December 8, 2010: Ovens
For a while the ovens in the department have been acting up. They are both over 20 years old and their wiring is dangerous. Stop & Shop does not want to invest in new ovens for our store even though we are one of the top selling stores in the entire company.
Usually one oven would break and the other oven would work and then it would switch. Today the ovens decided to both break simultaneously. Needless to say without an oven none of the baking can get done. We put in a call to the company responsible for fixing the ovens, but they said it would take three hours for them to get there and fix everything. It was early and we did not have the time to wait. I tried to figure out the wiring and tried to mix and match the items to see what would happen. I thought that at least help was on the way if I messed up more.
I was shocked several times by live wires, but the end result was one of the ovens working. At least with that we could start the baking. Just another day...
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Veranda Homestead
December 8, 2010: Veranda Homestead
We have many return customers to the store. Some of them are good and others you never want to see again. There is one man from Veranda Homestead, an elderly community, Michael, who often comes in for his cakes. The building was holding it's thirtieth anniversary party and Michael wanted us to carve a cake into a specific design and decorate it: the logo of the company. Michael was the head chef for the home's kitchen. He was one of our best supporters and purchased several dozen cakes with us per year.
Michael wanted the cake carved into what looked like the letter "V" with a leaf over it. Normally we don't go above and beyond the generic designs for customers except on extremely rare occasions and given that we have the time. We had the available time and Michael was a great customer.
He wanted 20 cakes made in this design. We went to work on it and it took the entirety of our shifts (Myself and my boss combined) to get the cakes shaped and decorated. It was a difficult job and the final cost was approximately $800 so it was worth it.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
We have many return customers to the store. Some of them are good and others you never want to see again. There is one man from Veranda Homestead, an elderly community, Michael, who often comes in for his cakes. The building was holding it's thirtieth anniversary party and Michael wanted us to carve a cake into a specific design and decorate it: the logo of the company. Michael was the head chef for the home's kitchen. He was one of our best supporters and purchased several dozen cakes with us per year.
Michael wanted the cake carved into what looked like the letter "V" with a leaf over it. Normally we don't go above and beyond the generic designs for customers except on extremely rare occasions and given that we have the time. We had the available time and Michael was a great customer.
He wanted 20 cakes made in this design. We went to work on it and it took the entirety of our shifts (Myself and my boss combined) to get the cakes shaped and decorated. It was a difficult job and the final cost was approximately $800 so it was worth it.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Keys
December 8, 2010: Keys
My department head was off today and I had forgotten my keys to his desk. I had to do the order using the order book, but I had no way to enter. I tried to call the security department to cut off the lock and let me into the desk, but they were nowhere to be found.
I found a simple solution. Take the scan gun and scan each item on the floor for what we were missing. It was a simple solution to a complex problem. I have to tell my boss about that when he gets back. It seems to have taken less time and will be more effective.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
My department head was off today and I had forgotten my keys to his desk. I had to do the order using the order book, but I had no way to enter. I tried to call the security department to cut off the lock and let me into the desk, but they were nowhere to be found.
I found a simple solution. Take the scan gun and scan each item on the floor for what we were missing. It was a simple solution to a complex problem. I have to tell my boss about that when he gets back. It seems to have taken less time and will be more effective.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Cold Cold Cold
December 7, 2010: Cold Cold Cold
It seems as though the store has forgotten that they have a heating unit. The air conditioning blowers are still blowing in the department and everyone is afraid of getting sick. We have mentioned it to the store manager, but to no avail. The only warm place in the entire store is the restrooms. Can we move the cakes in there so I can get some work done? Just a thought...they don't call them urinal cakes for nothing.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
It seems as though the store has forgotten that they have a heating unit. The air conditioning blowers are still blowing in the department and everyone is afraid of getting sick. We have mentioned it to the store manager, but to no avail. The only warm place in the entire store is the restrooms. Can we move the cakes in there so I can get some work done? Just a thought...they don't call them urinal cakes for nothing.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Cakes Galore
December 7, 2010: Cakes Galore
The full time cake decorator is on vacation and it is up to the remaining people to make the specialty orders that have to be made. This is the most annoying part of the bakery. The cake orders take precise actions for them to be pulled off the right way. We do generic designs such as balloons or roses, simple designs with edible images, and the intricate cake orders with toy kits for children. We have several different sizes and two types of frosting that can be used. Our largest cake, a full sheet, feeds about 60 people and ranges in price from $38 to $44. Next in line is the half sheet: half the size of the full that feeds about 30 people for between $28 to $34. The final is the quarter sheet: quarter the size of a full and feeds 15 people for between $18 to $24.
Today we had eighteen cake orders that had to be done. Nine of them were full sheets which was going to be extremely challenging. Those take the longest amount of time. My boss and I each took half the pile. Seems a bit odd that out of eighteen cakes I wound up with all the full sheets...
Oh well. Time to get to work.
The first order is a full sheet with multicolored roses in the corners that reads "Happy Birthday Gabriela." Next is a picture cake of a veteran who was turning 85 years old. A picture is made the same way that a regular picture is printed out of a computer. There is a sugar paper that we feed through an Epson printer and it prints the image with Edible Inks. It looks impressive, but when you work in the business it really isn't. After was a Thomas the Tank Engine cake for a child named Bradley. To make this cake I had to use the spray gun: a little metal gun that we load with very hefty food coloring to spray scenery on a cake. I had to draw train tracks and a valley and then place the toys. Two more picture cakes for a set of twins. A Iron Man cake for a teenage gentleman who still has that young boy inside I guess. The rest were all simplistic flower and balloon designs.
It took a lot of time, but it was worth the effort.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The full time cake decorator is on vacation and it is up to the remaining people to make the specialty orders that have to be made. This is the most annoying part of the bakery. The cake orders take precise actions for them to be pulled off the right way. We do generic designs such as balloons or roses, simple designs with edible images, and the intricate cake orders with toy kits for children. We have several different sizes and two types of frosting that can be used. Our largest cake, a full sheet, feeds about 60 people and ranges in price from $38 to $44. Next in line is the half sheet: half the size of the full that feeds about 30 people for between $28 to $34. The final is the quarter sheet: quarter the size of a full and feeds 15 people for between $18 to $24.
Today we had eighteen cake orders that had to be done. Nine of them were full sheets which was going to be extremely challenging. Those take the longest amount of time. My boss and I each took half the pile. Seems a bit odd that out of eighteen cakes I wound up with all the full sheets...
Oh well. Time to get to work.
The first order is a full sheet with multicolored roses in the corners that reads "Happy Birthday Gabriela." Next is a picture cake of a veteran who was turning 85 years old. A picture is made the same way that a regular picture is printed out of a computer. There is a sugar paper that we feed through an Epson printer and it prints the image with Edible Inks. It looks impressive, but when you work in the business it really isn't. After was a Thomas the Tank Engine cake for a child named Bradley. To make this cake I had to use the spray gun: a little metal gun that we load with very hefty food coloring to spray scenery on a cake. I had to draw train tracks and a valley and then place the toys. Two more picture cakes for a set of twins. A Iron Man cake for a teenage gentleman who still has that young boy inside I guess. The rest were all simplistic flower and balloon designs.
It took a lot of time, but it was worth the effort.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The Boss is Back
December 6, 2010: The Boss is Back
The store manager has been away for a week on vacation. Needless to say when the boss is away the workers would play, but now that he has come back his usual method is to come back with a force. Even if things were exactly the way they were before he left and it was the way he had liked it he would find some fault to pick on in order to reassure his authority.
Our department was spotless. There were no physical details out of place. What would he possibly have to pick on?
He wanted us to take apart the cake case. He want us to literally unscrew the entire metal frame and get down to the fans that keep the case cool and clean them.
It took forever to take the case apart and it made it difficult to remember where pieces went. It was a difficult task and it took a long time and had no point. He is back.
The store manager has been away for a week on vacation. Needless to say when the boss is away the workers would play, but now that he has come back his usual method is to come back with a force. Even if things were exactly the way they were before he left and it was the way he had liked it he would find some fault to pick on in order to reassure his authority.
Our department was spotless. There were no physical details out of place. What would he possibly have to pick on?
He wanted us to take apart the cake case. He want us to literally unscrew the entire metal frame and get down to the fans that keep the case cool and clean them.
It took forever to take the case apart and it made it difficult to remember where pieces went. It was a difficult task and it took a long time and had no point. He is back.
New Horizons
December 6, 2010: New Horizons
I always loved this job even at the worst times. I liked the people I worked with and I loved the work itself, the time for a change has come. In about a month I am going to be leaving the bakery for a new job at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The position is nothing high ranking, but the money is more than double my current hourly wage at the store. I plan on going full time and working just a day or two at the store for extra income. College is coming to a close and it is time for a change that I will be able to support myself with. I will make this the best last month of work that I possibly can.
Side Note: I told my boss that I was planning on drastically cutting down or leaving altogether and he was devastated. It will be hard to leave my first real job, but it is a necessary change. I will keep the updates coming throughout the last month of Lil' Buddy in the bakery.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
I always loved this job even at the worst times. I liked the people I worked with and I loved the work itself, the time for a change has come. In about a month I am going to be leaving the bakery for a new job at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The position is nothing high ranking, but the money is more than double my current hourly wage at the store. I plan on going full time and working just a day or two at the store for extra income. College is coming to a close and it is time for a change that I will be able to support myself with. I will make this the best last month of work that I possibly can.
Side Note: I told my boss that I was planning on drastically cutting down or leaving altogether and he was devastated. It will be hard to leave my first real job, but it is a necessary change. I will keep the updates coming throughout the last month of Lil' Buddy in the bakery.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Back to Normal
December 6, 2010: Back to Normal
I could not stand working in the other store anymore so I requested my hours there be switched back to my own store. They had no choice but to comply and today I am back working with my work family.
I came back to utter chaos. Nobody had taken the time to realize that two of the three full time employees were on vacation during this week so the department was extremely shorthanded. The shelves were empty and the department was backed up with stock. My boss wanted me to work as many hours as necessary to get the place back to normal with him. We each put in a solid fifteen hours to try to get the department not only set up, but set up for the holiday season.
It took a lot of effort, but the department was filled with all our usual goods. We had another kink in the day when the night crew worker called out sick. We had to complete that job along with setting up the holiday displays. That job took a couple hours, but we were able to complete it.
