Happy Sugar Baking Land

Merci Beaucoup Shop Talk: Efficiency Tips

I posted on Facebook awhile ago asking if there was anything in particular people wanted me to address here in our "Shop Talk" series.  The majority of responses seemed to be in need of some tips and tricks on managing their time.  Understandable, especially when you look back at our first "Shop Talk" about pricing and the importance of valuing your time.  Obviously if you can streamline your process without sacrificing quality, you can raise the value of your time without necessarily raising your prices.  That makes customers happy and you happy.  Win win!!

The tips below are just some of the things we try and do to keep ourselves focused and moving along.  Everyone works differently, so these are not rules, just suggestions.  Your mileage will vary.  Efficiency though is not just about where do I place the mixer or when should I bake, it is about your environment and your habits.  Such as....

Take a Break!

I thought it'd be cute if I led off with how to stop work first.  I'm a smartass that way, but it is absolutely true, you have to know when to step back and sit down.  The return on your time (how much work you get done and the quality of that work) drops dramatically the more you try and "push through" a project.  Yes, there are times when things have to get done and you need to suck it up and finish, but as you go make sure to give yourself that snack break or a few minutes to check your email or phone a friend.  Maybe you want to watch the latest episode of The Office, do it.  Get off your feet, enjoy a beverage, it all helps keep you operating at peak efficiency.  Just remember, take it easy in moderation, you've still got work to do ;-)

White Noise

As a writer, this is a huge debate amongst my colleagues.  Teachers would always tell us to work in silence, but the truth is, a lot of us perform better with a little background noise.  It occupies parts of our brain that aren't focused on our current task and gets us firing on all cylinders.  Music can, and most likely will, help you make it through your day easier.  It also makes you happy!!  We even have a DVD player handy and "watch" movies while working.  An added bonus of this type of white noise, is it gives you good time markers.  If in your head you thought stacking the cake was gonna take an hour and suddenly the music stops on that hour long CD.... uh oh!  You're not working as fast as you thought.  Maybe you need a quick break and then double your efforts?

Information Overload

When taking orders, you need to know everything.... EVERYTHING!  Ask about florists, venues, colors, what kind of table the cake is gonna sit on, where is that table and on and on and on.  Know the wedding as much as you can and that will sit there, in the back of your mind, helping you in the decorating process.   Have all that info handy, along with sketches etc., maybe up on a nearby bulletin board.  If you have to go digging through files to double check what color the eight foot flower bouquets on either side of the cake table are, you're wasting time and adding unnecessary frustration to your day.  Take everything you know and make a checklist!  If you can order it in the sequence it needs to be done, even better.  You should earn a doctorate on every cake you create.

Mise En Place

There's an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where he goes back to the restaurant he used to work the line on and hops back into the fray.  It is a great episode, one every aspiring chef should see, but what I recall most vividly is his preparation for the night.  The way he folds his towels, where he wants his ingredients, the selection of knives, everything has to be in its place or "mise en place."  Take the time to prep your area and have everything you need around you or at least know where it is so you can grab it quickly.  This goes back to the checklist above.  Know what you need, gather it, and you can move forward concentrating on decorating.

Cleanliness is Next to Buttercream

You got time to lean, you got time to clean!  Okay, I know, we rarely have time to lean, but it rhymes better than "if you notice your workspace is dirty, you should probably tidy up."  Your tools, your table, your mixers, everything should be kept as clean as possible while working.  I'm not talking spotless, but have your towels handy and wipe down surfaces quickly and move scraps etc. to the garbage as you go.  Don't save it for later, because later you're gonna be too tired to want to clean.  Or you can be like Reva and have your husband do it!  What a schmuck.... wait a second, that's me!

Storage

This feels like a never ending battle in our kitchen!  We buy so many different types of storage at different stores for different things at different times that it becomes really hard to sync them all up.  Buying in bulk would be the best option, and with a cookie cutter collection topping 1000, believe me I am getting close to figuring out a permanent solution for that disjointed pile!

