I mean, really, you can get gluten-free veggies anywhere.
When Cliff wasn’t so busy, and we wanted to provide a service for our customers, we we happy to do it. But when we’re running out of tarts so he can slice tomatoes, we have a problem. So, we’ll still toast up some bread to order, and you can get single-serving-spreads (like cream cheese or almond butter) or tuna or egg to MAKE a sandwich, but that whole “salads” thing really didn’t work for us.
I think it’s an issue of focus. We’re trying to focus, to serve you better.
