Wherever you position your bakery, always ensure that it will not be in the way of any future expansion, as this can prove to be quite expensive to move heavy equipment around and break down wall divisionslittle as 50m2 but a ‘scratch bakery’ will

require from 150m2 upwards depending on

the number of ovens, proofers, mixers and

production tables.

By Hippo Zourides

The bakery department is

renowned for producing the

best gross margin within the

supermarket, but this does not

necessarily translate into net

profit. The bottom line depends

on many factors that range from

your manpower selection to your

pricing to recipe control and

wastage.

In this issue of Supermarket & Retailer,

we take you through some aspects that

make a successful bakery. Innovation is very

important but if the basics are not right,

your success will be limited.

PositionWhere is your bakery located in your

overall layout? Traditionally, most bakeries

are placed towards the back of the store

next to the other service departments. This

usually works well, especially if you need

to create staff access before the normal

trading hours to start the baking process

before the store opens its doors. A separate

door with dual keys (one for the baker

and one for the security company) and

a turnstile that allows only one way traffic

are two good tools to use.

However, some innovative retailers,

especially those located in high density

areas or near office blocks, have positioned

their bakery closer to the front of the store

to allow easy and convenient access to

customers who are time-pressed, but who

still want to buy a range of baked products.

Usually, delicatessen counters will also be

in the same run as the bakery serving area.

SizeA decision must be made upfront about

the current and future potential of the

bakery in your overall mix. Are you merely

installing a ‘bake off’ area, where frozen

dough will be baked in small batches,

or are you creating a ‘scratch bakery’ to

produce a greater variety of both bread and

confectionery? Once this decision is made,

the best advice is normally available from

your equipment supplier who is geared

to design the total layout including the

production flow for an efficient outcome.

A ‘bake-off’ can be accommodated in as

EquipmentOnce again, your equipment supplier

will recommend the correct equipment,

depending on your proposed range and

production capability. A decision must be

made whether to use electricity or diesel

or gas before ordering equipment. This will

depend on what is available in your area

and the cost of energy – get some expert

advice on this matter.

The next decision is the type of oven to

be used. Will it be a rotary oven or a deck

oven or a combination of both? Nowadays,

rotary ovens produce excellent results for a

variety of baked products and your supplier

will be able to take you through the pros

and cons of all equipment. For example, the

proper way to bake Portuguese rolls was

8SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, JANUARY 2015

B A K E R Y▲

The supermarket bakery

Is your bakery a profitable department?

It depends on how you run it

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is only 1680mm x 1280mm x 2470mm (h)

Energy saving: Electric power

consumption: 47 KW1 x Bread trolley to fit

30 x BO4 shapes (120 loaves)or 1 x 18 shelf Confectionery

600 x 800 tray size

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Semi Automatic Bun divider – 30 piece weight range 40gr – 100gr with 3 moulding plates

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Cake MixersAvailable in

20lt,40lt,60lt,80lt and 100lt

Bakers who claim to be able to perform

both duties should be tested extensively as

their experience may be limited in certain

areas. The wrong personnel in the pro-

duction area can make or break a business.

BAKERYon the floor of a deck oven but modern

equipment can produce similar results from

a rotary oven.

If your production of both square

‘government’ bread and bread rolls is going

to be in the higher number, there is no

doubt that rotary ovens should be used as

they deliver the correct volume per batch

baked.

Other ‘must haves’ include the correct

mixers for bread and cake mixing, bun

dividers, pastry sheeters and enough

stainless steel tables to be able to produce

the full range of products.

Always separate the bread making from

the cake making into separate areas since

both these functions require different skills

and enough space to produce the correct

results.

One area is that often neglected is the

backup area within the bakery layout.

Ensure that you have enough space for

your flour (normally on pallets) as well

as all the bread and cake ingredients

(normally on shelves). Adequate cold and

freezer room is also required for the storage

of fresh ingredients such as butter, cream,

yeast, as well as frozen dough products

bought from external suppliers. There

should be enough space in a cold room to

put in a whole trolley with dough that has

not been baked but needs retarding for

a future bake.

ManpowerIf we start with the production team, the

first question to ask “Do I need bakers

and confectioners or can the same people

perform both duties?” The skills are notably

different and large bakeries will need both

specialists, while smaller installations may

cope with the same person(s) to achieve

both results.

