Baker's Pride

Five Years

I get all sorts of questions asked posed to me all the time.

From the bakery.
"Is this fresh?"

From my family.
"Can I have some money, Dad? Puuuhleeeeze."

From myself even.
"I'm tired, maybe some take out tonight?"

The answer to these questions is another question. "What will the outcome look like if I continue to answer the question the same way for five years". This pretty much clears up any gray areas and really clarifies things for me.

From the bakery.
If I were to misrepresent the bakery I sold, we would be out of business in five years.

From my family.
Is it really in my best interest to just "give" money to my kids for the next five years?

From myself.
If I continue to make take-out part of my routine, what am I going to feel like five years from now?

Anticipation

Do you remember the Heinz Ketchup commerical? The one with the song "Anticipation" playing the background?

Today we are picking up a foreign exchange student at the airport.We have been planning her arrival for quite some time now.

As we are rushing around today to get ready for her; I took some time to enjoy the anticipation of her being here. Sometimes in the rush of things I forget that the anticipation is just as much fun as the event itself.

It happens in the bakery all the time. People who came here as a child re-visiting. The excitement of planning a first birthday. Grown up kids ordering a anniversary cake for their parents. They are simply having fun.

Go out today and enjoy the anticipation of something. Get a donut, a hot cup of coffee, or give someone a hug!

It's not personal, it's just business…

What?!!

Who was the crazy person who wrote this?

In my career I have heard this too many times to mention. It is an old business axiom that has been around for years and truthfully when I hear it now, I cringe.

In my observation business "is" personal. Big business, small business any kind of business. What customer do you know that wants to be treated as a "business" rather that a person?

How bout employees? When do they really perform and care about what they are doing? When you treat them like a business or a person?

Even businesses like to be treated in a personal way.

I think I am going to post a new slogan in our office.

"Being personal is our business…"

Larsen Bakery is on TV!

ABC Channel 7 in Chicago visited Racine this summer and they picked Larsen Bakery (us) as one of the places to go!

For a neighborhood bakery it was pretty exciting to have a newscaster, lights and cameras rolling.

We had the newscaster make a Kringle and of course try his own creation afterword. He was sold!

Click here to see the program.

One of those days…

This is a picture of my mailbox. Notice something different?

Seem a little short?

I came home the other day and did a double-take as I drove into my driveway.

It just so happened that someone was driving and choked on a cough drop, swerved and hit my mailbox. She is O.K. and that is not the funny part.

The funny part is she put the mailbox back up (see picture ). I don't know why. Did she think no-one would notice? That the mail carrier would pay no mind? That I wouldn't notice when I picked up my daily mail?

It get's better…she promises to replace it when she get's help from her boyfriend. Two days later I come home to a brand new mailbox the same height as the one she knocked to the ground!

This is when I have to smile; I actually chuckled. Clearly, she did her best. Her intentions were good. She could've just drove off and left the mailbox laying in the street.

It was just one of those days…

Sunday's at Larsen Bakery

I usually open on Sunday mornings. For the past few Sundays I haven't been able to. Whether it was a family commitment or Memorial day I just haven't been here.

The alarm went off at 5am today, and I was "not" in the Sunday groove anymore. Everything seemed to go slow, everything was an effort and I thought, " I am not liking Sunday's anymore".

With the store full of people an energetic woman pulled me aside and said I"must" tell you a story. ( I was not in the mood for a story!) I smiled politely and she proceeded to tell me how ever since she was a child she had Larsen's Bakery. She named every major life event, birthdays, catechism, graduation, and then of course her wedding.

Fourteen years ago she had gotten married and even though the wedding was over 150 miles away she had to have her wedding cake from Larsen's. So her mom took the wedding cake (Danish Layer of course)up to Northern WI and her wedding was complete. Today she was so happy we were open on a Sunday.  She was hoping we had something "Danish Layer" that she might remember her wedding 14 years ago.

Luckily we had made a fresh batch of Danish Layer cake slices this weekend. She took four and with a sparkle in her eye thanked me from the bottom of her heart for being able to help her re-member and celebrate her wedding 14 years ago.

She left as quickly and suddenly it was quiet again in the bakery.

I smiled and chuckled, " that's why I like to work Sundays..."

Studebaker Club at Larsen Bakery

On Friday, May 15th we had a 40 or more people travel to our neighborhood bakery in their classic Studebakers. It was part of a three-day tour they took in Racine.

We always treat our tours with free samples of Kringle and coffee but took it a step further with  complimentary "Studebaker Cookies" for to take with them in remembrance of our local bakery.

If you are interested in Studebakers check out their website at: http://www.rockrivervalleystudebakerdriversclub.com/

If you want to book a bus tour of your own, don't hesitate to call. We'de love to have you!

Gatorade

Spring is just around the corner and as us Mid-Westerners rouse from our Winter slumber we start to look at ourselves and realize we might want shed a few winter pounds.

I am one of those people and thought I would cut down on coffee and soda I and try a healthier alternative - Gatorade. I was happily chugging these down and someone pointed out to me that they really aren't that healthy.  I looked a bit closer at the label and discovered that this concoction was really just fancy Kool-Aide!! There isn't even any Vitamin C in it!

It was then that I realized how important image and a story is to people. Gatorade in my mind has always been the drink of professional sports. Heck, if they were drinking it it must be O.K. for a middle-aged baker!

Our bakery doesn't have millions of dollars to create an "image" or a name. When you walk into our store there really isn't any mystery or some high-priced marketing scheme. It is simply fresh bakery at fair prices. For me its good to know that I am part of that.

Do you believe in fate?

Earlier this week my wife was in a spring cleaning mode. She was cleaning downstairs, upstairs, throwing out stuff from the kids closets, and emptying dresser drawers. As she was cleaning she found my prom picture from 25 years ago and put in on our dresser.

That morning I woke up and stared blanked at the picture of me and my then girlfriend 25 years ago. I smiled, and thought nothing more of it for the rest of the morning until I was at the bakery speaking to some of our vendors and in walks my prom date from 25 years ago!

I let the vendors and the whole bakery know that this was the my prom date of 25 years ago. She bought some donuts for her daughter and walked out of our bakery.

Maybe I will see her again, maybe not for another 25 years. Regardless, it is enough for me to believe that there are things out there that are a lot bigger than I am.

Whole Grain Thursday's at Larsen Bakery

Well, we've had "Muffin Monday" and "Wacky Wednesday". It was just a matter of time before Whole Grain Thursday came along.

The story is a bit of an interesting one and I'd like to share it with you.

We've been making Vegan (no animal products) Kringle for a couple years and all-natural donuts for close to a year. We sold them to wholesale companies who had requested them from us. Being a traditional bakery we didn't think much of it other that we were pleasantly surprised that sales of these products were slowly increasing. This winter an online company asked us if we would sell our Vegan Kringle to them so they could provide people with a traditional Danish pastry that normally wouldn't or couldn't eat it.

They explained a lot of their clients were not only vegetarians but had food allergies that prevented them from eating some of their favorite food. We agreed and it came to me to send out a notice to all of our Kringle fans that there was now a Vegan Kringle out their for them to enjoy.

The response has been amazing. The result of that response is "Whole Grain Thursday's" at our store. We bake our Vegan Kringle fresh that morning and serve trans-fat free, vegan, whole grain donuts, too. Customers love both and continue to bring more friends in to enjoy "Whole Grain Thursday's".

We made such a buzz our local newspaper came to visit us!

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Stop by if you haven't and if you have let us know what you think about our latest daily special.

And if you can't get to Racine, feel free to order on-line at: VeganEssentials.com!