Let's talk about the elephant in The Bakery.
When Mr. Amazing and I started this adventure we never, ever expected what it has become. Not in a million years. We hoped, but had no idea our community would be so incredibly supportive of our bread and pastry. Every single day you walk through our doors is our dream coming true. We are thrilled and humbled, to say the least.
Over the past year your support and inspiration has made me a better, stronger baker. Without question. You have inspired us to explore more and more things a bakery could be, and more and more of the baker I want to be. You have made The Bakery at 1871 the incredible place it is becoming, and inspired everything that is in the works. It is all you, from the menu to the new space. And we are so very grateful you are our reason and inspiration.
However, we didn't see this elephant coming.
Each week, despite our complete lack of advertising budget and efforts, more and more people learn about us and walk through our doors. We are pushing our time and equipment well beyond their capacities, routinely. Often doubling and tripling our quantities to try and keep up. At the end of the day, right now, this Bakery is just two people struggling to give our dream everything we have. Day by day.
We, alone, run every aspect of this tiny business. From daily operations and baking, to future planning. Which is, to say, struggling to figure out how to move forward in the best way possible. All while Mr. Amazing (who now bakes, runs front of house, and constructs the new bakery space) has a very full day job. Every moment of this craziness is what I spent 30 years dreaming about. And it’s all provided by the willingness and strength of the most incredible man carrying me through.
That all means, no matter how hard we try, we have limitations and hurdles.
We made a promise to each other and our dream, to hold strong to our values and ideas for The Bakery. Which means we do things differently. In a world where our values and principles are no longer the norm, we can understand many of the questions we get, operating as we do. However, we believe those things are amazing and make this bakery, and our bread and pastry, everything it is. Well worth the limitations and hurdles they sometimes create.
Nonetheless, the elephant is sometimes hard to look past.
We have a plan, and a limited budget. That’s the reality of building a small business from nothing. We don’t always have the budget to hire desperately needed help. Or buy equipment that would make things easier and faster. Mr. Amazing and I are The Bakery’s everything. It’s also the reality of growing with strength, slowly and responsibly. While some business make decisions to over leverage, finance large purchases and growth with weighty payments and interest, build on the backs of other people’s generosity and goodwill, and grow as quickly as possible; we know that can lead to weakness and failure. Businesses, like old houses and marriages, need a strong foundation. There isn’t much profit in a bakery, especially when starting out. More than anything, we want to be here for a long, long time sharing amazing bread and pastry, and being part of a strong community. One that we hope will continue to grow and build small businesses. Support more hopes and dreams, and continue to be an incredible place to call home. So, our means and resources are limited. We have to be creative. We have to learn to be more and more efficient. And, sometimes, we have to accept that there aren’t 25 hours in a day (or 48, like we often need), and hope that our community understands. We also know that this strong growth means we will be here, providing more and more, for the little town we love. Tomorrow and for many years to come.
We bake in small, hand-crafted batches. Especially while we’re still working in the old B&B kitchen. No massive floor mixers, no rows of convection ovens, and no automated or powered dough sheeters. Our baked goods are created and rolled by our hands, in our small kitchen, with very little equipment. This limits the quantities we can make. We certainly couldn’t fill big store shelves, even if we wanted to. It means that it’s possible, especially on busy days, that people could walk in and find empty cases. However, our process also means we get to spend hours and hours every day, hands on, honing our baking and knowledge. Feeling the dough, improving our skill, and getting better. We understand every small part of the ingredients and baking process because we’re passionate about it. Hands on, like bakers used to. Never believing that a recipe can be perfected or relied upon over skill, or that it is possible that any one of our products could ever be their best. We believe that is what makes a great baker, and makes truly artisan bread and pastry.
We believe the very best baked goods are baked that morning. We will never, ever sell a loaf or pastry that wasn’t made that day. Some things in life and cooking can be reasonably made in advance and served with a semblance of quality. Bread and pastry are not those things. If not eaten the same day, a croissant’s lively flaky texture will turn into a moist bread-like chew. A loaf of freshly made preservative free bread will begin losing the crackle in its blistered crust within several hours. Even soft, pillowy buttercream will develop a hard exterior shell of stale sugar that completely changes the cake experience. Are they safe and still good? Sure. At least most of the time. Kind of. But if you’re buying something with your hard-earned money, you should get what you’re paying for. In taste, texture and life span. Bread and pastry should live it’s life in your hands and delighting your taste buds, not on our bakery shelf. You deserve better. This promise is one we have held strong to, no matter how difficult it has been. One of the biggest hurdles we’ve had upholding this promise, is time. In order to provide the quality, we have to bake only what will sell that day. If it’s in our case when we close, it’s a loss for our small bakery. When it occasionally happens, we donate what’s left that afternoon. However, losses of any kind necessarily increase the cost of doing business and we never, ever want to have to pass that onto our customers. Instead, we do our best to estimate the quantities needed that day. While you may not be able to walk into The Bakery near the end of the day and find well stocked varieties and quantities, we do promise the baked goods you get will always be freshly baked with unmatched quality. And, inherently, the best value.
We use the highest quality ingredients, bar none. Organic, seasonal, fresh, small batch, artisan crafted, and honestly good. Even when it blows the budget. Sometimes these ingredients are hard to source, and often limited. If an ingredient doesn’t meet our standards, or isn’t available in the amounts we need, we don’t make it or we limit the quantities we produce. We would rather you are able to rely on our quality, than serve you anything other than our best.
It's true. The Bakery at 1871 doesn’t produce an abundance for the sake of stocking shelves or convenience. That concept lies squarely in the world of mass production and it’s derived notion of paramount convenience. It produces poorly or machine run goods, often riddled with compromised quality, even when well dressed in artisan clothes. It isn’t the artisan way. It isn’t our way. So, while we wish we could produce a Bakery always full of your favorites, at any time of day, we know we all pay for that in a thousand forgotten ways. Frankly, when it comes down to it, we would rather apologize for a little inconvenience than poor quality.
The Bakery at 1871 is undoubtedly sitting in view of a very weighty elephant, trying to move it with very little leverage and a small dolly. Maybe even one with rickety wheels. You know the kind on shopping carts that continually try to pull you out of a straight path? However, all of that is okay. Actually, it’s more than okay. Because the strength we’re building every day makes more than character. It makes great bakeries. And no matter how many wheels try to pull us of course, or throw elephants in our way, we can see through it to everything we will become. All with many, many thanks to you.
