Shop Owners-About Your Hours. Please Answer!
Business By Lenette Updated 28 Jun 2007 , 3:44am by littlecake
I have a store front...for walk ins but.....................I only keep cupcakes and cookies instock sometimes a cake by the slice.I dont keep whole cakes for those last minute orders...WHY YOU ASK 
......because I have a hard time keeping up with all the special orders.And believe me I here about it all the time.But frankly I just dont care 
And my store hours are CLOSED..Sunday,Monday and Wedensday...10-4 Tuesday,Thursday and Friday and 9-noon on Saturday.The hours really irritate people too for some reason 
......no matter what I do its either gonna be right or wrong for someone 
Soooooooooooooo I do whats right for me 
I am open by appointment only for now. And yes, I hear all kinds of ugly things about it. But I almost can't keep up with what I'm doing as it is, much less have stuff ready for walk ins.
I am seriously thinking about having "Fresh Fridays" or something like that. Where I will open at say 9 on Friday and have stuff available for walk ins just until it's gone. However, right now I work alone and am barely able to keep up with all my special orders. So if I do this, I'll have to hire help. Which is a whole 'nother can of worms.
.....So if I do this, I'll have to hire help. Which is a whole 'nother can of worms.
I agree, it is a big decision, but there are so many other factors involved. For example, if I'm washing dishes, then I'm not sitting with a bride and booking a $2500 wedding reception. If I'm "stuck" at the shop, then I can't go out and meet with other wedding vendors, and I can't do the sales/marketing to area businesses, etc.
It is way cheaper for me to pay someone $10 an hour to wash dishes, than it is for me to do it myself "for free" . Look at your "sacrifice cost" also ...... what are you NOT doing to grow your business because you're washing dishes or scooping cookie dough?
thanks debi... I agree with you. I am having a hard time convincing my hubby of the fact that I need to hire some help. I do everything by my self now. Shopping, unloading, inventory, paperwork, meetings, baking, decorating, cleaning, ....well, you know. 
I just hired a baby sitter part time for my 3 small kids. He resisted that for some time. He just thinks that I don't make enough money to hire anyone. And I tell him that if I hire someone, I'll be able to sell more. It's hard either way. I'm going to tell him what you have said though, and maybe it'll help. 
GIve him this info, too: It was MY husband who figured this all out for me. He said, "You think if you're doing all the labor, that it's cheaper, but it's not. You're the head honcho, the cream of the crop. Your time is more valuable than that!"
He sat down and figured how much time I spent on a wedding .... from sampling to clean up. That's how we came up with the fact that my time is billable at over $100 per hour. So do I want to pay someone $60 to work a wedding? Or is it "cheaper" for me to spend six hours there at a time value of $600? Do the math. Do I really want someone who is worth $100 an hour to my business washing dishes? No .... I want that person to spend their time GROWING my business.
This is why I canceled my contract I had with the car dealership for 100 dz cookies a week. It was worth about $400 a week (+/-) and it took me about 15-20 hours a week to earn it. As the catering business picked up, I saw that I could spend 1.5 hours with a bride and book a $2000+ wedding ....... OR ....... spend 20 hours a week tied to a stove for $400. That was a no brainer!! The catering was picking up tremendously and I didn't have the time and capacity to do both. So I canceled the contract until I had more capacity.
thanks debi... I agree with you. I am having a hard time convincing my hubby of the fact that I need to hire some help. I do everything by my self now. Shopping, unloading, inventory, paperwork, meetings, baking, decorating, cleaning, ....well, you know.
I just hired a baby sitter part time for my 3 small kids. He resisted that for some time. He just thinks that I don't make enough money to hire anyone. And I tell him that if I hire someone, I'll be able to sell more. It's hard either way. I'm going to tell him what you have said though, and maybe it'll help.
Do you know of any teens that are looking for work? You may be able to start them off at minimum wage for now.
I hear more and more people going for the "by appointment only" trend. I think it's a good idea and will be hear to stay. It will just take a bit for customers to get used to it. They have been too spoiled by big retail stores.
I think it depends on what kind of business you are. If you are a retail bakery in the full sense of the word, then having standard hours makes sense. In my case, I am a commercial kitchen only - a caterer who just needs a kitchen with a small meeting space to talk with brides at the sampling. I'm not really selling anything "to the public". All of my items are by order only. I'm not baking/making any foods "on spec" in the hopes that someone walks in and buys them. My business may change and I may switch to some standard hours....but it's not really needed right now.
I have a storefront but I am open by appointment only. Consultations are reserved for large cake orders, if somebody needs a cake for 10 people, we have to do everything over a phone or via e-mail. I made a choice not to have a regular store hours and I LOVE it!
I should say that over 95% of my business is Wedding and Grooms cakes, we never have any cakes on hand ready to decorate, and everything is made to order only.
I'm a storefront and retail supply shop, so I really have to keep some time of regular hours. However, I do not keep cakes baked or decorated ahead, by special order only. I do keep a fresh case of cookies, brownies, etc. every day and that does quite well. It's more lunch time treats than breakfast pastry so I don't open until 10am every morning. It gives me time in the morning to get all my supply shopping done, or get a little baking done up before I start getting interupted. Sometimes that makes all the difference in the world. As far as hiring help goes, it's a catch 22, you need the help, but you can't afford to pay them yet, but if you had the help, you could make more money and afford to pay them. I went 6 years completely on my own, except for occasional help from my Mom, husband, etc. I finally felt last year I could justify paying someone else and it has paid off, but I wouldn't have been able to grow my business to start with if all my profit had been going to paying an employee. HTH -Lori
i have a storefront...
weds 10-2
thurs fri 10-5
sat 9(i get there much earlier, sometimes 4) till the last dawg dies....usually 3-5
my cakes are by order only, and my hours seem to hack everyone off too...TOO BAD!
i have nothing in the case to just pick up, but if it's wed thur or fri i can get them a cake a couple hours after they request it if not sooner, they really like that, some of the customers say i should call it "cake 911"...(for your cake emergancy).
during busy season i'm there much longer than the hours i'm open, sometimes i'm up there baking till the wee hours of the morning.
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