Next came getting on to the turkey trailer and grabbing the holiday product. Going on to the dock where the turkey trailer is is the absolute most disgusting place one could ever want to be. There are several large, brown industrial sized barrels full of meat waste: rotting meat sitting unrefrigerated. It is such a wretched smell. It is absolutely atrocious. The goal was to rush through getting the product and get it back to the department before we passed out from the smell. Goal accomplished.
We set up several tables in the department: four Christmas displays and 1 Hannukah display. The Hanukkah display was put at the end of the Kosher aisle. The four Christmas tables were set up at both store entrances and two tables in the department.
On the tables were: Do it Yourself Gingerbread Houses, frosted sugar cookies, fancy cookie baskets, and several holiday items that we in the bakery had created such as pull apart cupcake designs in the shape of snowflakes, Santa hats, candles, and stockings.
Things were finally all set up.
Until Next Time,
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
I could not stand working in the other store anymore so I requested my hours there be switched back to my own store. They had no choice but to comply and today I am back working with my work family.
I came back to utter chaos. Nobody had taken the time to realize that two of the three full time employees were on vacation during this week so the department was extremely shorthanded. The shelves were empty and the department was backed up with stock. My boss wanted me to work as many hours as necessary to get the place back to normal with him. We each put in a solid fifteen hours to try to get the department not only set up, but set up for the holiday season.
It took a lot of effort, but the department was filled with all our usual goods. We had another kink in the day when the night crew worker called out sick. We had to complete that job along with setting up the holiday displays. That job took a couple hours, but we were able to complete it.
Next came getting on to the turkey trailer and grabbing the holiday product. Going on to the dock where the turkey trailer is is the absolute most disgusting place one could ever want to be. There are several large, brown industrial sized barrels full of meat waste: rotting meat sitting unrefrigerated. It is such a wretched smell. It is absolutely atrocious. The goal was to rush through getting the product and get it back to the department before we passed out from the smell. Goal accomplished.
We set up several tables in the department: four Christmas displays and 1 Hannukah display. The Hanukkah display was put at the end of the Kosher aisle. The four Christmas tables were set up at both store entrances and two tables in the department.
On the tables were: Do it Yourself Gingerbread Houses, frosted sugar cookies, fancy cookie baskets, and several holiday items that we in the bakery had created such as pull apart cupcake designs in the shape of snowflakes, Santa hats, candles, and stockings.
Things were finally all set up.
Until Next Time,
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Thursday, December 2, 2010
New Store
December 3, 2010: New Store
So as mentioned in my previous entry I am currently working at the developing Stop & Shop Supermarket in Billerica temporarily while it is being remodeled. The store is a lot larger than I expected it would be and there are barely any customers coming in. The remodel is completed, but there are still a couple of set up items that need to be taken care of. Usually when there is a grand re-opening customers swarm in order to see if there are any giveaways or anything free. Yet, with Stop & Shop being the store that it is that will never be the case.
There are new digital ovens in the bakery that are hard to get accustomed to. I am use to one with a turning dial that beeps at such a loud frequency as to not be ignored. This one shuts off the product at the end of the time so that it does not burn. The surfaces are all new and all stainless steel. Everything looks great.
The cake case is substantially larger than the one at my store, but they only have one variety of each cake whereas we have several that we offer.
The great thing about working in a new store: though having to keep a professional appearance and reputation should anyone try to give orders or mistreat me I have every right not to listen considering this was not my base store and I was doing a favor. It is very liberating to have no rules or regulations.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
So as mentioned in my previous entry I am currently working at the developing Stop & Shop Supermarket in Billerica temporarily while it is being remodeled. The store is a lot larger than I expected it would be and there are barely any customers coming in. The remodel is completed, but there are still a couple of set up items that need to be taken care of. Usually when there is a grand re-opening customers swarm in order to see if there are any giveaways or anything free. Yet, with Stop & Shop being the store that it is that will never be the case.
There are new digital ovens in the bakery that are hard to get accustomed to. I am use to one with a turning dial that beeps at such a loud frequency as to not be ignored. This one shuts off the product at the end of the time so that it does not burn. The surfaces are all new and all stainless steel. Everything looks great.
The cake case is substantially larger than the one at my store, but they only have one variety of each cake whereas we have several that we offer.
The great thing about working in a new store: though having to keep a professional appearance and reputation should anyone try to give orders or mistreat me I have every right not to listen considering this was not my base store and I was doing a favor. It is very liberating to have no rules or regulations.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Temporary Transfer
December 3, 2010: Temporary Transfer
So I was told several days ago that I was going to be sent to a new store. I am currently in that store in Billerica until December 15. The store is undergoing a massive remodel and they needed help doing the baking and setting up the machines.
It is, in a way, infuriating to see such a poorly selling store getting all these new machines when a store as successful as ours has 20 year old ovens, proofers, and bread slicers. Maybe it's just jealousy but these should be ours!
Until Next Time..from Billerica
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
So I was told several days ago that I was going to be sent to a new store. I am currently in that store in Billerica until December 15. The store is undergoing a massive remodel and they needed help doing the baking and setting up the machines.
It is, in a way, infuriating to see such a poorly selling store getting all these new machines when a store as successful as ours has 20 year old ovens, proofers, and bread slicers. Maybe it's just jealousy but these should be ours!
Until Next Time..from Billerica
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
No Space
December 3, 2010: No Space
The worst part of the holiday season is attempting to fit the allocation supplies into the freezers. Considering we are such a large seller of product it almost seems ridiculous how little space we are given. Stores with a much smaller amount of product get almost triple our freezer space. So the balance between all the product that arrives and the space given to store it is not proportionate.
Christmas comes sooner and sooner each year it seems. The tell tale sign are the hundreds of pieces of product that come in with big red and green labels on them. This year was a bit more than expected. Ten total pallets as compared to our usual 2. There were 2 pallets regular product, 1 pallet Hanukkah product, and 7 pallets of Christmas product. There was completely no place to put anything.
It came down to what myself and my boss could do. We called up a company to rent a portable freezer: pretty much an 18 wheel truck that is a freezer that they leave behind at the store. Usually it is just used for turkeys and meats, but we needed it for this product. We called, had it dropped off, and then loaded the product directly on to it.
Still not enough space...6 pallets fit on. There were 4 more to go. We were able to get our usual 2 into our freezer, but then we had to have the last 2 sent to a different store completely for storage. Never have I seen this much product come into the store. HERE COME THE HOLIDAYS!
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The worst part of the holiday season is attempting to fit the allocation supplies into the freezers. Considering we are such a large seller of product it almost seems ridiculous how little space we are given. Stores with a much smaller amount of product get almost triple our freezer space. So the balance between all the product that arrives and the space given to store it is not proportionate.
Christmas comes sooner and sooner each year it seems. The tell tale sign are the hundreds of pieces of product that come in with big red and green labels on them. This year was a bit more than expected. Ten total pallets as compared to our usual 2. There were 2 pallets regular product, 1 pallet Hanukkah product, and 7 pallets of Christmas product. There was completely no place to put anything.
It came down to what myself and my boss could do. We called up a company to rent a portable freezer: pretty much an 18 wheel truck that is a freezer that they leave behind at the store. Usually it is just used for turkeys and meats, but we needed it for this product. We called, had it dropped off, and then loaded the product directly on to it.
Still not enough space...6 pallets fit on. There were 4 more to go. We were able to get our usual 2 into our freezer, but then we had to have the last 2 sent to a different store completely for storage. Never have I seen this much product come into the store. HERE COME THE HOLIDAYS!
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The Big Visit
December 3, 2010: The Big Visit
So due to our massive sales during Thanksgiving the corporate office has decided to pay a visit to the store to congratulate us on our great week. The president of the company and several of his peons were set to visit the store this afternoon. Everyone was scrambling to make the store presentable and beautiful.
Our department was completely clean. We just have one bad habit of playing trash can basketball when we are too lazy to walk over and throw something away. Just as I was taking a shot (which went in) who came down the aisle but the president of the company and his lackeys. I figured I would get a talking to, but all they did was come over to the department and say "Nice shot!" They went on to praise the work we had done and praise the sales we had made.
"I know it was a difficult week for you all, but your effort truly shows. You are one of the few bakeries in the entire company that does not bring store sales percentages down. You are always beating the sales you had from last year and that is impressive. I congratulate you all for a great year and thank you for your service." - President of the company
It was nice to finally get some praise and recognition. In this job we usually go day in and day out working so hard and just getting crap at the end of the day. It may not be a white collar position, but we do our best work for this company.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
So due to our massive sales during Thanksgiving the corporate office has decided to pay a visit to the store to congratulate us on our great week. The president of the company and several of his peons were set to visit the store this afternoon. Everyone was scrambling to make the store presentable and beautiful.
Our department was completely clean. We just have one bad habit of playing trash can basketball when we are too lazy to walk over and throw something away. Just as I was taking a shot (which went in) who came down the aisle but the president of the company and his lackeys. I figured I would get a talking to, but all they did was come over to the department and say "Nice shot!" They went on to praise the work we had done and praise the sales we had made.
"I know it was a difficult week for you all, but your effort truly shows. You are one of the few bakeries in the entire company that does not bring store sales percentages down. You are always beating the sales you had from last year and that is impressive. I congratulate you all for a great year and thank you for your service." - President of the company
It was nice to finally get some praise and recognition. In this job we usually go day in and day out working so hard and just getting crap at the end of the day. It may not be a white collar position, but we do our best work for this company.
Until Next Time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Thanksgiving Sales
December 2, 2010: Thanksgiving Sales
The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. One of the most hectic times for the bakery and one of the largest sales days of the entire year. After people have filled their stomachs with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and one or several of our pies it is time for the numbers to come in for bakery. How did we do for sales?
On an average week the bakery pulls in approximately $25,000. Last Thanksgiving we sold approximately $37,000 for the week. The bakery workers waited with bated breath as the numbers came in: $41,265 for the week: the greatest sales week that the department has ever had and high enough for the largest sales week in the entire company. It just goes to show the heart and dedication of the workers in the department. Every worker put in over 50 hours of work over the last week including the part timers. The department sold over 8,000 pies overall and thousands of other baked goods.
Needless to say it was an amazing week for the department. Very very tiring, but the numbers in the end were far worth the effort.
