October 30, 2006
Sweet job | A chat with Heather Keach, founder of Heather's Bakery and Confection Shoppe in Auburn.
By Erview By Kerry Elson
Founded: August 2005
Employees: Four
Startup costs: $50,000
Revenue, year one: $120,000
Projected revenue, year two: $150,000
Contact: 783-7100
1056 Center St., Auburn 04210
www.heathersbakery.com
What kind of items do you bake?
We do a lot of your traditional bakery items, like cinnamon buns and muffins, cakes, pies, Danishes, croissants, scones. We actually use a lot of nuts, whereas a lot of bakeries don't use any to speak of. And we do six or seven different kinds of cookies ˆ we rotate all our cookies and bars so that we can give people a better selection all the time. At lunchtime we make our own soups, and we have deli sandwiches on homemade bread. We're pretty broad for a small bakery.
How do you manage it all?
It's a lot of hours, and a lot of prioritizing what you need to do for the day in order to have a product line that large. Especially for a small bakery, I think we do quite a bit. People are always really impressed when they come in, and they're like, "Wow, you have so many choices." So it's a lot of planning in advance.
What is your schedule like?
Usually I start out at around six o'clock in the morning and I leave fairly late at night, anywhere from six to nine o'clock at night. I get a lot of help from my family. My mother comes in and helps me in the afternoons. My husband comes in and works at the bakery after his regular job ˆ he makes the muffins. So that's one of the ways that I can have a bigger product line without actually having more [paid] labor to do it with.
Is this something that you did a lot when you were growing up?
I always liked baking when I was a kid, but I never really envisioned myself doing that [professionally]. Later on, once I became an adult, and I was kind of searching for what I wanted to do with myself, I went to school for culinary arts and I fell in love with baking. It's a passion for me to try out new things and experiment.
What prompted you to strike out on your own?
Well, I worked [as a baker] at a hotel for four years and I really enjoyed that job, but it was only a seasonal position and there's not a lot of baking jobs. I had worked at another bakery and I just thought, "Why couldn't I do this exact same thing for myself?" So I started researching and getting a plan together to see if I really could do it, and well, here I am.
What was it like to put the business plan together?
I had written a business plan for a bakery in college, for a project. I found it much more challenging, I will say, to write a real business plan for a real bakery. It took me about six months to write it, because I wanted to be sure that I really would be able to achieve it.
And has the business followed the trajectory you've planned out?
Actually, I was probably within 10% of my projection, so it worked out really well. It's definitely on track for what I projected it to be in the first two to three years. We have a very good return customer base.
Have you done any advertising?
I advertise mostly in the local papers. I do have a commercial on television with Mechanic Savings Bank. In their commercials, they highlight businesses that they've helped financially during the year, and we got chosen. It's exciting ˆ as a small business, we wouldn't be able to afford our own commercial. That has been really good.
What do you envision happening in the future?
We're talking with another business about possibly doing wholesale pies for them. I don't want to say who it is right this minute, but basically we'd be doing pies for a very large business that sells a lot of pie. If we do get that, we'd be making a lot more than $150,000 next year. But I think we're probably going to exceed our projections, and I guess I'm just happy to see that people still want to support a small bakery.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to kelson@mainebiz.biz.
Employees: Four
Startup costs: $50,000
Revenue, year one: $120,000
Projected revenue, year two: $150,000
Contact: 783-7100
1056 Center St., Auburn 04210
www.heathersbakery.com
What kind of items do you bake?
We do a lot of your traditional bakery items, like cinnamon buns and muffins, cakes, pies, Danishes, croissants, scones. We actually use a lot of nuts, whereas a lot of bakeries don't use any to speak of. And we do six or seven different kinds of cookies ˆ we rotate all our cookies and bars so that we can give people a better selection all the time. At lunchtime we make our own soups, and we have deli sandwiches on homemade bread. We're pretty broad for a small bakery.
How do you manage it all?
It's a lot of hours, and a lot of prioritizing what you need to do for the day in order to have a product line that large. Especially for a small bakery, I think we do quite a bit. People are always really impressed when they come in, and they're like, "Wow, you have so many choices." So it's a lot of planning in advance.
What is your schedule like?
Usually I start out at around six o'clock in the morning and I leave fairly late at night, anywhere from six to nine o'clock at night. I get a lot of help from my family. My mother comes in and helps me in the afternoons. My husband comes in and works at the bakery after his regular job ˆ he makes the muffins. So that's one of the ways that I can have a bigger product line without actually having more [paid] labor to do it with.
Is this something that you did a lot when you were growing up?
I always liked baking when I was a kid, but I never really envisioned myself doing that [professionally]. Later on, once I became an adult, and I was kind of searching for what I wanted to do with myself, I went to school for culinary arts and I fell in love with baking. It's a passion for me to try out new things and experiment.
What prompted you to strike out on your own?
Well, I worked [as a baker] at a hotel for four years and I really enjoyed that job, but it was only a seasonal position and there's not a lot of baking jobs. I had worked at another bakery and I just thought, "Why couldn't I do this exact same thing for myself?" So I started researching and getting a plan together to see if I really could do it, and well, here I am.
What was it like to put the business plan together?
I had written a business plan for a bakery in college, for a project. I found it much more challenging, I will say, to write a real business plan for a real bakery. It took me about six months to write it, because I wanted to be sure that I really would be able to achieve it.
And has the business followed the trajectory you've planned out?
Actually, I was probably within 10% of my projection, so it worked out really well. It's definitely on track for what I projected it to be in the first two to three years. We have a very good return customer base.
Have you done any advertising?
I advertise mostly in the local papers. I do have a commercial on television with Mechanic Savings Bank. In their commercials, they highlight businesses that they've helped financially during the year, and we got chosen. It's exciting ˆ as a small business, we wouldn't be able to afford our own commercial. That has been really good.
What do you envision happening in the future?
We're talking with another business about possibly doing wholesale pies for them. I don't want to say who it is right this minute, but basically we'd be doing pies for a very large business that sells a lot of pie. If we do get that, we'd be making a lot more than $150,000 next year. But I think we're probably going to exceed our projections, and I guess I'm just happy to see that people still want to support a small bakery.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to kelson@mainebiz.biz.
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