Confectioners in charge of the

produc tion of morning goods and cake

confectionery should be able to produce

the full range required for a store operating

extended hours within their normal eight

hour shift.

The team must meet with a responsible supervisor or manager every day to plan the production schedule for the day based on the time of the week, the weather, special orders, and so on

10SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, JANUARY 2015

▲

A ‘scratch bakery’ with an experienced and qualified baker will enable you to bake a wider variety of breads and cakes, but will also require an area from 150m2 upwards depending on the number of ovens, proofers, mixers and production tables.

The proper way to bake Portuguese rolls used to be on the floor of a deck oven, but modern equipment can produce similar results from a rotary oven.

Bread ranges have now moved away from

the conventional square loaf to

many artisan breads that, not only cater for the various nationalities

in the area, but are also

enjoyed by South African shoppers

who have become more adventurous

with their bakery purchases.

The counter sales team is also important

when selecting candidates to man the

counters. They must be presentable, literate

and have special skills of interacting with

the public. Some municipal departments

of health do not allow the open display of

merchandise freely accessible to the public.

This creates an added pressure point in

the serving process as every item must be

handled by a staff member wearing hand

gloves with hair covered and it delays

the sales process. Where open displays

are allowed, the number of staff can be

reduced accordingly. There is no doubt that

sales of open displays are much higher than

when goods are displayed behind a counter.

RangeToday’s modern supermarket bakeries are

increasing their ranges dramatically in order

to compete better with their peers.

The bread ranges have now moved away

from the conventional square loaf to many

artisan breads that, not only cater for the

various nationalities in the area, but are

also enjoyed by South Africa shoppers

who have become more adventurous with

their shopping and the presentation at the

dinner table. It is now common to find new

and exciting bread ranges such as French,

rye, ciabatta, olive, cheese, olive, rice, garlic

and many others.

The confectionery range is also quite

substantial these days and it important

that the correct way is utilised to produce

speciality products such as croissants

(the French way) or pasteis de nata (the

Portuguese way) or proper rye bread (the

German way). Premixes can be used but

nothing replaces original recipes produced

by expert bakers who have tried various

ingredients and baking temperatures. Many

expats now live in South Africa and they

are connoisseur buyers of baked goods

but great supporters once they find their

favourite bread or cake.

The margin to aim for in the bakery department is 40% as one must account for the mark-downs and wastage that are typical. The first loss is always the best loss in a bakery and retailers should not be scared to ‘reduce to clear’ bakery products before they reach their sell-by date

A new wave of Greek and Middle Eastern

ranges from countries such as Israel,

Lebanon and Turkey are becoming popular.

So, consider sourcing well-produced

kandaifi or halva or kourabiethes or baklava

for your customers. Your customers will

love the selection as well as basic ranges of

pita bread and wraps.

Price and profitabilityIn the bakery department,

we can apply the saying

“The quality is most

important at the

11SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, JANUARY 2015

▲

Tel. (011) 613 8587Cell. 083 333 1224 (Gilda)Web. www.plasticideas.co.za

A new wave of Greek and Middle Eastern ranges from countries such as Israel, Lebanon, Turkey

and the like are becoming popular. Consider sourcing

well-produced kandaifi or halva or kourabiethes

or baklava for your customers.

1. Giveaways – Apart from regular

tasters of your range, consider starting a

database of your loyal customer’s birthdays

and give away a small birthday cake on

their birthday. Chances are, that customer

will source the rest of their birthday

requirements from your store

2. Celebrate events – Think of all

the special events that take place in any

given year (Valentine’s Day, Easter, National

Braai Day, and so on) and prepare special

products for such events

3. Happy hour – Everything (or

alternatively, only pastries and cakes) can

be discounted by 15-25% (depending on

margins) after 6pm

BAKERYtime of the bite;

the price less so”.

Nevertheless,

after pricing your

bread and rolls at

the appropriate

competitive level,

you can be quite

creative when

pricing the rest of

the bakery range.

Self-service, pre-packed cakes should

always be priced well for rapid sales but the

margin can be tweaked for items that are

more complex and require special serving.