Until next time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. One of the most hectic times for the bakery and one of the largest sales days of the entire year. After people have filled their stomachs with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and one or several of our pies it is time for the numbers to come in for bakery. How did we do for sales?
On an average week the bakery pulls in approximately $25,000. Last Thanksgiving we sold approximately $37,000 for the week. The bakery workers waited with bated breath as the numbers came in: $41,265 for the week: the greatest sales week that the department has ever had and high enough for the largest sales week in the entire company. It just goes to show the heart and dedication of the workers in the department. Every worker put in over 50 hours of work over the last week including the part timers. The department sold over 8,000 pies overall and thousands of other baked goods.
Needless to say it was an amazing week for the department. Very very tiring, but the numbers in the end were far worth the effort.
Until next time...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Thanksgiving
November 25, 2010: Thanksgiving
It is in this time of year that we should set aside the time to thank those in our lives who make it special. Just a brief post to say thank you to all the friends and family who have made me who I am today and made each day worthwhile. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
It is in this time of year that we should set aside the time to thank those in our lives who make it special. Just a brief post to say thank you to all the friends and family who have made me who I am today and made each day worthwhile. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Stories V
November 18, 2010: Stories V
November 16, 2010: Boss Once Again
This job is not all light work with frosting and cake. There is some real heavy lifting that has to be done with all the frozen boxes. It can wear on a body over time. That is what happened to my boss. He had done too much heavy lifting and his back was bothering him. He had been to all kinds of physical therapy but now it was necessary for him to get a cortisone injection to ease his pain. He was going to be out for several days so it was now time for me to take over the ranks once again.
The full time workers were not happy that I had been put in charge considering that they technically had more status than me, but I was the only one who knew what to do in the department the way that the manager wanted it to be. There was going to be a bit more stress than usual with holiday preparations underway. One of the workers had a panic attack thinking of all that had to be done until I told her to just shut up and do the work and we would all be fine in the end. The day consisted of making fruit tarts - 9" cream shelled pastries with loads of real fruit on the top. Then it was time to break out some pies.
The pies that we had received all came in in a gigantic frozen truck that is stationed outside of the store along with all the holiday turkeys. My luck was that the pies were in the very back corner of the 25 foot trailer buried behind pallets of turkey with no jack to move them. It was time to go Indiana Jones...I climbed, I crawled, boxes crashed to the trailer floor, boxes crushed underneath me. I finally was getting close to the back of the trailer and one more surprise-the pies were directly below the refrigeration fan. The closer I got the colder I got. My eyes were tearing up from the severe blast of cold to the face. I reached down and grabbed several cases of pies and went out of the freezer. Two more sets of this exact journey and we had enough pies and I felt illness coming on. Happy early Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy your pie and crushed turkey.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
November 16, 2010: Boss Once Again
This job is not all light work with frosting and cake. There is some real heavy lifting that has to be done with all the frozen boxes. It can wear on a body over time. That is what happened to my boss. He had done too much heavy lifting and his back was bothering him. He had been to all kinds of physical therapy but now it was necessary for him to get a cortisone injection to ease his pain. He was going to be out for several days so it was now time for me to take over the ranks once again.
The full time workers were not happy that I had been put in charge considering that they technically had more status than me, but I was the only one who knew what to do in the department the way that the manager wanted it to be. There was going to be a bit more stress than usual with holiday preparations underway. One of the workers had a panic attack thinking of all that had to be done until I told her to just shut up and do the work and we would all be fine in the end. The day consisted of making fruit tarts - 9" cream shelled pastries with loads of real fruit on the top. Then it was time to break out some pies.
The pies that we had received all came in in a gigantic frozen truck that is stationed outside of the store along with all the holiday turkeys. My luck was that the pies were in the very back corner of the 25 foot trailer buried behind pallets of turkey with no jack to move them. It was time to go Indiana Jones...I climbed, I crawled, boxes crashed to the trailer floor, boxes crushed underneath me. I finally was getting close to the back of the trailer and one more surprise-the pies were directly below the refrigeration fan. The closer I got the colder I got. My eyes were tearing up from the severe blast of cold to the face. I reached down and grabbed several cases of pies and went out of the freezer. Two more sets of this exact journey and we had enough pies and I felt illness coming on. Happy early Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy your pie and crushed turkey.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Stories Part IV
November 18, 2010: Stories Part IV
November 1, 2010: Higher Ups
The store is all abuzz. The president of the company was supposed to be coming. The store manager was running around like crazy bleaching and cleaning shelves. Honestly, up until this point I had not seen him do much more than dictate work to the lowly employees.
The store was spotless by the time that the president of the company had arrived. He walked through the store quickly with such an air about him. He was being introduced to all the managers and department heads. He came to the bakery and took a look around. No smile crept across his face as he looked each of us in the eye. Manager Bob Kelly introduced him to my boss Michael Ciaramittaro. My boss came off as such a tool. "Hello, it's such a pleasure to see you sir." For some reason Mr. Kelly found it necessary to introduce me. "This is Nicholas Sloane. He is one of our part time employees that gives his all for this company. He is probably the future of this place." I forgot the president of the company was there and I laughed, "Hah God forbid not if I can help it, Bob." It was the first time I had seen the president crack a smile.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
November 1, 2010: Higher Ups
The store is all abuzz. The president of the company was supposed to be coming. The store manager was running around like crazy bleaching and cleaning shelves. Honestly, up until this point I had not seen him do much more than dictate work to the lowly employees.
The store was spotless by the time that the president of the company had arrived. He walked through the store quickly with such an air about him. He was being introduced to all the managers and department heads. He came to the bakery and took a look around. No smile crept across his face as he looked each of us in the eye. Manager Bob Kelly introduced him to my boss Michael Ciaramittaro. My boss came off as such a tool. "Hello, it's such a pleasure to see you sir." For some reason Mr. Kelly found it necessary to introduce me. "This is Nicholas Sloane. He is one of our part time employees that gives his all for this company. He is probably the future of this place." I forgot the president of the company was there and I laughed, "Hah God forbid not if I can help it, Bob." It was the first time I had seen the president crack a smile.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Stories Part III
November 18, 2010: Stories
November 14, 2010: Hospital
Had a little mishap in the bakery today. It's not all sweet things and good times. There are a lot of dangerous aspects to the workplace especially when the machinery hasn't been updated in well over twenty years. There is a reason the bread slicer and large ovens read "Must Be 18 To Operate."
Anyways, I was taking an item out of the oven and did not realize that there had been a piece of plastic on the floor. I slipped and went backwards into the 400 degree rack. I received several burns on the back of both of my arms and the top of my back. Very painful indeed, but lucky for me concealable. It stung so bad and I did not think that I could work anymore. They had an ambulance come for me, but I didn't feel it was necessary. I took the ride to Massachusetts General Hospital where they did the routine check for concussion or brain injury (a check that I have had to be a part of far too many times before). They concluded that I just had low level burns and gave me an ointment to put on them. Back to work in the morning.
Until next time,
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
November 14, 2010: Hospital
Had a little mishap in the bakery today. It's not all sweet things and good times. There are a lot of dangerous aspects to the workplace especially when the machinery hasn't been updated in well over twenty years. There is a reason the bread slicer and large ovens read "Must Be 18 To Operate."
Anyways, I was taking an item out of the oven and did not realize that there had been a piece of plastic on the floor. I slipped and went backwards into the 400 degree rack. I received several burns on the back of both of my arms and the top of my back. Very painful indeed, but lucky for me concealable. It stung so bad and I did not think that I could work anymore. They had an ambulance come for me, but I didn't feel it was necessary. I took the ride to Massachusetts General Hospital where they did the routine check for concussion or brain injury (a check that I have had to be a part of far too many times before). They concluded that I just had low level burns and gave me an ointment to put on them. Back to work in the morning.
Until next time,
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Stories Part II
November 18, 2010: Stories Part II
October 31, 2010: Halloween
Okay so maybe I am lame because I really don't participate in Halloween festivities, but the Bake Shop is one hell of a place to visit on this most ghoulish of days. I went to work that day dressed in my yellow shirt and apron. I guess I had been dressed up as a poor college student trying to pay the bills at a minimum wage job. It was by far the greatest, easiest, and cheapest costume that I had ever created.
Little ghouls, goblins, Team Jacob, and Team Edward fans alike swarmed the store. They were all hoping to get some kind of treat from the workers, but we in bake shop are different. Each child that came up received a warm cookie. They were more than satisfied.
At least we were not egged.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
October 31, 2010: Halloween
Okay so maybe I am lame because I really don't participate in Halloween festivities, but the Bake Shop is one hell of a place to visit on this most ghoulish of days. I went to work that day dressed in my yellow shirt and apron. I guess I had been dressed up as a poor college student trying to pay the bills at a minimum wage job. It was by far the greatest, easiest, and cheapest costume that I had ever created.
Little ghouls, goblins, Team Jacob, and Team Edward fans alike swarmed the store. They were all hoping to get some kind of treat from the workers, but we in bake shop are different. Each child that came up received a warm cookie. They were more than satisfied.
At least we were not egged.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Stories
November 18, 2010: Stories
I have missed quite a bit of time writing to you all. There has been a lot that has happened so I figured I would share with you some of my most favorite stories from the past couple weeks.
November 7, 2010: Trouble
Sundays are always crazy in the bakery. There is a great lack of help in the morning time due to the fact that the workers are paid more for the day. Generally I work my entire Sunday shift by myself with no assistance which is a large task to take care of considering the weekend shopper load.
This Sunday seemed to be going too smoothly. I had made several dozen cookies, pies, and breads in a seemingly short span of time. I heard over the loudspeaker that our load of product had arrived so I went out back to retrieve it before it began to melt. I was gone for approximately two minutes to retrieve the pieces and when I came back I saw the evening manager walking away from the department.
Right as I was about to leave to get the second pallet a gentleman walks up to get his cake order. He had ordered a large sheet cake with pink and purple balloons that read "Happy Birthday My Sweetest Gabriella" (I knew because I was the one who made it). I went into the refrigerator to get him the cake and it was missing. I was completely puzzled as to where it could be. I looked high and low and finally decided to call the manager to see if someone had already come to pick up the cake. He said someone had taken the cake already and me, believing the worst in people, believed that this gentleman was pulling some kind of a scam. He was screaming at the top of his lungs "How could you give away a cake for Fred Ulysse? I am Fred Ulysse. How could you give away a cake to someone that is not Fred Ulysse? I am Fred Ulysse. That cake is for my daughter! Someone else doesn't have my daughter. That is my daughter."
