Running a bakery requires many things to come together at once.
I prefer the term “The daily operating requirements of a bakery” rather than “how to run a bakery.”
The word “running” is a term used in the field of sports and although we as bakers do a lot of quick movements and it may seem to some that we are literally running from one place to another. It is structured and designed to take advantage of as much of our production time as is humanly possible.
Also working in a bakery business is one of the main reasons for professional accidents. The only time someone should be working in a bakery business is in an emergency!
Now as far as the title goes, we are running a bakery but of course, as I have explained, my preferred term is the daily operation of a bakery.
For some, it will also be a headache. It will certainly be a fun and rewarding experience for others. But it can also be your worst nightmare!
I tell you from the beginning …
… NOT to scare you into giving up your business venture, but to open your eyes, so you can see outside the box.
You’ve heard that statement many times, I’m sure. But, if you can think outside the box, many of the challenges will seem like an easy crossword. (Unless you hate crosswords, of course).
YOU!
If you!
Whatever you do will be imprinted on your business, and whatever your employee does will also influence “YOUR” business. Therefore, it is up to you to know everything that is humanly possible about that business.
What you don’t know can be bought, like managers, accountants, and lawyers.
You will need to oversee all aspects or hire someone in whom you have complete confidence, and I mean complete confidence. This person will spend YOUR money. They will be operating YOUR business. They may not be writing the checks, but maybe they are designing the production flow and monitoring their staff, so that’s where I say they are spending their money.
So what does running a bakery entail?
Or as I said, organize the daily operation of the bakery production.
One of the first operations is to cost your purchases and then cost the recipes that you will use to acquire a sale price to pay all your business expenses.
Of course I am assuming here that you have already written your business plan and hired an ingredient supplier, these are the steps to becoming a profitable bakery business.
The daily operations of the bakery are going to change every day. This is because production will change on a daily basis. After all, the possibility of selling all the products every day is not realistic; It is NOT impossible, but it is not likely.
Of course, we live to produce enough that there are few pieces left. That way, the product is fresher.
In the bakery we produce bread doughs, and some of those bread doughs require a resting time and some bread doughs are what we call “No-Time” doughs. Therefore, it is important that we organize our time to work all these production times in a standard operation for optimal use of each piece of equipment, as well as to use our furnace space appropriately.
In addition to bread dough, we also make cakes and cookies, cakes and other products that require different operating procedures. They also bake at different times and temperatures.
The loaves are baked at a temperature of 400 to 450 degrees. But if you put a puff pastry product with sugar in the same oven, three things would happen.
1. The sugar will burn
2. The puff pastry will not cook properly.
3. Time, ingredients, labor, and product are wasted!
Similarly, if you make meringues, the oven temperature will be 150 to 175 degrees, so try baking a sponge.
cake or bread at that temperature will be the same result of number three above.
In most bakeries, a small bakery with only a few employees will use a system called “baking.”
Baking is a way of running a bakery by baking all the highest temperature products first, then the cake production, then the cookie products, and finally the meringues.
The products are then cooled, decorated, packaged and sold.