Huge losses can occur due to over-

production and the consequent wastage;

however, under-production can also

become a loss factor as more items could

have been sold than originally planned.

Staff must be encouraged to keep a record

of what time of day certain lines are sold

out, so that the production patterns can be

tweaked appropriately.

It pays to watch the competition and to

adjust prices a couple of time per year, as

it is very easy to remain at the old prices

when input costs (both materials and

manpower) have increased.

PromotionThe bakery department is a great area to

apply a variety of clever promotional ideas.

Beginning with the KVIs, which should be

well priced, highlighted with ticketing and

advertised on a regular basis, the store’s

promotional programme should cover both

bread and cake confectionery to show

the consumer the mouth-watering range

available in store. Weekend specials work

well for the bakery counters and many of

these can be done in-store by using the PA

system judiciously.

Tasters are a must and should be

encouraged every day of the week and

not only for special occasions. How many

people have tried your olive bread or the

new muffin flavours just launched? “Try it,

you’ll like it” is a phrase that can be used in

a bakery ad infinitum.

The bakery department can be a very

profitable area of one’s store and can

even create a name of the supermarket.

However, lack of production control and

wastage are two main enemies that can

reduce the profit dramatically and may

even produce a loss. Happy baking!

4. Pavement promos – If you

can get permission from authorities/

landlord like in the good old days. Put up a

whiteboard/blackboard and promote daily

deals on that. You can also use a sandwich

board – one that can be used to display

promos on both sides

5. Special deals – For customers’

special occasions– Send emaisl/call your

customers a day or two before a special

occasion (anniversary/birthday).

6. Re-fuel your Facebook page

Add fans and also engage them in a

conversation. Run Facebook promos with

‘Facebook Promote’ (paid) and ‘Offers’

(free)

12SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, JANUARY 2015

▲

Promotional ideas

for your bakery

Advanced planning is the only way to go. Prepare a monthly promotional

plan that goes beyond product and price, and implement it religiously.

Here are some ideas:

7. Going forward, create an online store front – But in the

meantime, give users a facility to order on

the phone. Then, whenever a user visits,

provide them with a product catalogue.

8. Invite registered/existing users for a free tasting session.

9. Offer festive season special offers – Not discounts necessarily,

and run these through email lists, blogs,

Facebook, Twitter – the same content can

run on different channels with relevant

tweaks

10. Host small parties – If space

permits, customers can pay for products

and get the venue free. This will work for

executives in nearby offices who want to

celebrate the birthday of a colleague during

daytime or early evening

11. Try direct mailing – It should

not be a pamphlet but a classy invitation

to come ‘visit’ your bakery for a tasting

session. Those who visit and taste the stuff

are most likely to buy stuff. Print 500–

5 000 at one go and distribute 200–500 a

week. Target specific neighbourhoods. Hire

a young boy/girl to personally visit and

deliver them by hand

12. Have pictures of your product range – Every tart, pastry, cake, croissant

that you make has a story behind it. Add

some words. Captions and wording will

hook people

13. Listen to feedback – At the very

least, respond when you can. Hear people

out as often you can – it will create a bond,

and go a long way to improving on product

and service. Respond to people’s comments

on your blog, Facebook and Twitter

14. Invite your Facebook fans over for a chat – Treat them well and

get feedback in person about the products

your bakery should be creating. Then create

the ones that you can and tell them about

it once you’ve done it

15. Create your own personal ambassadors – Make those who

offer you feedback, your (un)official

ambassadors, and give them some loyalty

privileges

16 Focus on collecting testimonials – List them on your

website, with user permission, of course

17. Create one signature item –

promote it like mad – And then build on

that success

18 Sell more to your good customers – Surprise them when you can. Once a customer has made a purchase of R300 then offer her R30.00 off her next purchase

19. Maintain the right sensory cues – Is the smell inviting for the customers who enter your bakery?

20. Run promos (driven by posters, for example) – Put up a promotional poster at your local institutions – anywhere you’ll find your target audience – keep them running. Being seen equals being ‘alive’

21. Always ask for user email – Whenever a user visits your website

22. Take photos of products with people – Keep the ratio 50:50 – products: people with products – this will keep the human touch alive and is a good trust builder

23. Create events/promos for young moms with kids – Run it every Wednesday morning say around 11am or 4pm – try both times and hold on to the one that works out best. Offer a ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ treat for these occasions

24. Offer coupons – Where you give user a 10-page coupon booklet. These are for regular customers, and each coupon should provide them with for a discount of, say, 25% of the item value or “Buy four and the cheapest item is free”.