Finally the manager came down and we discovered what the problem had been. There had been two cakes for girls named Gabriella in the refrigerator and he had given the wrong one to the other gentleman. This creates a whole new set of problems: 1) This man does not have his cake and 2) the person who has the other cake is going to call up angrily about their order.
I had to resolve both issues.
First for Mr. Ulysse I redid his entire cake in approximately 7 minutes. He was very happy with how it was handled and actually ordered another cake for the next day. He was satisfied with the fix and apologized for being so upset over a cake.
After finishing up the cake I got the call I was expecting on the phone. "Let me speak to the idiot who took my cake order because he completely (expletive)ed up my order." "Miss I was the one who took the cake order and there was just a miscommunication over cakes. My manager handed the wrong cake to your husband, but we still have your cake. If you would like I would be happy to have it delivered to your house and you can keep that other cake in addition to it." "Oh, that would be lovely. My daughter was freaking out. She wanted her Hannah Montana cake." "I completely understand and I apologize for this incident, but I promise that you will have your cake."
Both problems solved. Am I good or am I good?
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
I have missed quite a bit of time writing to you all. There has been a lot that has happened so I figured I would share with you some of my most favorite stories from the past couple weeks.
November 7, 2010: Trouble
Sundays are always crazy in the bakery. There is a great lack of help in the morning time due to the fact that the workers are paid more for the day. Generally I work my entire Sunday shift by myself with no assistance which is a large task to take care of considering the weekend shopper load.
This Sunday seemed to be going too smoothly. I had made several dozen cookies, pies, and breads in a seemingly short span of time. I heard over the loudspeaker that our load of product had arrived so I went out back to retrieve it before it began to melt. I was gone for approximately two minutes to retrieve the pieces and when I came back I saw the evening manager walking away from the department.
Right as I was about to leave to get the second pallet a gentleman walks up to get his cake order. He had ordered a large sheet cake with pink and purple balloons that read "Happy Birthday My Sweetest Gabriella" (I knew because I was the one who made it). I went into the refrigerator to get him the cake and it was missing. I was completely puzzled as to where it could be. I looked high and low and finally decided to call the manager to see if someone had already come to pick up the cake. He said someone had taken the cake already and me, believing the worst in people, believed that this gentleman was pulling some kind of a scam. He was screaming at the top of his lungs "How could you give away a cake for Fred Ulysse? I am Fred Ulysse. How could you give away a cake to someone that is not Fred Ulysse? I am Fred Ulysse. That cake is for my daughter! Someone else doesn't have my daughter. That is my daughter."
Finally the manager came down and we discovered what the problem had been. There had been two cakes for girls named Gabriella in the refrigerator and he had given the wrong one to the other gentleman. This creates a whole new set of problems: 1) This man does not have his cake and 2) the person who has the other cake is going to call up angrily about their order.
I had to resolve both issues.
First for Mr. Ulysse I redid his entire cake in approximately 7 minutes. He was very happy with how it was handled and actually ordered another cake for the next day. He was satisfied with the fix and apologized for being so upset over a cake.
After finishing up the cake I got the call I was expecting on the phone. "Let me speak to the idiot who took my cake order because he completely (expletive)ed up my order." "Miss I was the one who took the cake order and there was just a miscommunication over cakes. My manager handed the wrong cake to your husband, but we still have your cake. If you would like I would be happy to have it delivered to your house and you can keep that other cake in addition to it." "Oh, that would be lovely. My daughter was freaking out. She wanted her Hannah Montana cake." "I completely understand and I apologize for this incident, but I promise that you will have your cake."
Both problems solved. Am I good or am I good?
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Holiday Season
November 18, 2010: Holiday Season
Sorry for the delay in posts everyone. It has been extremely hectic working lately. So we are getting toward holiday season and it is time to start getting pies prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 25th. Last years numbers had us at well over $40,000 just for the week of Thanksgiving and that number includes the fact that the store is closed Thanksgiving day.
We get a bit of help with our pies for the holidays. Several pallets of frozen Table Talk pies come in to us to put out for our product. We currently have approximately 4,000 pies in stock waiting to be placed out. Our pies range from 8" to 12" and they are all under $10 to purchase. Our pie selection includes:
8" Pumpkin Pie
8" Sweet Potato Pie
8" No Sugar Added Apple Pie
8" No Sugar Added Blueberry Pie
8" Mince Pie
8" Blueberry Pie
8" Apple Pie
8" Ricotta Pie
8" Custard Pie
8" Coconut Custard Pie
8" Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
8" Cherry Pie
8" Dutch Apple Pie
10" Blueberry Pie
10" Apple Pie
10" Custard Pie
10" Mince Pie
10" Pumpkin Pie
10" Sweet Potato Pie
12" Apple Lattice Pie
12" Blueberry Lattice Pie
In addition to pies the holiday is big on other sweet goods; especially cookies. We sell so many cookies over the Thanksgiving holiday; at least 8,000 containers. Needless to say it is a busy time in the bakery, but I will be sure to keep you up to date.
Until next time,
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Sorry for the delay in posts everyone. It has been extremely hectic working lately. So we are getting toward holiday season and it is time to start getting pies prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday on November 25th. Last years numbers had us at well over $40,000 just for the week of Thanksgiving and that number includes the fact that the store is closed Thanksgiving day.
We get a bit of help with our pies for the holidays. Several pallets of frozen Table Talk pies come in to us to put out for our product. We currently have approximately 4,000 pies in stock waiting to be placed out. Our pies range from 8" to 12" and they are all under $10 to purchase. Our pie selection includes:
8" Pumpkin Pie
8" Sweet Potato Pie
8" No Sugar Added Apple Pie
8" No Sugar Added Blueberry Pie
8" Mince Pie
8" Blueberry Pie
8" Apple Pie
8" Ricotta Pie
8" Custard Pie
8" Coconut Custard Pie
8" Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
8" Cherry Pie
8" Dutch Apple Pie
10" Blueberry Pie
10" Apple Pie
10" Custard Pie
10" Mince Pie
10" Pumpkin Pie
10" Sweet Potato Pie
12" Apple Lattice Pie
12" Blueberry Lattice Pie
In addition to pies the holiday is big on other sweet goods; especially cookies. We sell so many cookies over the Thanksgiving holiday; at least 8,000 containers. Needless to say it is a busy time in the bakery, but I will be sure to keep you up to date.
Until next time,
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Monday, October 25, 2010
Halloween
October 26, 2010: Halloween
A holiday synonymous with goodies and treats, Halloween is once again upon us. A mere five days away from today young children will fill the streets looking for candies and in their schools they will be having parties with all kinds of baked goods. That's where I come in. The bakery has been asked to develop some new designs for the cakes and cupcakes that we have on display. I have developed several cake designs such as a large gravestone covered in red gel "blood and these cakes that you see below:
The second design is a graveyard scene. In the background is a dead rotting tree made from a vanilla cupcake and halved Chips Ahoy cookies for branches with a sugar ghost popping out. The gravestones were made from halved Oreo fudge dipped cookies.
The last two were just generic designs: A "Happy Halloween" with 3 plastic rings and one with 4 sugar ghosts and 4 Oreo gravestones. Nothing fancy, but they will sell.
More to come from the Halloween season.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
A holiday synonymous with goodies and treats, Halloween is once again upon us. A mere five days away from today young children will fill the streets looking for candies and in their schools they will be having parties with all kinds of baked goods. That's where I come in. The bakery has been asked to develop some new designs for the cakes and cupcakes that we have on display. I have developed several cake designs such as a large gravestone covered in red gel "blood and these cakes that you see below:
The first cake design is simple. All these cakes have been given a purple Bettercream frosting with a chocolate ganache coating over the top. Chocolate ganache, for those who do not know, is a rich chocolate that is generally melted and shaped to put on desserts. This was a vanilla cake with a vanilla cupcake on top turned into a jack-o-lantern.
More to come from the Halloween season.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Donation
October 25, 2010: Donation
I was approached by one of the cashiers from my store. She was having a fund raiser for breast cancer awareness and wanted to talk to me about designing a cake. So we talked it over and what she had wanted was a pink frosted cake with a few rosebuds and a whole bunch of pink breast cancer ribbons. I told her I would put the cake in through the office as a donation which she greatly appreciated. This was the final result:
The cake was vanilla with a pink-dyed Bettercream frosting.
Breast cancer awareness is an epidemic in this country and countries throughout the world. To find ways that you can donate please visit www.nationalbreastcancer.org for information.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
I was approached by one of the cashiers from my store. She was having a fund raiser for breast cancer awareness and wanted to talk to me about designing a cake. So we talked it over and what she had wanted was a pink frosted cake with a few rosebuds and a whole bunch of pink breast cancer ribbons. I told her I would put the cake in through the office as a donation which she greatly appreciated. This was the final result:
The cake was vanilla with a pink-dyed Bettercream frosting.
Breast cancer awareness is an epidemic in this country and countries throughout the world. To find ways that you can donate please visit www.nationalbreastcancer.org for information.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Sales Record
October 19, 2010: Sales Record
Last Friday, October 15, 2010, was by far the craziest day that I have ever worked in bake shop in my five years time. We were missing approximately fifteen hours worth of work for the day and I had to compensate for it. Three of our part time employees had, whether it be for vacation, illness, or necessity, needed the day off. It was, once again, Fresh Baked Friday where Italian Bread was on sale for just 99 cents. My boss told me to do the best that I could with it, but it was killing me.
I was given only nine hours for the day and was expected to do the break out, which takes several hours, prep and cooking of Italian bread, which takes approximately 30-45 minutes per rack, the sales order, which takes an hour, and the supply load, which takes yet another hour. Altogether it was going to make for an interesting night.
I had to bake bread intermittently while doing the break out. Every five minutes I would get a call from the manager saying that the bread racks around the store were empty. It had never sold this way before. It was a difficult task to even just do the break out and the bread. I rushed through the sales order and, just as I had finished, the supply load came in. We received 200 boxes ranging from 15 to 40 pounds, but there was no time to stop. The bread had to keep going out.
I am honestly shocked that I was able to complete everything in time and had the time to wash off the counters and sweep and wash the floor.
