Continued Improvement

I think this is the first time I have managed to post an update on a Saturday. I think it is just another sign of how things continue to get better. To date every week is better then the last, including this week. I again sold out of the congo bars, this time much earlier in the day, which means I am going to have to start making a second batch to bring. I am a little hesitate on this, just from a volume stand point, each batch makes 24 bars, so I will be going from 24 to 48 which is a huge increase. So I may not do it yet next week, but maybe the week after. I had a couple loaves of bread left, but again I had increased this from the week before. I brought 26 loaves of bread, and sold 23, which made me happy. The new cookies sold well today also.

**Cute side note on my frosted cookies, last week I gave the leftovers to my sister’s family, but I did not actually hand them to the kids, I basically left them at my Mom’s house and my sister picked them up and took them home. Evidently the kids enjoyed them and mentioned Aunt Erinn made them. On Friday my sister and my 19 month old niece were talking and the baby said “Aunt Erinn” (which comes out more like Aunt Ernie, which I think is adorable) and my sister said Aunt Erinn is coming over later. Then the baby said “cookie” to which my sister replied we do not have any cookies, and the baby responded with Aunt Erinn cookie. I take is she liked my cookies. I also think it is incredibly smart of her to figure out that I made the cookies she had eaten almost a week earlier when I had not given her the cookie.

I am also excited about the repeat customers I am getting. At least four of the people came back last week for my products and one person said you have me hooked on your bread. That is what I my goal is, to build a customer base.
I had every intention to take to pictures today, but when I pulled my camera out of my purse I discovered the batteries were dead – thus no pictures. The camera is currently on its base getting charged and I will take pictures next week.

Another Friday...

... another busy week, another day to prepare for the farmers market tomorrow. Last night I was able to get a good start on all my baking and hope to finish up the remaining preparations early enough tonight to join some friends who are getting together for a little while. With the selling out of the bread and Congo bars last week I decided to increase my bread quantity. I added a batch of each the banana bread and Amish Friendship bread. Each batch produces 2 large loaves of bread or 4 small ones. I have found I am able to make a double batch and have room in my oven to bake it all at once. Hopefully this extra bread will sell as well. The weather forecast is for a beautiful, sunny day, not too hot – prefect Michigan weather. Also more and more fruits and vegetables are coming into season. I am hoping that will bring an increase in traffic. Last week I had a few repeat customers, which is a lot of fun, knowing that people are enjoying the foods I am making and actually want to buy them again, maybe they will come again tomorrow? Also I will try to take some pictures tomorrow, I have noticed my blog is looking pretty boring these days.
Have a good one, and I will report back after the market.

Whirlwind

My life has been a little bit crazy recently. I had the opportunity to go away for a few hours on Friday night, so I decided to use this week as a test to see if I could have plans on Friday night and still get every thing finished. I got a ton baked on Thursday and felt really good going into Friday. Of course Friday night I didn’t get home until a couple hours after I expected and still had hours of work to do, which lead to a very short night of sleep.

Saturday was another good day at the Market. My sale again improved and this time I sold out of all of my breads and congo bars. This was the first time I had sold out of anything – I was very excited. I had hoped to make my turtle brownies, but ran out of time on my shortened Friday night – so next week.

Once I got home from the Market on Saturday I had to clean my disaster of a house and pack for quick international trip. After a long day of traveling I am now sitting in a hotel room crashing, so I am signing off to get some sleep.

Back on Track

I enjoyed my week off last week. I got lots of things done, of course not as much as I had hoped, but a fair share. Also I could not have picked a better week weather wise – it had been unseasonably hot all last week and the thought of baking in that heat would not have been fun. I could not even muster up the motivation to vacuum in my 90 degree house, much less turn on an over for hours. Thankfully the hot spell has broken and beautiful weather has come in its place. In fact last night I had all my windows open to cool down my house (it had not been cooler then 80 degrees in over a week) and at one point I needed to go put on long pants. I was so excited!! But now my break is over and back to baking. I am headed over the Westside Market on Saturday from 8-12. Still decided on exactly what to bring –for sure Banana bread, Amish friendship bread, Congo bars and Cakes. I will let you know what else I decide on.

No excuse…

Just late on my update from the weekend. Saturday I again went to the Westside Farmers market and it was my best day to date!! I brought both Amish Friendship Bread and Banana Bread – with samples of the Amish Friendship Bread – in total I have 17 loaves of bread – both big and small, and I sold 15 of 17. I also had Congo Bars – which continue to be a good seller and cakes and cupcakes. With this being a newer market and this the first year it is opened on Saturdays I knew it would take some time for the word to get out. On Saturday I was pleasantly surprised to see a large increase in traffic and many people from the neighborhood stopping by to check it out and to support the efforts. I enjoyed talking to many of them and hope they become repeat customers. This Saturday I have an out of town commitment, so I am taking the week off, but will be back the following week.

This weekend

This weekend I am headed back to the Westside Farmers Market – St James Church on Bridge Street – 8 am- Noon. If anyone is in the area – stop by, I would love to see you. I have heard there will be fresh strawberries and asparagus available (not from me of course) I am still deciding for sure what to make. I know I will have banana bread, amish friendship bread, chocolate chocolate chunk cookies, chocolate chip cookies and congo bars – they have all sold pretty good and the amish friendship bread is ready to go (this bread is made in ten day cycles. You take a portion of the dough out of each batch and let is set for 10 days then you use that as the starter for your next batch.) I am still undecided about what else to make – I will probably have some combination of cakes or cupcakes and I might try something new. Growing up my next door neighbor made the best cookies, they are similar to the lofthous cookies you can buy at the store. I just received the recipe this week and I am anxious to try them out. I think they will be a big seller, so I might try those also or instead of the cakes – I will have to gage that one as I am baking.

Weekend Update

Saturday morning I went to the Westside Farmers market. This is only the second week they have been opened on Saturday, so they are still dealing with some growing pains. So there were only a few vendors there. I think this week they are rolling out a marketing plan, as well as soliciting other vendors. Also a anthropology class from GVSU is studying farmers markets and their affect on local communities. As they gather and process this information they will be able to provide it to the organizers to help with their planning. The location is great; it is just a matter of getting the word out. That being said it was another mildly successful morning. I again covered my costs and turned a profit. At this point I am pretty close to breaking even over all – included covering the cost for the supplies I have purchase, bakery boxes, packaging material, a couple additional loaf pans and the one, the easy up canopy. So that is good. I am just trying to evaluate the time I am putting in versus the potential revenues out. Just more things to think about. This week I had banana bread, congo bars, two kinds of cookies and cakes and cupcakes. Again the banana bread and congo bars went the best. So they will remain staples, everything else did okay. My next batch of Amish Friendship bread will be ready this coming weekend so I will try that again, this time with samples.