Week of 7/4/22 - 7/10/22

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK: 7/4-7/10!!! 

Holy TOLEDO, big week, with all three bakeries crushing business. Monday was the fourth of July, and people seemed to be enjoying the gorgeous weather and hitting the road both north and south outta town!!

We had lots of staff head to Seward to watch Mount Marathon, and others who went fishing and camping!

Erica did a final handoff of AH to Erin G where she will lead with skill and passion!! Erin G in turn threw Erica one helluva “great job and goodbye” party with drinkable glitter, a dorito taco bag bar and a celebrity signing so we can always remember Ericas humble roots. haha, SHAKE AND BAKE BABY!!

Price increases happened across the menu, taking place Friday 7/8. Thank you to Ann G for changing each label by hand and then all three menu boards. Tyler was then able to update all pricing on Square and within one day, we seamlessly increases every item on our menu 10-20%. The chocolate chip cookie, focaccia, and coffee were held back (the smallest increases) to help offset the hurt some might feel…. this helps us to keep pace with increased ingredient and service costs.

We are also transitioning tags to a VINYL tag type, and relieve sweet Sarah M of her label making position. BTW (doesn’t the grounds around AH look B-E-A-UTIFUL?!) Thank you Sarah!

TRAINING…

Bread team still in training, Mack leaving us in just two weeks. Alex, Porter, Ryan coming up to speed!

Miron training in savory department and working with Kat and Donovan at K street. Looks like he’ll have lots of work there putting out excellent sandwiches and helping keep us flush with soup and salads (being expo’d over from AH and made by the amazing Erin G!!)

Erin G getting salads dialed in at AH and getting prep assistance from Gillian, thank you very much!

WHATS TO COME:

Most people back in place… no new covid that we know of at this time

Grace out this week, traveling up to Fairbanks for … Chelsea working more hours than normal, and Leslie and Ayze sending support scones when they can.

Porter out Friday-Sunday and Lourdes keeping early bread smooth and steady.

ACCOLADES: Gillian is planning (and pulled off!!!) the sweetest company picnic ever!! Spongebob themed and with so many cool toys and games. She really is Deputy of Esprit De Cours!! Team happiness is definitely increased due to her dedication, creativity, and kindness (and snacks). Thank you so very much wonderful Gillian!!!

Gannon and Miron did some fill in cleaning shifts and kept us looking super clean and shiny bright. Thank you so much dudes! Great to have Steven back too. We have a rad CLEAN TEAM and couldn’t do this without them.

ATTA BOY: Naomi, counter lead, and all around superstar is making the all-counter meeting HAPPEN. Thank you for taking initiative and demanding that we keep our high standards and meet/exceed expectations. The meeting is by zoom, at 2pm on Tuesday 7/12.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK:

Positive review: “.Excellent staff this morning at the Fire Island Barry in Logan Street! Everyone was happy to be there and of service to all who entered. It was so wonderful to see such anamazing, hard working and positive team working together! They ALL assisted with my BIG order and helped box and ribbon it up for me with such love and care. I WILL return again and again! Thank you so much! Happy summer!;D !” 

Negative review: Hi there - firstly, I love your baked goods and breads. And I thank you for being here in Anchorage. Just wanted to let you know, that as a regular customer, I often get the wrong food. Meat products when I have asked for veggie ones ( I am a vegetarian). Incorrect scones (I do like most of them, but nice to get the one I ordered) Not getting foods I paid for in my bags - they just never made it - now I check. Wrong breads. If I request a whole wheat sour dough, it would be nice to get that and not a white one - this has happened a few times..maybe your staff need some training on what is what. Again, love your products, but your staff need some training. Thanks very much - Anna

Questionable review: “Price increases - :-( due to Biden’s inflation by shutting down our energy independence (AK oil industry) and printing money. I fear it’s only going to get worse for small businesses.”

FACILITY PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS:

We have a brand new parking lot at K street. SO THATS NEAT!!! The lot looks great! We have custom parking signs lining the south lot line that read “30 minute parking K Street Market” We will not be enforcing this, but thought it might keep people from parking in our lot for one or two hours.

We also go new furniture at K st and have some of it outside. It is colorful and cool looking, but possible not as strong and robust as we hoped. Some of the chairs are already showing wear and tear. We are also pulling in the patio chairs and benches at night so they don’t get lifted… just pretty shiny and bright to be sitting out all night.

91 UPDATE:

We reopened this week and were not surprised the people came right back. The southside doesn’t have a lot of options for high quality food and we are sure they will be sad to see us go. We are still committed to closing July 31st. Many of our customers will come see us at K st market or Airport Heights Bakery.