I received the numbers the next day and we had sold more bread than we ever had before, 520 loaves. Considering that I had no help it made for an even more amazing feat. The store manager was surprised at what we had sold and even more surprised that I was able to do it by myself. I was given an award to give recognition to "employee excellence." Pretty much it was a $25 dollar Stop & Shop gift card. Nothing great, but it was better than a sharp stick in the eye. Moreover I was happy that I was able to overcome even my own expectations. Though I do not plan on keeping this job for much longer it was a confidence booster to think that no matter what task I am given I know that I can complete it no matter what challenges or adversities get in the way. Quite an insight from bread huh?
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Last Friday, October 15, 2010, was by far the craziest day that I have ever worked in bake shop in my five years time. We were missing approximately fifteen hours worth of work for the day and I had to compensate for it. Three of our part time employees had, whether it be for vacation, illness, or necessity, needed the day off. It was, once again, Fresh Baked Friday where Italian Bread was on sale for just 99 cents. My boss told me to do the best that I could with it, but it was killing me.
I was given only nine hours for the day and was expected to do the break out, which takes several hours, prep and cooking of Italian bread, which takes approximately 30-45 minutes per rack, the sales order, which takes an hour, and the supply load, which takes yet another hour. Altogether it was going to make for an interesting night.
I had to bake bread intermittently while doing the break out. Every five minutes I would get a call from the manager saying that the bread racks around the store were empty. It had never sold this way before. It was a difficult task to even just do the break out and the bread. I rushed through the sales order and, just as I had finished, the supply load came in. We received 200 boxes ranging from 15 to 40 pounds, but there was no time to stop. The bread had to keep going out.
I am honestly shocked that I was able to complete everything in time and had the time to wash off the counters and sweep and wash the floor.
I received the numbers the next day and we had sold more bread than we ever had before, 520 loaves. Considering that I had no help it made for an even more amazing feat. The store manager was surprised at what we had sold and even more surprised that I was able to do it by myself. I was given an award to give recognition to "employee excellence." Pretty much it was a $25 dollar Stop & Shop gift card. Nothing great, but it was better than a sharp stick in the eye. Moreover I was happy that I was able to overcome even my own expectations. Though I do not plan on keeping this job for much longer it was a confidence booster to think that no matter what task I am given I know that I can complete it no matter what challenges or adversities get in the way. Quite an insight from bread huh?
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The Trip
October 19, 2010: The Trip
Holiday season is right around the corner (well technically it's not even close yet but Stop & Shop is already stocked with all the holiday merchandise). The company has an annual event where all managers and department heads travel to a chosen location to view how the holiday setup is going to be. Usually it is only managers and department heads, but because of my work ethic and my store manager's push to make me a lead clerk (not going to happen) I was going to be sent to not only help set up, but to sit in on all the meetings and discussions of how the holidays would be handled.
I guess it is supposed to be a big deal for me to be around these "higher up" people in the company, but I just see them as co-workers. I went with my department head at around four o'clock in the morning to set up displays. The event this year was taking place in Woburn, Massachusetts. The corporate officials are fools; every year they set up the event in an almost dead store. Their sales are already in the tank and it is very unlikely that they are going to sell even one tenth of the product that we will be putting out. The point of this exercise is to get a visual representation of how tables are supposed to be set up during the holiday time to market products in a more effective way. We piled box upon box of gingerbread houses to build a larger gingerbread house. It was a house of houses pretty much if that makes any sense. Next up came the pie table. Pies are key for the holiday season starting around Thanksgiving and going until around New Years. We set up approximately seven six-foot tables of pies and then moved on to cookies. Cookies are more for the Christmas season. Three more tables. Altogether the work took approximately four hours and there was about $28,000 worth of product on the sales floor for just bakery alone.
Vice president of the company, Joseph Alejandro, came to speak to everyone about how this year was going to be through the roof in sales and he expects every store to exceed their sales from last year by thousands of dollars. From there all the department heads from the New England region were taken from table to table and shown how displays should be set up. I, personally, would much rather be back in the bakery making new products. My store manager took me to the side and told me that me and my boss should listen closely because the sales in the department are dependent upon us alone. At the end we were served lunch and sent back to our respective stores with a sales plan for the holidays. Poor Woburn is expected to sell all this product coded way before even Halloween. There goes their sales percentage.
Albeit it was a boring day, but all part of the process.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Holiday season is right around the corner (well technically it's not even close yet but Stop & Shop is already stocked with all the holiday merchandise). The company has an annual event where all managers and department heads travel to a chosen location to view how the holiday setup is going to be. Usually it is only managers and department heads, but because of my work ethic and my store manager's push to make me a lead clerk (not going to happen) I was going to be sent to not only help set up, but to sit in on all the meetings and discussions of how the holidays would be handled.
I guess it is supposed to be a big deal for me to be around these "higher up" people in the company, but I just see them as co-workers. I went with my department head at around four o'clock in the morning to set up displays. The event this year was taking place in Woburn, Massachusetts. The corporate officials are fools; every year they set up the event in an almost dead store. Their sales are already in the tank and it is very unlikely that they are going to sell even one tenth of the product that we will be putting out. The point of this exercise is to get a visual representation of how tables are supposed to be set up during the holiday time to market products in a more effective way. We piled box upon box of gingerbread houses to build a larger gingerbread house. It was a house of houses pretty much if that makes any sense. Next up came the pie table. Pies are key for the holiday season starting around Thanksgiving and going until around New Years. We set up approximately seven six-foot tables of pies and then moved on to cookies. Cookies are more for the Christmas season. Three more tables. Altogether the work took approximately four hours and there was about $28,000 worth of product on the sales floor for just bakery alone.
Vice president of the company, Joseph Alejandro, came to speak to everyone about how this year was going to be through the roof in sales and he expects every store to exceed their sales from last year by thousands of dollars. From there all the department heads from the New England region were taken from table to table and shown how displays should be set up. I, personally, would much rather be back in the bakery making new products. My store manager took me to the side and told me that me and my boss should listen closely because the sales in the department are dependent upon us alone. At the end we were served lunch and sent back to our respective stores with a sales plan for the holidays. Poor Woburn is expected to sell all this product coded way before even Halloween. There goes their sales percentage.
Albeit it was a boring day, but all part of the process.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Crazy Day
October 18, 2010: Crazy Day
Though there was seemingly very little work to do today it ended up more crazy and chaotic than usual. The Malden Stop & Shop has a Dunkin' Donuts built in that has been there unchanged for the last 14 years. Now is the time of the remodel for the location and construction workers took over all bake shop space so our regular work took almost double the time having to get in and out of our freezer. The way the bakery is set up we have a large showcase area where all the work is done. Then off to the left there are two narrow spaces; one being Dunkin' Donuts and the other being a hallway with our freezer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and dish washing sink. They are increasing the size of the Dunkin' Donuts so that narrow hallway will become more narrow and to make it worse workers had the area filled with ladders, paint, buckets, wood, and were not very happy when they had to move in even the slightest way to accommodate our products coming out.
We were able to compensate the time wasted and rush to get the work done at a reasonable time. The main goal for the day was to make cannolis. Cannolis, for those who don't know, are pastries with a hard outer shell and a ricotta cheese filling. They are sweet and delicious. I am currently the only one willing to make the desserts in the store and I wouldn't have it any other way. Growing up in an Italian family food was major. My grandmother use to travel to the Italian district of Boston, the North End, for their pastries. After bringing them home she would inspect them closely and critique how her own work would have been better. Cannolis were her big issue. If a cannoli wasn't filled enough with cream she would get so mad and say they were terrible. Keeping her in mind I fill the cannolis with as much cream as possible and cover them in powdered sugar. God forbid she come in one day and the package be too light. These cannolis, however, were for a custom order. The customer ordered 200 cannolis for a wedding shower and she had bought the ones that I had prepared before and loved them. So I had to do it. It took a lot of work and a lot of filling, but they came out stupendous. Here is a look at the final product:
The customer was satisfied and, had she bought them, I feel my old Italian grandmother would have been satisfied as well.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Though there was seemingly very little work to do today it ended up more crazy and chaotic than usual. The Malden Stop & Shop has a Dunkin' Donuts built in that has been there unchanged for the last 14 years. Now is the time of the remodel for the location and construction workers took over all bake shop space so our regular work took almost double the time having to get in and out of our freezer. The way the bakery is set up we have a large showcase area where all the work is done. Then off to the left there are two narrow spaces; one being Dunkin' Donuts and the other being a hallway with our freezer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and dish washing sink. They are increasing the size of the Dunkin' Donuts so that narrow hallway will become more narrow and to make it worse workers had the area filled with ladders, paint, buckets, wood, and were not very happy when they had to move in even the slightest way to accommodate our products coming out.
We were able to compensate the time wasted and rush to get the work done at a reasonable time. The main goal for the day was to make cannolis. Cannolis, for those who don't know, are pastries with a hard outer shell and a ricotta cheese filling. They are sweet and delicious. I am currently the only one willing to make the desserts in the store and I wouldn't have it any other way. Growing up in an Italian family food was major. My grandmother use to travel to the Italian district of Boston, the North End, for their pastries. After bringing them home she would inspect them closely and critique how her own work would have been better. Cannolis were her big issue. If a cannoli wasn't filled enough with cream she would get so mad and say they were terrible. Keeping her in mind I fill the cannolis with as much cream as possible and cover them in powdered sugar. God forbid she come in one day and the package be too light. These cannolis, however, were for a custom order. The customer ordered 200 cannolis for a wedding shower and she had bought the ones that I had prepared before and loved them. So I had to do it. It took a lot of work and a lot of filling, but they came out stupendous. Here is a look at the final product:
The customer was satisfied and, had she bought them, I feel my old Italian grandmother would have been satisfied as well.
