February bloom

Not all doom and gloom...

Following up from last weeks article has been on my mind given the response I received. I had some online, some in person and some in the bakery. For sure it was a heartfelt post and this one maybe a bit more pragmatic.

The good news was we enjoyed a fantastic week in sales following on from a good January, including full sell outs Friday and Saturday, some great feedbacks on socials and in store and a busy mews on almost every day we opened.

Of course we had customers asking about the impact of the other bakery closing on our bakery and the truth is we just don’t know because we were open first and when it opened it never effected our daily numbers, however we certainly noticed a spike last week and I hope it stays, we will see in few more weeks but this additional business would make a big difference to our business and bottom line over time and therefor our greater ambitions.

I also had five other local independent business owners come by and talk about a great start in January with above normal sales. These were two from hospitality, two from estate agents and one from homewares which leads me to think there is still a lot to come from this early part of the year.

What struck me from these other businesses was the amount of personality that comes from their businesses, the fact they have owners and key members on the front line, making sure when you go into their business you are getting a personal experience, warmth and someone who enjoys their job, no excuses and perhaps that’s more the reason for a stella month. Personality, passion and drive certainly all seem to be in the mix and if you can harness this in the right environment and community with a quality product people will come.

I’ve now had my operation on Monday, everything went well on the day and the Doc seemed quite happy with himself so it’s my turn to focus on the recovery.

Of course I’m already itching to get back at it but it’s vital we let the team use this time to grow, make organic decisions without me and hopefully achieve the sense of pride I get when leading the team and serving our customers.

I will be using this time to pivot the business for the future, there have been some local funding released I would like to get me hands on to add some disabled access, look at strengthen the business during the quieter summer months and the list goes on.

I’m also want to use this time to spend some time with my son, doodle a bit and maybe play some chess!

#welchbakes #smallbatchbakery #mircobusiness #supportlocal #StNeots #smallbusiness

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