25. Organise a pastry eating contest – Award the most graceful eater, or the one who can eat the most

26. Put up a TV monitor – Run high quality programming related to bakery

27. Discount goods and services Each time a customer spends R5.00, he receives a cupcake stamp; after receiving her tenth stamp, she receives R5.00 in free baked goods

28. Couples baking session – Couples often search for date nights that don’t include the typical dinner and movie. Create a couple’s baking session to provide participants with a new date experience that allows them to work together to create a sweet treat. Invite couples to come into your bakery for holidays such as Valentine’s Day, or offer special anniversary sessions for one couple. Before the sessions, come up with a simple, but tasty, dessert recipe you can teach couples to create at home. Pair the dessert with an appropriate wine, for an extra touch

13SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, JANUARY 2015

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BAKERY29. Sponsor an event – Sponsor an

event by purchasing advertising space on

the event’s website or in the event’s print

publications, or arrange to provide dessert

for the event. Display your bakery signage

where appropriate, and be present at the

events you sponsor, with your uniform-

wearing staff, to meet and greet attendees.

Work with a writer to help you craft a press

release that highlights your participation in

the event, add the release it to the ‘Press’

or ‘Media’ section of your website and use

press release distribution sites to further

spread your news.

30. Cupcakes contest – Bakeries

located near other businesses have the

advantage of offering special promotions

that target office workers and other nearby

employees. Allow local employees to enter

monthly contests to win baked goods

for their offices. You can ask a monthly

trivia question related to baking, your

goods and services, the community where

your business is located or pop-culture.

Alternately, you can avoid the trivia and

just have customers add their business

cards to a fishbowl or box located on the

counter of your bakery. Draw a winner

monthly, and announce it in the bakery, as

well as through local news and blog sites

that cover topics on food and restaurants.

Deliver a supply of baked goods to the

winning office, along with a bundle of your

company business cards, brochures and a

framed certificate celebrating the winning

office.

14SUPERMARKET & RETAILER, JANUARY 2015

▲

FunCTIOn OR quALITY RATInG /100

Getting information (recipes, processes, work order) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Monitor processes, materials, surroundings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Inspecting material, structures, equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Organising, planning, prioritising work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Identifying food processing and health regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Communicating with superiors/subordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Making decisions and solving problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Establishing/maintaining interpersonal relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Estimating costs, resources, materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Assessing the value of people, materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Controlling machines and processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Thinking creatively re: recipes, products, processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Determining compliance with standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Handling and moving objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Coaching and developing others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Updating and using relevant knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Training and teaching others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Assisting and caring for others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Processing information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Working directly with the public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Monitoring and controlling resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Performing general physical activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

The job of a Bakery Manager

Here are the main functions and qualities (in decending order of

importance) one should expect from a top-class manager of a bakery:

● Bake them on a flat baking tray – they hold their shape and colour.

● Build your sales for parties, weddings and functions with these new packaging ideas.

Feast your eyes on the many different options available.

For more, visit our website www.thebakingtin.co.za

Or, call us on Tel: 021 704 1710

Take your cupcakes, muffins, tarts and breads sales into a whole new world of colour palettes, designs and shapesNo longer are cupcakes found only in the crimped paper cup.Today, you are spoilt for choice. The options are many and include different colour palettes, designs, sizes and shapes. The good news is, that they are all bake stable and do not require a muffin or cupcake tray.

1 Paddy Close, Ottery East, Cape Town, 7800email: debby@thebakingtin.co.za

Fax: 021 704 1714

Sandton Convention Centre

at the Meet

us a

nd see for yourself at Hostex 15–18 March 2015

Coordinating the work and activities of others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Analysing data and information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Developing objectives and strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Scheduling work and activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Resolving conflict and negotiating with others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Developing and building teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Providing advice and consultation to others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Performing administrative tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Communicating with persons outside the organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Interacting using computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Operating vehicles, mechanised devices, or equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32