Until next time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Special Order
October 13, 2010: Special Order
A 90 year old woman came in the store today and said that it was her 60th wedding anniversary. She was having a couple people over and just wanted to get a cake. She picked one out of the case, but I couldn't let that happen. This was a huge milestone and I am a sucker for that stuff. I told her to give me half an hour and I would make a cake for her. I am not supposed to just make up designs or carve cakes, but I have the ability to and I will use whatever ability I can. Usually custom orders have to be placed 24 hours in advance, but this was something I wanted to do. I asked her her favorite colors and asked what her and her husband usually do for their anniversaries (not wanting to hear anything gross though...she IS 90). She said every year her husband bought her a dozen red roses and he had done that every year since the beginning. She said the one time he could only afford one red rose was during the depression, but he still managed to bring home that one rose. Her favorite color was light green so I came up with an odd design, but I liked it:
I didn't get the opportunity to take a picture of the final product, but this was the basic design before all the frills were added. I made a double layer vanilla cake with Bettercream frosting inside and out. I put edible dye into the batch to give it a light green color. On the top I printed one of our edible image sheets of a rose and cut it to fit the cake. I surrounded it with a small-tip rope border with a bow at the base. Around the sides I did strands of rosebuds and just little white dots for design. As Buddy Valastro would say "She'sa lookin' good." From that point I had the elderly woman retrieve me a picture of her and her husband. She brought me one from their wedding and I made a white frosting banner across the top. I printed another edible image with their picture in a faded circle for effect. Then I wrote "Happy 60th Anniversary". It came out extremely nice and she was so pleased with it.
A 90 year old woman came in the store today and said that it was her 60th wedding anniversary. She was having a couple people over and just wanted to get a cake. She picked one out of the case, but I couldn't let that happen. This was a huge milestone and I am a sucker for that stuff. I told her to give me half an hour and I would make a cake for her. I am not supposed to just make up designs or carve cakes, but I have the ability to and I will use whatever ability I can. Usually custom orders have to be placed 24 hours in advance, but this was something I wanted to do. I asked her her favorite colors and asked what her and her husband usually do for their anniversaries (not wanting to hear anything gross though...she IS 90). She said every year her husband bought her a dozen red roses and he had done that every year since the beginning. She said the one time he could only afford one red rose was during the depression, but he still managed to bring home that one rose. Her favorite color was light green so I came up with an odd design, but I liked it:
I didn't get the opportunity to take a picture of the final product, but this was the basic design before all the frills were added. I made a double layer vanilla cake with Bettercream frosting inside and out. I put edible dye into the batch to give it a light green color. On the top I printed one of our edible image sheets of a rose and cut it to fit the cake. I surrounded it with a small-tip rope border with a bow at the base. Around the sides I did strands of rosebuds and just little white dots for design. As Buddy Valastro would say "She'sa lookin' good." From that point I had the elderly woman retrieve me a picture of her and her husband. She brought me one from their wedding and I made a white frosting banner across the top. I printed another edible image with their picture in a faded circle for effect. Then I wrote "Happy 60th Anniversary". It came out extremely nice and she was so pleased with it.
Just another good deed from a minimum wage, under-appreciated Stop & Shop worker.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Another Day Another Project
October 12, 2010: Another Day Another Project
My boss finally came back to work. Things have been running like crazy. We already started getting pie orders for the Thanksgiving season (we usually sell about $20,000 combined during the week before and the week of Thanksgiving). The smaller Malden store did not receive product that was supposed to be on sale this week so our workload has almost doubled to try to make these little cupcakes that probably won't sell in their store anyways. The store manager asked us to make them so it was up to me to do it. Total for this day I made approximately 800 of these packs of cupcakes. 200 will go to small Malden and the rest we will sell. Ironically of those 200 that store will probably sell one. Do these look good to you?
These are authentic Oreo cookie cupcakes. They are a chocolate cupcake with Oreo Bettercream frosting and half of a Double Stuf Oreo on top.
These are Chips Ahoy cupcakes. They are a vanilla cupcake base with Chips Ahoy Bettercream on top and half of a Chips Ahoy cookie.
I meant to do this sooner, but just so you guys get a feel of what I am talking about when I say Bettercream this is what I am talking about:
It is the one pure white frosting that we have. Others such as fresh whipped cream or traditional frosting have a yellowish hue. Traditional frosting is the usual type that you would have on a cupcake; very sweet and solid. Whipped cream tastes exactly like whipped cream out of the can. Bettercream is a completely different taste. It is sweet, but whipped. It has a kind of marshmallow flavor.
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
My boss finally came back to work. Things have been running like crazy. We already started getting pie orders for the Thanksgiving season (we usually sell about $20,000 combined during the week before and the week of Thanksgiving). The smaller Malden store did not receive product that was supposed to be on sale this week so our workload has almost doubled to try to make these little cupcakes that probably won't sell in their store anyways. The store manager asked us to make them so it was up to me to do it. Total for this day I made approximately 800 of these packs of cupcakes. 200 will go to small Malden and the rest we will sell. Ironically of those 200 that store will probably sell one. Do these look good to you?
These are authentic Oreo cookie cupcakes. They are a chocolate cupcake with Oreo Bettercream frosting and half of a Double Stuf Oreo on top.
These are Chips Ahoy cupcakes. They are a vanilla cupcake base with Chips Ahoy Bettercream on top and half of a Chips Ahoy cookie.
I meant to do this sooner, but just so you guys get a feel of what I am talking about when I say Bettercream this is what I am talking about:
Until Next Time.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Monday, September 27, 2010
The Final Part of a Long Day
September 23, 2010: The Break Out
The break out, as it has been called, is a process with no benefit until the morning. The job of the breakout worker is to set up everything that I had to do earlier in the day for the bake off. I'll just make this one a simple list...this is an average set up for the next morning:
Par-Baked Items:
Large French Bread - 30
Small French Bread - 44
Grinder Rolls - 220
European Rolls - 30
Portuguese Rolls - 30
Bagels:
Plain Bagels - 110
Everything Bagels - 30
Blueberry Bagels - 30
Egg Bagels - 15
Marble Bagels - 25
Asiago Bagels - 30
Wheat Bagels - 55
Sesame Bagels - 55
Pasteries:
Cinnamon Twists - 15
Cinnamon Buns - 10
Apple Turnovers - 48
Raspberry Turnovers - 48
Butter Croissants - 60
Chocolate Croissants - 24
Cheese Croissants -24
Apple Pockets - 12
Frozen Rolls and Breads:
Miami Onion Rolls - 60
Bagel Rolls - 36
Italian Bread - 90
French Sticks - 54
Scali Rolls - 32
Scali Bread - 44
Kaiser Rolls - 120
Seeded Kaiser Rolls - 24
Muffins:
Blueberry - 30
Double Dutch - 15
Pistachio - 15
Lemon - 15
Corn - 15
Mocha - 15
Banana Nut - 15
Cranberry Orange - 15
Butter Rum - 15
Cinnamon Chip - 15
Chocolate Chip - 30
Raisin Bran - 15
Low-Fat Bran - 15
Low-Fat Corn - 15
Low-Fat Blueberry - 15
Altogether this process takes approximately four hours. It is tedious in the fact that it is repetative motions for hours straight. After this I must sweep and wash the floor and then call it an evening. WHEW! Thankfully that day is over!
Thanks for reading...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
The break out, as it has been called, is a process with no benefit until the morning. The job of the breakout worker is to set up everything that I had to do earlier in the day for the bake off. I'll just make this one a simple list...this is an average set up for the next morning:
Par-Baked Items:
Large French Bread - 30
Small French Bread - 44
Grinder Rolls - 220
European Rolls - 30
Portuguese Rolls - 30
Bagels:
Plain Bagels - 110
Everything Bagels - 30
Blueberry Bagels - 30
Egg Bagels - 15
Marble Bagels - 25
Asiago Bagels - 30
Wheat Bagels - 55
Sesame Bagels - 55
Pasteries:
Cinnamon Twists - 15
Cinnamon Buns - 10
Apple Turnovers - 48
Raspberry Turnovers - 48
Butter Croissants - 60
Chocolate Croissants - 24
Cheese Croissants -24
Apple Pockets - 12
Frozen Rolls and Breads:
Miami Onion Rolls - 60
Bagel Rolls - 36
Italian Bread - 90
French Sticks - 54
Scali Rolls - 32
Scali Bread - 44
Kaiser Rolls - 120
Seeded Kaiser Rolls - 24
Muffins:
Blueberry - 30
Double Dutch - 15
Pistachio - 15
Lemon - 15
Corn - 15
Mocha - 15
Banana Nut - 15
Cranberry Orange - 15
Butter Rum - 15
Cinnamon Chip - 15
Chocolate Chip - 30
Raisin Bran - 15
Low-Fat Bran - 15
Low-Fat Corn - 15
Low-Fat Blueberry - 15
Altogether this process takes approximately four hours. It is tedious in the fact that it is repetative motions for hours straight. After this I must sweep and wash the floor and then call it an evening. WHEW! Thankfully that day is over!
Thanks for reading...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Creativity
September 23, 2010: Creativity
Now we come to my favorite part of the day. The product making and creation portion. This is the part where we get to make cakes, pies, and goodies of all sort for the greedy masses to consume for the unreasonable prices that we charge. This part of the day is kind of like painting time in kindergarten class: that break to the day to just express creativity.
The Breakdown:
Cakes - Cakes for the cake case are usually made on a general format: a few flowers, a few balloons, and a few strings around the edges. However, when we come into a new season or approach a holiday we get the opportunity to create new designs of cakes. Since we are getting toward fall it seems appropriate for fall colors to decorate the case. Cake case items generally come in three sizes: an 8” single layer round cake, an 8” double layer round cake, and a quarter of a sheet cake. Orange, brown, and yellow strings of frosting adorn the sides of the cake. Leaves are made with the leaf tip and rapid north to south motions with a quick pull at the end. They look great. The great thing about cakes, though, is when I make a mistake that cake becomes cake slices for $1.99 a piece. No waste. Isn’t it great?
Pies – There isn’t many variations on the pie. It is a crust and filling. Currently we offer 12 different kinds of pie.
Single Cupcakes and 6 Pack Cupcakes – An original idea by Stop & Shop were the single cupcake designs. We developed small cupcakes engulfed in frosting. We make some that look like Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, etc. from Sesame Street. We make rose gardens. We make…well…pretty much anything you can think of we can put on a cupcake. Then we have our generic 6 packs of colorful cupcakes for the customers to buy. Usually these come in premade, but we sometimes take the opportunity to make and decorate these ourselves. Some of these 6 packs are made in fall theme: sugar leaves are created on wax paper, fall colors are used, and small leaf shaped sprinkles are dusted over the sides just for a finishing touch.