Ideally, you want to have the same brand so that they stack nicely and won't slide all over the place.  Also avoid "snap" type lids that just sit on top.  You want some sort of locking mechanism that secures the lid to the bin.  The snap kind warp and fall off and if the bin is too full they won't snap into place at all.  You end up with a bunch of open plastic containers and a garbage full of lids!  It gets messy.  

Recently I discovered these plastic bins at Office Depot called "Really Useful Box."  They have over 40 sizes ranging from .14 liters up to 145 liters!  (They're British!)  I originally got a few small ones for buttons, but I really like them and will probably use them for more stuff down the line like petal dust, molds etc.  Pretty affordable too and they have a bunch of colors if you're so bold as to try and color code your supplies;) Check 'em out at Office Depot or their website I linked above.  I think Staples has them as well.  Now if only they'd give me free swag for mentioning them... hint hint Really Useful!!

A Trip to Sears

... or somewhere you can take a look at a good selection of toolboxes.  Yes, I'm talking Craftsman tool chests with wheels and everything.  I've been wanting to get Reva this one at Lowe's that is taller than both of us and has a stereo in it, but there are great smaller ones with plenty of storage and even a couple models with a work top and cup holders!  They're great for your growing collection of rolling pins and spatulas and all the other little tools you'll collect as you go.  And while you're there, check out smaller, handheld tool boxes because....

Caking On The Go!

When you start doing more deliveries, it will be extremely helpful to assemble a kit of all the basics that you might need on site to fix and finish off the cake.  A couple spatulas, scissors, ribbons, tape, glue gun, pins, dowels and skewers, a knife or two and then we always have some pastry bags with buterrcream or anything else we would need for that specific cake.  This kit should be cleaned after every delivery and then repacked and kept separate from your regular tools.  That way, a couple of additions and you're ready to go every time and you don't have to think about it, you're just (mostly) prepared automatically.  You can even keep it in your car in case you stumble upon a cake disaster on the freeway and jump in like an off duty doctor!  "This cake is losing filling fast, I need 400 cc's of buttercream stat!"  

That's just the tip of the iceberg really.  Efficiency is all about personalizing your space and your habits to get the most out of your time and your abilities.  It could be realizing its time to invest in a bigger table or a cushy floor mat to keep your feet happy or it could be discovering you like to have an apron on with a couple of your favorite spatulas in the front pocket.  I do highly suggest the toolkits and the mise en place, but you're gonna have to be aware of what works for you so you can do your best work.  

If you have your own ideas and habits you like, please share below in the comments!  

On the next Shop Talk, we dive into the more advanced business world of branding!!

Merci Beaucoup Shop Talk: Facebook, Twitter, Blogs & Beyond

Right now I am sitting in the Cincinnati airport, feet up, next to a window looking at my plane, which is delayed.  So what am I doing?  Facebook.  I've just spent two hours in the airport (and an $8 wifi fee) on Facebook networking and talking cake.  Well, and some chili too;)  And before this I was in the Toronto airport (free wifi thank you very much Canada) doing the same thing.  

My point being, you've got to put the "work" in social networking.  It's not a magic bullet or a free marketing ride where you just sign up and awesome happens.  The internet is a crowded, loud environment that is becoming increasingly difficult to filter through and receive the information you want.  Even harder is trying to send that information to your target audience.

All Hail Facebook

As I write this, the Merci Beaucoup fan page has roughly 2300 Facebook fans (today we stand at 2536).  What this means is our fans are amazing, we love you!  What it does not mean is that everything I post to my wall will reach all 2300 plus every time.  Facebook calls them "impressions," roughly the number of times that post has appeared on someone's feed.  An impression is how many opportunities someone had to see it, not necessarily that they did see it!  How many posts do we overlook in our own feeds everyday, right?  For every nugget of information you post, only a select few will see it.  Post it again, some of those same and maybe a few new ones.  It is a system of diminishing returns, but in order to spread the word as much as possible you have to keep posting.  It's frustrating for the poster and if you're not careful, you can lose fans because you're telling them about your shirts all the time.  And I do worry about that!  I want to sell our shirts, I know the FBers have expressed interest, so I keep posting because I have to, but I try not to bury them in an avalanche of marketing either.  It's a delicate scale.

