To Market To Market

To Market, To Market

More About How Bakers Can Really
Make The Dough...

Whenever I sit down to write to you fine people I always think of the story of The Little Red Hen about how she found the wheat, Harvested the wheat Took the wheat to the mill all the while asking “Who will help me?” Not I. Said the cat. Not I, said the Dog. Not I, Said the goose. “Then I’ll do it myself...And she did. But after she had brought the milled wheat flower back from the miller and baked it into savory Bread she asked “And Who will help me eat this bread? And they all wanted to line up til she said, “No, I will do it myself.” And she did. The point is when the little red hen saw a patch of discarded wheat growing in the barnyard she saw the end from the beginning and could almost smell the fresh baked bread while the wheat was still green. You who can bake things that make folks ask for more, You know that your skills and secrets are worth Money for you and your household. You will find that many people including those closest to you may not share your vision. My advice? Be The Little Red Hen and Just Do it yourself...and you did.
But, Unlike the little red hen you are not going to get very far in this business if you eat it all yourself. So, you must find a market for your goods, Where you market your fresh baked products and how often will depend on what they are, Your current baking capacity, the time you can devote to the task at present and Just How Yummy they are. Understand that “No One Bakes as good as Grandma used to.” Whoever the customer is, There Grandma owns the Blue Ribbon. So if the taste of your baked goods brings Grandma to mind you have done well. Be happy with second place. I have often mused about opening a very small restaurant Just for breakfast and Lunch. I want to call it “The World’s Second Best Pancake Company”. I have a Very good Sweet Batter Buttermilk Pancake Recipe, But Naturally Grandma’s pancakes were better.
Well To Market. You would think of going into Grocery stores and trying to get shelf space and such but the store may be very proud of it’s own bakery and somebody already is packaging home baked cookies at the counter in the convenience store. So Where then? Well, Years ago I worked for a Baker from Austria. Because he spoke with a European accent he could charge 20% more and get all the local white collar market. He used to tell me that if there was a way he could keep the customer base he could Bake from The middle of November til Christmas, Mothers day week and Valentines day week and take the rest of the year off. Understand that and Remember that because that is Important. You may find as you are starting out that even though people do eat every day of the year if they can, there are times when you really have an opportunity to make the dough. Make your stand there if you like. General MacArthur Was the 5 star General During the Korean War. He had a motto when it came to Beach landings where an army first starts to function in a combat zone. “Hit’em where they aint.” Sam Walton who built Wal-Mart stores into the monster it is today, Applied the same Idea. Sears, J.C. Penny, Kresgee (Later, K-mart) were all in Big cities. Instead of building his stores across the street from the giants of the industry at that time, he built his stores in the small and middle sized towns. Hit’em where they aint. So where would you sell your Pies Cakes, Breads or pastries, Cookies, Brownies and such? Yard sales. Find the biggest yard sale around and offer to pay them $5 to set up a table. Flea Markets, Same deal. Farmer’s Markets, Breakrooms in offices Banks and brokerage firms...When you are in a position to be working out of a commercial Bakeshop or kitchen (and we will talk more about how to do that vert cheap in a future instalment.) You can find a catering company who wants or needs to out source their breads. Also, Believe it or not, at Holiday time Bakeshops. Many Bakeshops at Holiday time have such high demand for the menu items they are noted for that they out source for other things in quantity. The Austrian Baker I worked for so many years ago during thanksgiving and Christmas weeks he and I slept at the shop in 2 hour shifts and kept the ovens hot and full. Still, he brought in tons of French Bread and Hundreds of Pies from other baking sources. This provided Bounty and full shelves even as mountains of food were going out the door to homes of Happy customers. There are so many more little corners of your world that would Love a steady supply of the things you Bake better than anybody now living that we will have to revisit this subject real soon. Until then remember...
Nothing Smells Better
Than a Bakeshop in the Morning
~~~~~
Bake Well
Edward