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Cream Sandwiches – The perfect piece. Developed and priced by me in the Stop & Shop market these simple beauties have flourished. Giving us approximately $1,800 in sales per month these are so simple. Beginning in my store these cream sandwiches have flourished throughout the market. These are, pretty much, my babies. I was told by higher ups in the company that the idea was perfect, but they felt the price was not high enough. I took a stand on that and the prices remain the same..a 100% profit on each set. The design is simple. Two fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with a Bettercream™ layer in the middle. It is a light, moist flavor that creates a great combination with the two chewy chocolate chip cookies. That’s it…two cookies with cream in the middle and to add that fall flare I rolled them in multi-colored jimmies. Buon appetite!
This is what I was meant for at this job: to create, experiment, and enjoy the final products of my labor. This is truly the best part of the day.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Stay Sweet,
Lil’ Buddy
Managerial
September 23, 2010: Managerial
This portion of the day would not be possible had my manager not been on vacation. We have been over the bake and placement of sweet goods. Now comes when I must be the authority in bake shop. You would not think it, but there is a ton of paperwork that goes into running even a small portion of a supermarket.
Analyzing the paperwork is the beginning of the process. I am given numbers for sales from the past week (very good, $2,000 more than last year) and based on those I have to factor out the amount of hours available for scheduling. There are a whole bunch of new hires coming in so I have to give the proper amount of hours (minimum 15 for part time employees and 40 for full time employees). I create the next week's schedule and bring it up to the store manager's office for approval. Next I must look at the shrink numbers for the week. Shrink is the number of product movement that we have based on the number of products that we have in our stock. The lower the percentage of shrink the greater it is for our department. Our shrink currently is at a 3.77% which is an excellent number for us. Next I have to order the products to arrive the next evening. We order approximately 200 boxes of products per day.
The process overall takes about three hours to complete. No more paperwork UNTIL THE NEXT DAY! WOOHOO!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
This portion of the day would not be possible had my manager not been on vacation. We have been over the bake and placement of sweet goods. Now comes when I must be the authority in bake shop. You would not think it, but there is a ton of paperwork that goes into running even a small portion of a supermarket.
Analyzing the paperwork is the beginning of the process. I am given numbers for sales from the past week (very good, $2,000 more than last year) and based on those I have to factor out the amount of hours available for scheduling. There are a whole bunch of new hires coming in so I have to give the proper amount of hours (minimum 15 for part time employees and 40 for full time employees). I create the next week's schedule and bring it up to the store manager's office for approval. Next I must look at the shrink numbers for the week. Shrink is the number of product movement that we have based on the number of products that we have in our stock. The lower the percentage of shrink the greater it is for our department. Our shrink currently is at a 3.77% which is an excellent number for us. Next I have to order the products to arrive the next evening. We order approximately 200 boxes of products per day.
The process overall takes about three hours to complete. No more paperwork UNTIL THE NEXT DAY! WOOHOO!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Sweet Goods
September 23, 2010: Sweet Goods
Part 2 of this several part series is the most critical portion of the day: loading the tables with our sweet goods. This process takes a while, but it does not take long to describe. Beginning at 8 A.M. we bring five u-boats (those funny, metal rolling tables you see all around the stores with products on them) from our very large, walk-in freezer and begin to pick and choose which products need to be filled for the day. Overall we have about 300 different products that we put out each day. None of these products need to be touched by bake shop workers. We just label them and put them out.
This helps us to not only fill our tables, but prepare the u-boats and freezer walls for the product load that will arrive later on in the evening.
This will not be a particularly long post. Overall this is just a process of repetition. Label the products, set up new table displays so that the items are promoted properly for all holidays, and make sure all old dates are pulled from the shelves. Overall this process takes about five hours and we finish up at about 1 o'clock P.M. Only ten more hours to go!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Part 2 of this several part series is the most critical portion of the day: loading the tables with our sweet goods. This process takes a while, but it does not take long to describe. Beginning at 8 A.M. we bring five u-boats (those funny, metal rolling tables you see all around the stores with products on them) from our very large, walk-in freezer and begin to pick and choose which products need to be filled for the day. Overall we have about 300 different products that we put out each day. None of these products need to be touched by bake shop workers. We just label them and put them out.
This helps us to not only fill our tables, but prepare the u-boats and freezer walls for the product load that will arrive later on in the evening.
This will not be a particularly long post. Overall this is just a process of repetition. Label the products, set up new table displays so that the items are promoted properly for all holidays, and make sure all old dates are pulled from the shelves. Overall this process takes about five hours and we finish up at about 1 o'clock P.M. Only ten more hours to go!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Long Day
September 23, 2010: Long Day
It certainly has been a few hectic weeks in the bakery. Our full time workers were shifted to other stores, we were without a full capacity of help for a period of time, and those of us left have had to step up and make the bake shop run properly. I have had to fill all roles during the week and one point or another. I was the cake decorator, I was the overnight worker, I was the department head, I was the grunt, and for a while I was running the show by myself.
It's no excuse for an absence from my readers, but these times have been hard. Still, even with the down economy and lack of workers, our bakery is up a couple thousand dollars from where it was at this point last year; a true success considering the fact that the rest of the departments in the store are down in sales. Today I am going to give you a little something different...this is the course of a 19 hour shift working completely by yourself in a Stop & Shop Bakery (times are not typical, but I had to rush due to the lack of assistance).
3 A.M.: Arriving at the bakery in the dead of the night when the rest of the world is sleeping is part of this process. The overnight job consists of baking everything off for the morning rush and breads for the day. My job during the overnight is to come in and start by setting up bakery racks with items that cook in similar ways (i.e. partially baked products, frozen bread products, frozen rolls, pastries, etc.)
3:20 A.M.: After the bakery products have all been separated and set aside the process of cooking them begins. First off come the items that need to go in the proofer. A proofer, for those who are unaware, is a large machine that is pretty much a sauna for breads. It hurries the process of bread dough growth. All the items, such as seeded scali breads, Italian breads, croissants, and other items needing to rise are placed into this large metal chamber. Inside there is steam heated to approximately 170 degrees that causes the dough to rise at a faster rate. All the items will be left in the proofer for approximately one hour.
3:35 A.M.: Next comes the baking process itself. In our bakery there are two large ovens capable of fitting a six-foot high rack inside. The first item needing to be cooked is the muffins. Muffins that we cook are pre-distributed. They are placed in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. In the second oven go the partially baked bagels. The bagels are the easiest part of the job. The go in the oven at 400 degrees for five minutes.
3:40 A.M.: Time to remove all the older product from the sales floor. Starting with the self-service cases (bagels, pastries, and rolls) we take all the products from the plastic bins and throw them into cardboard boxes to mark as "Yesterday's Bake" (discounted bakery products marked half the price that they were the day before).
3:45 A.M.: The bagels come out of the oven and are set aside in the back room to cool. Time for the partially baked breads to go in the oven. The large and small French breads are placed in the second oven at the same 400 degrees for 18 minutes.
3:50 A.M.: The old breads need to come off the wall. The necessary work now is to remove all of the older breads that the bake shop itself makes (large and small French breads, Italian bread, and scali bread). All of these will be removed from their plastic sleeves and placed in a refuse bin being sent to a local farm for pig feed. Luckily due to our large amount of sales we rarely have much bread left over.
4:03 A.M.: The French breads are finished and the final partially baked items (European rolls, Portuguese rolls, and grinder rolls) are placed in the oven for 4 minutes.
4:05 A.M.: All of the "Yesterday's Bake" items are moved to the rack for the discounted items.
4:07 A.M.: The rolls are finished! Time to begin putting out the baked products. Rolls will, obviously, be last considering that they just came out of the oven. Self-serve bagels are filled, French breads are bagged, labeled, and placed into their respective baskets. Finally, those rolls are placed in their specified glass case waiting for the day.
4:20 A.M.: The proofed items are taken from the proofer and moved to the floor. They will wait several minutes to dry off before going into the oven. The muffins are completed and then are moved on to the floor for cooling. The muffin oven is reset to 400 degrees for other items.
4:25 A.M.: Vendor items. The most tedious part of the job. Stop & Shop receives bread in the bake shop from two outside sources: Chabaso Baking Company and Gold Medal Bread Products. Hundreds of breads from each company arrive and it is my job to remove all the old bread from the day before and make note of how much didn't sell. The purpose of that is to change the amount of breads coming in as well as factor how much is left over for a crediting of our payments. From that point I must recognize and label each of those hundreds of breads and place them in their respective spots on the bread wall. Very annoying process.
5:00 A.M.: Time for the proofed items to go into the oven. The pastries go first. Several varieties of croissants, turnovers, cinnamon rolls, and butterfly pastries are placed in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Scali bread, scali rolls, and kaiser rolls are placed in the second oven for 20 minutes. For larger bread and rolls, though they have just been in a proofer meant to steam them, there is a steam knob on our ovens meant to help these breads raise just a bit more and crisp their outer crusts. We turn it on for these breads for approximately 60 seconds.
5:15 A.M.: Labels are printed for the breads that will be coming out. Time for the muffins to go out into the self-service case. The muffins have cooled enough by this point that they pop right out of their container without breaking. They are placed in their respective trays in the case. Currently Stop & Shop has 21 kinds of muffins and we bake approximately 30 of each. That is 630 muffins for one day!
5:35 A.M.: The first round of breads and pastries are finished. They are placed on the floor to cool. There are two full racks of Italian bread, 36 per rack, for a total of 72 breads. Over the course of a day we sell, on average, 176 Italian breads. To prepare an Italian bread you have to take a knife and drag it from right to left across the top (not too deep) so that the inner dough explodes out to create an artisan look. After slicing the breads the 2 racks are placed in the ovens at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Steam is applied again for 60 seconds.
5:45 A.M.: Every bag is labeled for the breads for the day.
5:55 A.M.: Hot fresh Italian bread fresh out of the oven!
6:00 A.M.: Another tedious process is the slicing of scali bread. Scali bread is the awkward, knot-shaped bread that you see on bakery walls. We have a bread slicer, but the thing is ancient (it was literally in the store before I was born in 1987..you do the math). Scali breads are one of our more popular sellers. We prepare about 100 per day. Slicing each one at a time is annoying.
6:45 A.M.: The scali breads are done and it's time to bag all the breads. This is a fairly easy process, but it takes a long time.