First of all, you need a "fan page" for your business.  Underlined, bold, fan page.  If you are using a personal page as your business page... how do I put this nicely.... you're not, ummm... "using your full brain capacity."  Personal pages are for you, a person.  In fact, FB heavily frowns on people not using their real names on their personal pages and you even risk their monitors deleting your account because it is "Cakes by Carl" rather than Carl Hawk.  Yes, they do that, and yes, I just used my dad's name as an example, but no, he does not make cakes;)  There's absolutely zero reason for you not to create a fan page, so do it.  Do it right now, then come back and read why.

Now, that you have a fan page, while on that page look to the right of the screen.  You will see a link that says "use Facebook as _____."  Click that and now, wherever you go on FB, you go as your business.  When you leave comments, you leave them as your business.  When you like other pages, you like them as your business.  This makes it infinitely easier for other people to find and like your business.  

I've asked a number of times for people to leave their business pages in our comments so we can like them back and less than three people have commented as their business.  I had to do a lot of searching to find pages and in some cases, they had a name that was also being used by up to 10 other cakers!  If they were "using as," it would've taken me seconds, two clicks worth, to find and like them.  

"Using as" also allows you to like other pages and then easily tag them in your status updates etc.  If you don't understand tagging, you need to go to the Facebook Help Centre and learn all you can about tagging and fan pages.  Tagging turns your name or your business name into a quick text link so that people can go to your page.  It is a must as you interact with other pages and people on Facebook, because you should be interacting!  That's the "social" part of social networking!!

"But why can't I just use my personal page?"  What?!  I told you to go make a fan page already!  Alright, listen up my hesitant friend: your personal page requires people to request your friendship, and if I'm using Facebook as Merci Beaucoup, I cannot, being a fan page, request your friendship.  Even if you accept everyone's personal requests (which, depending on how active you are online could take hours, days or weeks), it is still a closed system.  The fan page is open, and all someone has to do is click "like" and they are connected to your business.  You don't have to do anything to allow them access, so why make it harder for people to interact with you by only having a personal page?

The cake community is fun and diverse!  There's a lot of great cake people and we've made some really cool friends.  That happened from interacting.  Write on their walls, respond every time they write on yours, go to popular cake pages like Wilton or Cake Camp etc. and leave comments and like other people's posts.  You need to be active and you should be doing a lot of it "using as" your business.  And hey, if you really really like someone, you can like them as your business and as yourself!!  Win win!

WARNING:  Do not be "Cake Shop X".  I haven't called this shop out on FB, and I'm not gonna name them here, but If you spend a lot of time on FB you know who I'm speaking of, you've seen them post on dozens of pages, multiple times a day, but they only post a link to their fan page, nothing else.  Do you see where they're going wrong?  They don't comment, they don't say "hi," they don't share stories or answer questions or do anything to make themselves a valuable member of the group.  They just want you to look at their page and like them, which I understand, but they don't even bother to say that in their posts!  What they don't seem to understand is we're all cakers.  We're not trying to sell our business to one another, we're trying to connect and learn and grow and have fun!!  You can't be that page that is essentially nothing more than spam, sitting there lifeless on other people's cake pages.  

Take the time to Facebook a little each day.  In just the last few weeks I've made a number of online friends and we share tips and photos and stories and I'm trading shirts with 4 Goodness Cakes and it's awesome.  It's fun and exciting and it creates community and that is important to help our industry grow strong.  Work outside our industry as well with fellow local businesses, wedding vendors etc.  Just remember: tag, use as, and interact!!

