Hi there!
I thought I would take a moment to let you know what is going on in the tiny bakery.
Site Launch/New Customers
The website has been live for 2 months, and the Facebook page has been up for one month. As most of you know, previously getting bread from me involved being on Facebook at the right time, and showing up with cash in hand. Creating my site has helped streamline the purchase process, better coordinate with customers, capture contact information to better communicate, and most importantly allowed my friends to share my business with others! So firstly I'd like to say thank you so much for you support, sharing my site and sharing my bread with your friends. I love watching the web of our community connect in unexpected ways and meeting special new people as my business grows slowly and organically, just the way I like it!
Sales
There have been $700 of sales through the site so far! For a little business just starting out I'm over the moon. So how did I spend all this glorious cash that you have so generously entrusted me with? Well, so far it has been reinvested in the bread business. Of course there is paying for the site (around $200 for the year, which works out to $18 a month) buying giant bags of specialty flour and quality salt, the gas that keeps my oven on, the brown paper and colored twine that wraps your breads, but also a few fun things. I invested in a better quality more supportive baby carrier for baby Leo, since I wear him on my back while I do most of my baking. It's so special and pretty,I'm so enjoying wearing him as I do my work. I also invested in business cards after having to scribble my business info on a scrap of paper 3 times in one week (kind of awkward!) I think they are awfully nice looking so if you'd like one please ask I'm pretty proud of them. Most fun is I paid my entry fee for a spot at Mod Shop, the downtown craft bazaar the weekend after thanksgiving! I know I'll see a lot of you there as we love to support local and handmade.
Future Plans
I'm currently testing recipes (yes, I develop my own recipes!) for new pan loaves to offer you. I plan to buy more pans soon and hopefully start off "multigrain monday" to bring some healthy sandwich style loaves of bread that are easy to slice, kid friendly, and of course made with my wild yeast sourdough starter. I thought this would be a nice way to start the week off when we are thinking about meal planning and packing lunches for kiddos and need quick, wholesome, nutrient dense breakfasts (toast! yeah!) This loaf features whole wheat, barley, spelt and rye and is studded with cranberry raisin and apricot for sweetness. Also, I'm furthering my bread education as always with 3 new bread books from the library, and hoping to finally spend more time on my bike this month thanks to the cooler weather! If you see us around in our big yellow cargo bike be sure to say Hey! Other things on the horizon include filling out my cottage food business application and going legit (it's in process) and working on drawing up a logo, which hopefully I can show you in next months awesome tiny bakery update! Many of you have been asking about pizzas! I love love love making pizzas, but they are very labor intense and hard to do while taking care of a baby since they need to be topped and come in and out of the oven quickly, if you are someone who loves babies and pizza, and more specifically would like to play with a baby for a couple hours and be paid with pizza, please let me know!
Happy October everyone! Here's to another month of beautiful bread!