What the client wants, we make

This was the beginning of the phase which sort of diversified our products, as clients would request specific products, and we would figure out a way to make them. I guess it’s hard to find good bakeries, which is why we started a bakery to begin with.

I had just quit my job at the catering company and was focusing as much energy as possible on sugar. I still did a little bit of web design, though, just to keep the cash flowing.

So then the big downtown coffee house guy asked if we’d make scones. Of course that meant daily deliveries before they opened which was 6am. Mind you, I’m not a morning person, so I told hime I’d only be able to do them if they were baked at nite. We began developing a couple scone recipes and went through the approval process. He finally approved the scones and we started production. It was extremely trickly working out the kinks of mass production and at first I must say the first few weeks consistency suffered greatly. We kept getting complaints about the oat scones being too heavy. I thought they were pretty good, and even brought them to a bakery at PCC (a local natural food market) for a second opinion. The client at one point said we should make a regular scone and just sprinkle oats on top. That was so absurd I thought. It wouldn’t be an oat scone then. I held my ground, and then finally produced a new revised scone that seemed to satisfy both of us. I think it’s important for the client to trust the professional, but I also think there has to be a comfortable area of collaboration. After all, it’s sort of a partnership in some way.

But one of the concessions I did make, and it was a tough one, was that I’d bake the scones in the morning right before delivering them. That meant getting up at 4am to run down to turn the oven on, put the scones in at 5am, and then pack up and leave the kitchen by 5:45am to get the delivery to the shop by 5:55am. If we were any later, we would get the sneer from the barista who would glance at the clock. But hey, what other bakery would deliver warm scones before 6am!

Getting up in the morning was grueling. I would do the bake and John would show up around 5:30 to pick up the scones to deliver them. We were both really really groggy at all times. And really this was for only about $40 bucks a day. That’s gross sales, people! We knew we had to sell scones to other clients to make it worth our while to wake up so early. Originally, I thought with a typical 8 hour day, I’d be out of the kitchen by about noon, and out on the patio by 3pm sipping tea or wine. Of course I didn’t take into account how much being groggy slows you down. Usually, I was out of the kitchen around 4pm. Often, I would sneak home after the scones were baked and take a power nap, only to return groggy in a different way. You know how they say loss of sleep makes you crazy, well I think we were both going a little crazy, slowly.