2nd WARNING: Do not tag famous or popular cake designers in your photos.  If you want to post pix to their wall and say "hey, what do you think?" that is fine.  We all love looking at cake right?  However, tagging someone to a photo implies a connection to that cake or that design and usually results in that person either removing the tag, or removing you.  Be friendly, not pushy.

Tweet Tweet!!

Twitter is the kind of social media application that I find more people are aware of than understand.  If you haven't played around with Twitter yet, it essentially takes the most basic component of Facebook, the status update, and builds your entire network around it.  There's no photo albums nor fan pages, no farms to harvest, it is just you saying what you want in 140 characters.  You can add links to websites or photo albums, but it is essentially just words.  

Our account is @mercicakes.  Remember that you only have 140 spaces, so keeping your name short and easy is ideal.  (When other tweeters reply to you, your user name counts against that 140 total.)  There's a lot of chatter on Twitter, so it's no simple task to gain followers, but keep at it.  Much like FB you have to follow a lot of other people and interact with them so they will follow you back.  Don't forget, this is netWORKing!  You can tag and reply to other accounts easily, and you should.  Get the conversation going, because there's a lot of people just searching Twitter for keywords, maybe "cake," and the more you talk about it, the greater the chance they'll find and follow you.

If you don't want to bother with Twitter, do it anyway.  It's super simple and you can link it up to your Facebook account so that when you post on FB, it automatically tweets the same thing on your Twitter account.  Remember what I said about the internet being crowded and loud?  That doesn't mean you hide in a corner!  You have to have as much presence as possible and if you sync with your FB page, then you don't have to spend as much time on Twitter, but by now you're getting the point that you should right?

Take a Tumblr

While in Toronto, a friend of mine who is a content manager for websites, told me I should just go ahead and start a Tumblr page.  My own argument on the crowded internet thrown back at me, I realized she was right.  I knew people who had Tumblr accounts and Merci Beaucoup should be there as well!  

I know, you're still trying to figure out Facebook and Twitter, so what the hell is a Tumblr?  The best way I can describe it is it's the love child of traditional blogging and Twitter.  You have a stream of information into which you can plug literally anything short of smell-o-vision.  They pop up in your feed, not unlike Facebook, but without all the other updates such as what pages you just liked or who's photo you just commented on, making it cleaner.  One feature I love so far is that I can add multiple photos to a post and when people see it, it plays like a slideshow.  Very cool.  It is slick looking and highly customizable, and of course, you can sync it with all your other accounts!  That is, if your brain's not exploding yet;)

Once again, we are Merci Cakes on Tumblr.  Short and sweet.  Click the link to see what it is all about and start your page today.  It's a great option to traditional blogging, but if you're so inclined....

A Word on Blogs

Blogging just because you feel like you should is the internet equivelent of drunk dialing.  You need to have a purpose, you need to be focused and you need to edit!  Combined with spellcheck, editing is the difference between enticing readers to stick around and return or clicking away to watch kittens on YouTube.  And let's face it, surprise kitty is a tough opponent!  You need to offer value.  If all you want to do is show off photos of your cake, use Facebook or see Tumblr.  So whether you do it yourself or have help, be careful and considerate of what you write and how you write it.  A blog can be very powerful, but it can also be a liability.

Create Your Sphere

I know this is all confusing, but you will get it when you play around with it I swear!  One last thing though is to make sure all of your networks are connected together.  If someone finds you on Facebook, there should be links there for them to get to your Twitter, your Tumblr, your Wordpress, your website, your Etsy, your Flickr and on and on and on.  Everything should reference everything else as much as possible.

What's the Point?

So, now that I've made you read all this, you may be asking "what will I gain from all this social networking?"  "Will it boost my sales and expand my business?  Chances are.... no.  At least not in the way as like traditional advertising.  Facebook pages are not billboards or radio ads, they're not half page full color placement in a local magazine.  What they can be is an easier way for your existing clients and friends to refer you.  It's a referral tool, so don't hang your hat on it as a way to expand your business.  You will still need to do all the other advertising and face to face networking you can, just add the internet side to the mix and understand it is part of modern day marketing and public relations.