7:30 A.M.: All the breads are placed on the wall making sure labels are lined up and bags are neat. I do not know why we do this because honestly our customers wreck them like animals. Nevertheless, the department looks beautiful.
7:45 A.M.: The final step in this job process is to place the pastries in the self-service case. They smell good and look better.
By 8:00 A.M. the first phase of the job is completed. The overnight bake is done. Next I will tell you the next step of the process: Sweet Goods.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
It certainly has been a few hectic weeks in the bakery. Our full time workers were shifted to other stores, we were without a full capacity of help for a period of time, and those of us left have had to step up and make the bake shop run properly. I have had to fill all roles during the week and one point or another. I was the cake decorator, I was the overnight worker, I was the department head, I was the grunt, and for a while I was running the show by myself.
It's no excuse for an absence from my readers, but these times have been hard. Still, even with the down economy and lack of workers, our bakery is up a couple thousand dollars from where it was at this point last year; a true success considering the fact that the rest of the departments in the store are down in sales. Today I am going to give you a little something different...this is the course of a 19 hour shift working completely by yourself in a Stop & Shop Bakery (times are not typical, but I had to rush due to the lack of assistance).
3 A.M.: Arriving at the bakery in the dead of the night when the rest of the world is sleeping is part of this process. The overnight job consists of baking everything off for the morning rush and breads for the day. My job during the overnight is to come in and start by setting up bakery racks with items that cook in similar ways (i.e. partially baked products, frozen bread products, frozen rolls, pastries, etc.)
3:20 A.M.: After the bakery products have all been separated and set aside the process of cooking them begins. First off come the items that need to go in the proofer. A proofer, for those who are unaware, is a large machine that is pretty much a sauna for breads. It hurries the process of bread dough growth. All the items, such as seeded scali breads, Italian breads, croissants, and other items needing to rise are placed into this large metal chamber. Inside there is steam heated to approximately 170 degrees that causes the dough to rise at a faster rate. All the items will be left in the proofer for approximately one hour.
3:35 A.M.: Next comes the baking process itself. In our bakery there are two large ovens capable of fitting a six-foot high rack inside. The first item needing to be cooked is the muffins. Muffins that we cook are pre-distributed. They are placed in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. In the second oven go the partially baked bagels. The bagels are the easiest part of the job. The go in the oven at 400 degrees for five minutes.
3:40 A.M.: Time to remove all the older product from the sales floor. Starting with the self-service cases (bagels, pastries, and rolls) we take all the products from the plastic bins and throw them into cardboard boxes to mark as "Yesterday's Bake" (discounted bakery products marked half the price that they were the day before).
3:45 A.M.: The bagels come out of the oven and are set aside in the back room to cool. Time for the partially baked breads to go in the oven. The large and small French breads are placed in the second oven at the same 400 degrees for 18 minutes.
3:50 A.M.: The old breads need to come off the wall. The necessary work now is to remove all of the older breads that the bake shop itself makes (large and small French breads, Italian bread, and scali bread). All of these will be removed from their plastic sleeves and placed in a refuse bin being sent to a local farm for pig feed. Luckily due to our large amount of sales we rarely have much bread left over.
4:03 A.M.: The French breads are finished and the final partially baked items (European rolls, Portuguese rolls, and grinder rolls) are placed in the oven for 4 minutes.
4:05 A.M.: All of the "Yesterday's Bake" items are moved to the rack for the discounted items.
4:07 A.M.: The rolls are finished! Time to begin putting out the baked products. Rolls will, obviously, be last considering that they just came out of the oven. Self-serve bagels are filled, French breads are bagged, labeled, and placed into their respective baskets. Finally, those rolls are placed in their specified glass case waiting for the day.
4:20 A.M.: The proofed items are taken from the proofer and moved to the floor. They will wait several minutes to dry off before going into the oven. The muffins are completed and then are moved on to the floor for cooling. The muffin oven is reset to 400 degrees for other items.
4:25 A.M.: Vendor items. The most tedious part of the job. Stop & Shop receives bread in the bake shop from two outside sources: Chabaso Baking Company and Gold Medal Bread Products. Hundreds of breads from each company arrive and it is my job to remove all the old bread from the day before and make note of how much didn't sell. The purpose of that is to change the amount of breads coming in as well as factor how much is left over for a crediting of our payments. From that point I must recognize and label each of those hundreds of breads and place them in their respective spots on the bread wall. Very annoying process.
5:00 A.M.: Time for the proofed items to go into the oven. The pastries go first. Several varieties of croissants, turnovers, cinnamon rolls, and butterfly pastries are placed in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Scali bread, scali rolls, and kaiser rolls are placed in the second oven for 20 minutes. For larger bread and rolls, though they have just been in a proofer meant to steam them, there is a steam knob on our ovens meant to help these breads raise just a bit more and crisp their outer crusts. We turn it on for these breads for approximately 60 seconds.
5:15 A.M.: Labels are printed for the breads that will be coming out. Time for the muffins to go out into the self-service case. The muffins have cooled enough by this point that they pop right out of their container without breaking. They are placed in their respective trays in the case. Currently Stop & Shop has 21 kinds of muffins and we bake approximately 30 of each. That is 630 muffins for one day!
5:35 A.M.: The first round of breads and pastries are finished. They are placed on the floor to cool. There are two full racks of Italian bread, 36 per rack, for a total of 72 breads. Over the course of a day we sell, on average, 176 Italian breads. To prepare an Italian bread you have to take a knife and drag it from right to left across the top (not too deep) so that the inner dough explodes out to create an artisan look. After slicing the breads the 2 racks are placed in the ovens at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Steam is applied again for 60 seconds.
5:45 A.M.: Every bag is labeled for the breads for the day.
5:55 A.M.: Hot fresh Italian bread fresh out of the oven!
6:00 A.M.: Another tedious process is the slicing of scali bread. Scali bread is the awkward, knot-shaped bread that you see on bakery walls. We have a bread slicer, but the thing is ancient (it was literally in the store before I was born in 1987..you do the math). Scali breads are one of our more popular sellers. We prepare about 100 per day. Slicing each one at a time is annoying.
6:45 A.M.: The scali breads are done and it's time to bag all the breads. This is a fairly easy process, but it takes a long time.
7:30 A.M.: All the breads are placed on the wall making sure labels are lined up and bags are neat. I do not know why we do this because honestly our customers wreck them like animals. Nevertheless, the department looks beautiful.
7:45 A.M.: The final step in this job process is to place the pastries in the self-service case. They smell good and look better.
By 8:00 A.M. the first phase of the job is completed. The overnight bake is done. Next I will tell you the next step of the process: Sweet Goods.
TO BE CONTINUED:
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Life's a Piece of Cake
Man, I tell you...ever since that show The Cake Boss premiered on TLC it's been an endless stream of the same lines. Day in and day out I hear, "Oh my god, do you know you look exactly like that guy on the show The Cake Boss?" and "Hey, you look like that guy Buddy from TV!" What can I say in response? The clich é, "Yeah, I get that a lot." At first I took it as kind of an insult. Who wants to be the fat Italian yelling all the time while making cakes? Then the more I thought about it the more it became somewhat of a compliment. This guy does some amazing work. So hey...if I can use the pick up line, "The Cake Boss is sweet on you" at a bar and get away with it I am all for it. Besides, I guess I can see the similarities...a hefty Italian who works in a bakery. Did I mention that? Guess it slipped my mind. I'm the guy behind the Stop & Shop counter making all those fattening creations for you at a whopping $1.99 a piece. Not as glitzy as the bakery on TV, but it's a living. This is my baking life and I am Lil' Buddy.
September 7, 2010:
The bakery has simmered down after the chaotic sales we had over Labor Day weekend. All the product is on the shelves. The Italian bread is in the oven crisping as I type. The other oven is set to 400 degrees for approximately 8 more minutes as the chocolate chip cookies brown. Cupcakes line the table. This is my favorite part of the job. Down time is the prime time for creativity. New products are developed that intrigue the masses and even more intriguing is the team of bake shop employees trying to plan how to price said products. Technically we aren't supposed to come up with new creations. We are a by-the-box fakery (sorry to ruin the Disney-esque magic kiddies, but most of the stuff from a supermarket bakery arrives frozen in boxes now from all over the country...a shame that we have been trying to hide). Yet, at this store I am allowed free range of creativity. In the past I have developed simple snacks, such as two cookies filled with Bettercream ™ (a lesser fat whipped cream substitute), that have flown off the shelves at an astonishing rate; a rate that immediately put them on the shelves of every other store.
Today's Project: Slider Cupcakes
Now I am sure many of you have seen the gigantic hamburger cakes that they have in most bakeries. We have those too. This was more of an intriguing idea that I developed for those who didn't want too much cake, but still have that same fun aspect.
A slider, for those who don't know, is a miniature hamburger. Some restaurants use them as appetizers, but for big guys like me they are more of a challenge...how many can you fit in your mouth at once? Anyways, back to the dessert. A regular hamburger cake is two yellow 8 inch round cakes with frosting overloaded in the middle to give the effect of a hamburger slathered with lettuce, mustard, ketchup, etc. A slider version is just that only smaller. We take some freshly made yellow cupcakes, slice them about half way in the middle, then proceed to fill them with either chocolate frosting or a vanilla frosting dyed brown. After the burger patty is made get some neon green frosting in a piping bag with a leaf tip. Proceed to make 3 small little crinkled leaves like lettuce. The messier the better. Fill two more piping bags with red and brilliant yellow frosting for the ketchup and mustard. Use a writing tip and slather them on as if it was a real burger. Pop on the top. Use a white writing tipped piping bag to make a few sesame seed dots and presto you have a slider cupcake.
On to the next. Because we are a very busy store we often have specialty cake orders that we have to do. Today is simple we just have one quarter of a sheet cake with multiple colored roses. Takes maybe a half an hour to do.
Man I wish this cake was for me instead of whatever schmuck is getting it.
The best part about slow days is creativity time. A lot of the time I work on my free-hand drawing abilities. I do silly designs and complex designs to work on my hand-eye coordination to make steadier lines when working on cakes. It's a good practice to take a piece of parchment paper and just make designs. From novice to expert everyone can use practice. These are what came out:
There are the days that are hectic and the days that are slow, but that's the case with any job. The only difference is my job is just playing with food all day.
Stay Sweet,
Lil' Buddy
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