So, I had to buy a little bit of flour this week after the craziness of last week. I always get funny looks at Sam's Club.....wonder why? :P
So in total I have 50lbs of Bread flour, 25lb of all purpose flour and 25lb of sugar. There is also 10lbs of butter in the fridge ready to go. (I am so glad my mom already had an extra fridge before I moved my business into her house. )
Mom is my help a lot of the time. It is so nice not to bake in an empty kitchen and most of the time the business can even afford to pay us both. She has been an awesome help through this whole endeavor, even when she was just cheering me on from her house while I baked in my own apartment. Besides, how many food producers would give anything to have the person who taught them to cook/bake within arms reach everyday? I couldn't ask for a more supportive parent.
The best part about having her as a helper is that she is one of the people that loves to change, adapt, and improve all the time. She is a perfect mix of "just because it was done this way before doesn't mean it can't be improved" and "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." :D
Last week, was one of those weeks that we realized that the process was broken. As home bakers we bake alone. Even in the same kitchen, at the same time, we divide and conquer. If she is making bread, I am rolling out pie crusts, etc... We work quietly most of the day. We both know what needs to be done and just enjoy the company. That is where we realized the process was broken.
We didn't have a crazy busy day last Saturday but, we had a lot of small individual orders. We got harried, we got stressed and we got disorganized. Which made me less able to juggle the new customers who always need a little assistance learning the routine of our unconventional little business. After some discussing our problems, we realized if we ever increased our orders significantly we would not be able to cope.
So here is the solution. We are going to learn to work together and complete things together. So two sets of eyes and two sets of hands on everything. No, we aren't going to make the same loaf of bread at the same time but, we both be working on bread. The ovens will be the same temperature, the cook times will be the same, and will both be in the same "mode". We are going to start on our process improvement strategy this weekend so I will let you know how it goes.
Later today I will write an update on Raul, and the fun spritz cookies there will be this weekend.