You are also laying a foundation so that when the day comes that you do need to make a big announcement, or reach a lot of people, you have a network in place to do so.

For us, social networking has been a way to communicate with fans of the show and to help grow our community of cake friends and colleagues.  It is a way to share our craft and help one another and it is a powerful and wonderful experience.  It is our prime motivation for doing as much as we do and it should be for you as well.  A strong cake community is what we want to see online.  So again, what will you get out of all this internet craziness?  Friendships, and that is the point;)

Next week on Shop Talk we tackle the idea of efficiency in the kitchen!!

P.S. If you have a question about MySpace, hop in a time machine and dial it back to a day when it was relevant!  #sarcasm

P.P.S. Look up "hashtags."

Merci Beaucoup Shop Talk: Consultations

There's a world of difference between taking an order and scheduling a consultation.  Despite the examples seen on Cake Wrecks, any employee can write up a sheet cake with "Happy birthday" on it.  We discussed pricing last week, but I didn't touch on standard cakes.  These are sheet cakes or small one tier celebration cakes with stock or mostly stock decorating options.  Cakes like that can find their way into a book and be assembled so that anyone can sell them at any time.  Consultations are for much bigger sales.

First things first, we only offer consultations/tastings for wedding cakes.  Birthdays, graduations, and all other celebrations can be handled on the phone or through email.  If you have a storefront, I would suggest telling them to buy a cupcake or something equivalent so they can taste your product.  As our policy is to make up small cakes for consultations, tailored to the flavor choices of the client, it would break us financially and occupy way too much time to offer the same service for a birthday cake for 25 people.  

Side note: even if you don't have the exact flavor in a slice of cake or a cupcake, most people just like tasting something so they know your product is good.  You can always sell them a different flavor than what they taste by reinforcing the quality of your product.

Now, that is our definition of a consultation.  Yours could be totally different and that is a decision you have to make on your own.  You know what you're capable of and what your costs are, so if you want to offer consultations for large birthday cakes or something, don't let me dissuade you.  What I'm showing you here today on Shop Talk is our process, which hopefully holds some sort of insight you can find useful in your own business. 

With that being said, I think the best thing to do is list our consultation requirements (some may call them rules) and then explain some of our reasoning and how we arrived at these rules. 

Here's how we do it, our consultation FAQ:

• Consultations are available on Tuesdays & Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m
• A consultation will last up to 45 minutes.
• Consultations are $100 and require a credit card to secure at the time of booking.  
• We require 48 hours for cancellation or else a $20 service fee will be applied to your card.
• During the consultation you will receive up to four (4) flavors of cake to taste, which will be determined no later than one (1) week prior to your appointment.  Additional flavors are available at $20 per flavor, not to exceed six (6) in total.
• You will receive the full design services of Merci Beaucoup in creating your perfect cake.  All designs and sketches remain the property of Merci Beaucoup and no "takeaways" nor photos of our designs are allowed unless a deposit is made.
• The consultation fee is applicable to your deposit if made at the time of the consultation.  50% of the fee will be applied if a deposit is made within one (1) week of the appointment.
• When attending your consultation, please arrive on time.  We cannot guarantee the full 45 minutes if you arrive after your scheduled time.  Failure to arrive at all results in the aforementioned $20 service fee.
• Only the bride and groom and any important decision makers involved with the design and ordering of the cake should attend the consultation.  This is for your benefit as we will not have enough cake for a large group nor the time to accommodate a large discussion.  If a deposit is made, we can always make small changes to the design once other friends and family members see the sketch.  Sketches only available with a deposit.
• DO NOT schedule a consultation until you have a date, a location, your theme/colors and approximate guest count.
• DO schedule a consultation at least two months in advance, as we commonly book up our weekends quickly.

