How Many Here Work For A Grocery Bakery Or Retail Bakery?
Decorating By CrystalsCakes5 Updated 3 Jan 2007 , 3:35am by korkyo
I got a job recently working for a local grocery store bakery.
I do alot more bread and doughnut making though.
I just do a few cakes and more cupcakes right now. I usually work together with someone else when making cakes, that way I can watch them and learn.
Who else on CC works for a grocery store bakery? So far I really like it. It keeps you busy and the day goes by really fast. I like doing all the different things they make there.
Does anyone that works for a grocery bakery, do doughnuts? They are so neat to make. We use precut frozen doughnuts that we thaw overnight in cooler and then put in a proofer that morning and then drop by pans full into deep fryer and then ice.
My favorite to make is the apple fritters. I would like to order a box of the doughnuts and bucket of glaze from them and make them at home.
Does anyone else order things through the bakery and make stuff at home?
Thanks everyone.
Yeah I did it for a while. It was ok. Once you start decorating you will be the fastest one around with these type places production is everything. I enjoyed the time I spent there though and did learn a few things.
Its been 30 years since I worked for a grocery chain. During those times, the stores were doing all scratch baking even down to the donuts. We would have to come in at midnight to get everything ready, later I got into management and learned so much about baking. I always remember going home smelling like a donut. The experience has helped me alot over the years. Now, so much is frozen and already baked, but I think you can still get some good experience at least with decorating.
I work at a local grocery store in the bakery. I have worked for the same company for almost 14 years and been in the bakery for 12 and doing cakes for like 11 years. I love doing cakes but we only have certain designs we can do. We dont make donuts anymore, thank goodness I hated doing that, lol!
~Sonya
i work for the only bakery in my town other than the grocery store bakeries. i love it but we are closing down some time in feb. but after we close the owner and i are going to partner up and continue with the wedding cakes that we have already taken orders for at the bakery and that way i will get more of my cards out so when she leaves to houston in a year people will still call me for their wedding cakes. working at the bakery has been the best job i have ever had!!! and we dont do donuts but i would love to learn how. we bake our cakes fresh not frozen.
I used to be a floater for all things special event - deli (catering), bakery (cakes), and floral. It was a blast! I love the experience I gained with planning and presentation. I'm not good at any of them, but passable in all. Sheet cakes and the things done/taught here are WAY different tho, so I have a lot to learn.
If you get the chance, offer to cover floral part time as well. You can learn about the flowers, arrangements, and what works with the cakes. Deli was good for learning the trays and servings of food, but floral helped me more.
i did time in walmart's defrostery as a cake decorator, they didn't care at all about creativity, just production but it did bring up my speed and my writing. My favorite was when someone would bring me a 4 inch cake and want "happy anniversary" or "congratualtions" written on it - that's how i got really good at writing!
hiya rosie n ya'll.
I WAS in the wallymart bakery also. maybe in the stores in larger towns n such creativity wasn't fostered, but where I was I was fortunately allowed to be as creative as I could be with what we could use. (basically, buttercream and whipped frosting and edible images). I left walmart just before christmas and now am working at a private bakery where I can use whatever I want to. Well as for the creativitiy being fostered at my wallymart it's prolly because I was the BOSS. LOL
O well, a lot of peeps have said that they already miss me and will be coming to my new place of employment to get their cakes from me. How kewl is that.
Thanks for all the replies.
Well my job is at a grocery store called Ingles.
This is the only one around here. It has been here for like 30 years. It is small and very old.
Some very good news is that one block from my house they have cleared some land and Ingles is what is going to be built there. But that could take a year or more. Right now it is only ten miniutes away. But it would be great to get to start fresh in a new store. Cant wait.
I really like working there. I have a very nice boss lady. I am learning alot about baking. It keeps me really busy. The day goes by pretty fast. But the pay really sucks!!!
Thanks guys.
I wish I could find the same job but more money.
HI all,
I work at a bakery FT. It is a HyVee groc. Not a bad company all in all. I have done this kind of work for 22 years. I've done all aspects of bakery business from closer to baker, donuts, scratch, and frozen and even management. Won't be doing that part again. 
I enjoy doing the cakes adn that is where I've been most of the time. It's hard soemthimes to fend off the burnout but the skills I have will make it easy for me to keep up the pace at home when I get the business going. 
Korkyo
May I ask, for those of you who work in the grocery store bakeries, how much you get paid an hour?
I have an interview with Albertson's for a decorator position(part time) and I was wondering what to expect to get offered for pay.
And also, do they make you show your decorating skills in the interview? I've already made a rose for the manager, but that was before I even filled out an app.
TIA!!
hiya cakes4all,
Hun, if you can make a rose you are like, totally, way ahead of the game. Most of the applicants probably can't even basefrost a cake much less make a rose.
I for one would take pics of my cakes to the interview to show them what you are capable of doing.
If this is for a grocery store in a smaller town feel fortunate that you will be able to take some time to complete these cakes.
One mantra you should learn........"COLOR SELLS CAKES".
In a supercenter or grocery store bakery, cakes are considered "impulse" items. If you can catch the customers eye with colorful cakes you have a chance of making a sale. Those are different than the "special order" cakes which the customer comes in specifically to make an order for a cake. Those sometimes you can be a creative genious and do whatever you want as long as it's in the parameters of your ingredients. Then there are those who want exactly what they want and god help the person who deviates one iota from that. Sheesh. (boy I could tell you stories).
When you are taking orders for cakes, be very, very specific and if you have too, turn the order page over and draw a simple sketch of what the customer wants. You may be on days off when the cake comes due and the other decorators will very much appreciate the details in the order.
Just a coupla things that I learned during my time as a Walmart Bakery Lead Associate (the boss)
p.s. just wanted to add something, do a little research and find out what other decorators are making. In Walmart decorators are considered level 3 on the payscale. It depends on what the prevailing wage in the area is, but at the end of my tenure. I was making 9.99 (with 2 merit raises and 3 yearly raises) and I live where the prevailing wage is minimal wage. If you are going to work for albertson's or safeway or von's those are union shops and they are considerably higher paying than walmart is.
Do not undersell yourself. Like I pointed out, take your portfolio with you on your interview. Take your best pics of your cakes any clubs you belong to that pertain to cakes any classes that you have attended and any experience that you have. I had one lady on my crew, because she was experienced, coincidentally at Albertson's, she was able to command a very good wage, and she was only part time.
So sell yourself, dress professionally, and with your portfolio under your arm and a smile on your face you can get a pretty good wage (at least I think you should). It never hurts to overprepare for these things.
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