eyensweets

the recipe i use is pretty much the same with the additions of 3/4 cup of all purpose flour. i also use almond extract instead of vanilla extract and 2 tspn at that. and i bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes the people i know liked the one without the egg white in it better.

point taken on the refrigeration. helen.. i pride myself on my staffing process.. currently i have 12 people working under me.. 9 of them are girls in their early twenties.. they may be a bit eccentric and talk too much at times but their work is excellent and i have had 0 complaints from customers and other managers about their work ethic.. begging for food is another matter.. =) i miss a couple of times but i act quickly.. but point taken.. what about farmers markets..?? how helpful are they in getting my name out to the community..?? especially if they are small ones..

And the reason will almost always be "business is great but we're just ready to move on to something new" or "it's taken off way more than we expected and we just can't do it anymore"... neither of which is true in 99.9899% of the cases. haha.. dont forget.. "the business could be great with a full time owner.." but that is my confidence in myself.. i come from an accounting background so i honestly cringe when these small business owners cant produce a detailed financial summary of their business.. business may be great when your grossing 100,000 a month but if the expenses exceed that then the great business is not enough.. at least with a detail expense and income statements i can read things they wont tell me.. like this coffee shop owner who was "only" losing about a 1000 a month.. later mentioned he wasnt paying a full time and a part time family member.. well now its "only" 3500 a month his business is losing in my view.. tell me what you want but i need to see numbers.. dont have them..?? i want bank statements, check stubs, receipts, etc and i'll do it myself if it seems promising to me..

so grab what you can but dont rely on them to keep you afloat.. would buying a coffee/sandwich place be a better idea than buying a failed bakery..?? and introduce my goods at my whim over purchasing bread/morning pastries from vendors..?? so even if i buy an existing location replace the refrigeration..?? what about the freezer..?? and can you tell me why the case is so..?? thanks..

Fail #1. Sending your female friends to the auto industry related businesses to swish around in "eat at xxx bakery" shirts is not going to get you more than maybe a coffee or two sold to any guys who show up hoping to find those girls working at the bakery. haha.. no.. that is how the auto industry get sales.. i work in the auto industry currently and see a stream of pretty girls walking in trying to drum up business for their respective aftermarket businesses that they work for.. but you would be surprised and how often there are coffee runs among sales staff and mechanics.. would it be better to take an existing establishment and slowly change it around (whether or not it is a bakery to start with..) or start from scratch..??

wholesale.. what is the best way to gather wholesale accounts.. and what kind of accounts is the best to target..?? whats the ideal ratio from wholesale to retail sales in regards to total sales..?? luck is on my side as one of my office girls father is dating someone who works for the county health department.. and she is a fan of my goods..

any comment good or bad helps.. the type of bakery as of now that i am thinking of is the basic.. cakes, cookies etc.. i do know the first thing i have to look for is a good cake decorator.. if given the time i am sure i can do fine but as of now my time is limited in experimenting.. as my hours are not only long but literally mentally draining as i stare at numbers all day and becomes worse when i am closing the monthly financial statements.. location wise i am looking for someplace away from contractual obligations of current tenants that prevent a coffee shop.. ie starbucks.. that way i can also include coffee into my offerings.. and i am literally focused in one area right now where a bakery/cafe had closed down unbeknownst to me until recently.. that area is void of a bakery currently.. plus asking prices for rent has dropped from 4 per sqft to 2 and less in various areas.. as for schooling has anyone heard of San Francisco Baking Institute..?? Good.. bad..?? i just applied to a local cupcake bakery that my girls (office workers) admonish their friends from purchasing their products.. oh the irony..

my dreams growing up has been the restaurant business but now my passion has changed to baking.. i am in no way whatsoever an accomplished baker besides the accolades i get when i make stuff for people.. decorating..?? i try.. but what i am good at is numbers.. until now.. 😃 i am quitting my job (i have enough to survive doing absolutely nothing for a couple of years..) and will be researching and hopefully working in bakery to open my own.. it may be this year or a couple years down the road.. i figure being unhitched and under thirty would be the best time to try and the slowly dropping rent prices being a factor as well.. now luckily i have a rather large family who can help me with their ideas i can absorb and expand upon.. but unfortunately i have a rather large family who all suddenly became experts on how to run a successful bakery.. so i am turning to people who may really know.. any tips, ideas, knowledge, pros and cons of anything would be a great help.. and i have read the thread about mel's bakery several times.. i dont have a specified business plan as of yet besides a general one because i know talking and learning from and with others will change my plans.. no point in cornering myself from the beginning.. the plans i do have as of right now are - taking some basic culinary classes at a jc - visiting a bakery owned by a fellow (soon to be former) employees friend at a location over an hour away.. - looking for a part time job in a food related business.. washing dishes and mopping floors is fine by me.. - visiting random bakeries in faraway cities to find out how they tick.. is someone doing anything different than what the local bakeries are doing..?? - talking to real estate agents on available locations be it a struggling existing business, a vacant spot, or owners just wanting out.. what else should i do.. or what should i not do.. what questions should i ask or not ask the bakery i am going to visit.. whats the best way to solicit business information from others.. large or small to start..?? start from scratch or buy existing business..?? what is the electric bill about roughly..?? how many ovens do i need..?? how large a fridge..?? freezer..?? number of employees..?? workmens comp..?? how can get a list of suppliers..?? what should the sales per employee ratio be..?? as you see i have many many questions and may seem i am in way over my head (which i may be..) but i will have my questions answered (hopefully not the hard way..) and any that you give me will be greatly appreciated.. i figure if i am going to do this right i am going to make it as right as possible from the start.. i may be dumb but i do realize it is not my baking talents but my business acumen that will be the difference of whether i succeed, fail or fall in anywhere between..

birthday cake.. white cake with butter cream cheese frosting and singing strawberries.. funny.. i made something like a frasier not to long ago.. and want to make a blueberry cake soon..

how is the kick..?? i only eat dark chocolate and that combination with candied ginger and wasabi paste is making my mouth water.. i have a package of candied ginger in my pantry that is gonna disappear right after i post this..

thank you.. still a work in progress.. main complaint so far is for more seeds.. i started with the idea of reduced pomegranate juice and chopped almonds.. the almonds overpowered the cookie.. then i omitted the almonds but i couldnt get any flavoring with the pomegranate juice.. so i switched to almond extract and omitted the almonds and added in the pomegranate seeds.. i made this for my office girls this past week..

pomegranate cookies - not quite there but i am liking the direction i am heading in.. apricot seed cookies - i think i got this one down pretty good..

yes koreans use malt syrup.. when replacing malt syrup with corn syrup or honey use less as malt syrup is not as sweet..

from maangchi's website gamja jorim i believe the dish you are looking for is the first set of potatoes she cooks.

it is called yaksik or medicine food. here is the wiki page a sweet rice made by steaming glutinous rice with jujubes (daechu in korean), pine nuts, chestnuts being seasoned with honey, brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and cinnamon. here is a better picture from a korean site. that is the yaksik before it is molded to whatever shape you wish it to be.