Why only certain days and times?  Simply put, we're busy the other days and we usually take Mondays off.  We used to take consultations whenever, but having someone come in on a busy Saturday when there are three or more paid cakes to complete and deliver was an unnecessary distraction, not to mention rule #2, the 45 minute limit.  Most consultations will go off smoothly, but even if one of them lingers, it can disrupt your entire schedule.

I'm sure some of you are like "you charge for a consultation?!"  It wasn't always that way, we have sort of earned the ability to do that, so evaluate your own needs accordingly, but it all comes back to the pricing blog and valuing your time.  Even as long as seven years ago, we were charging for consultations and like a wine tasting, if you buy, the fee is essentially waved!  But we are taking our time and preparing product for you during a consultation so we feel it is perfectly acceptable to put a value on that process.  Now, you could build that fee into your cake cost and hide it, but the more events you don't book, the more the cost of doing those consultations will stack up.  And no, we've never had to charge anyone the late cancellation fee!  It is basically there to reinforce the 48 hour notice, which people are very understanding about.

The time and "who should attend" are probably the most important rules.  There are a lot of clients who will abuse your time and you'll end up with a two hour consultation, especially if they ignore the rule about having all their other details in order before arriving!  If clients know up front it is a set amount of time, they will be more focused and you will be more focused and you'll get down to business and get the cake designed.  Again, value your time and remember you are a business, and you are conducting business.  45 minutes should be enough time for anyone to make an educated decision for their wedding.

We also limit the number of attendees because frankly, if they ain't paying for the cake, they don't need to be there!  Now, you can't say it that way, you use terms like "decision maker," but if you allow a brother in law or someone's 8 year old niece to start chiming in on the cake, you're in for a lot more than 45 minutes!  Not to mention, couples tend to drag along what can only be described as "cake freeloaders" to consultations.  They can have the cake at the reception like everyone else.  

Now, there's one rule that has been in and out of this list because we get a little uncomfortable with the wording.  It comes off as harsh, but it has to do with the idea of "takeaways."  We absolutely do not give anyone a sketch or photo to take home without a deposit!  If you're not paying for the design, you don't get to take it and have another bakery make it for you.  It happens and even at $100 for a consultation, you're still not paying what our design services are worth.  You have to book to receive a "takeaway."  So, in and out of our list is a rule that if you sneak a picture or try and remove any of our materials, you forfeit your consultation fee and we reserve the right to not book you.  In other words, "yer outta here!"  Obviously, this is an aggressive rule, so we usually wait until we spot anything fishy and offer a friendly warning about our policies.  Thankfully, the theft issue is rare, but not extinct.

Side note: if you have a storefront with example books up front, that is where we've seen the most attempts at theft of our materials.  I've never had to actually toss someone from a consultation.  Usually once you have their name and phone number, they tend to not do those things;)

I've gotta say, part of our consultation system is to weed out looky loos (courtesy of our time on TV mostly) and to discourage people looking for cheap cake.  We're not cheap.  We're not Sylvia Weinstock, but we're definitely not Costco!  (Who makes a fine cake by the way if that is what your budget calls for.)  There's different levels of cake decorators and different styles and sensibilities, and it should be about a client and a professional finding that perfect match.  I always find it amusing when I see cake decorators in competition because cake is so personal that everyone is going to find something they like in different cakers.  Rather than dwell on competition you should be focused on working with clients that like what you do and your style.  

There you have it, a look at how we do things.  Now, obviously orders arise in different ways and not every one requires a consultation.  Someone recently wanted a Day of the Dead cake, a smaller version of the one we did on Amazing Wedding Cakes, so that was just a couple emails and scaling the cake to their budget.  But when we do sit down to do a consultation, these are the rules we adhere to the majority of the time.  Our ways are not for everyone, so find what works for you and always remember to value your time, however you choose to go about it.  

Shop Talk next week is an epic look at social networking!!  Be sure to tune in next Monday for all the ins and outs of Facebook, Twitter, and a whole bunch of other words we didn't have in the 90s!!