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Mel's New Bakery


melmck

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there is so much i want to say about so many things, but can't yet. it's easy to be passive-aggressive in cyberland. can I yell at people through here? it would save me time...

business is picking up, the trends are good so far. it is still very painful financially.

a wee bit of fun this weekend with family in town and my cute little nephews running around the bakery, yelling Aunt Mel, stop giving those people cakes and watch me play Pokemon!! Aunt Mel watch!!!!!! as my family sat out front they got to play spy, and hear everyones comments on the bakery, food, etc...all good.

I got a very nasty letter in the mail sent by some anonymous wuss chickenshit signed as "Concerned Customer. " telling me to reconsider my baking methods and blah blah blah- complaining about my croissant and danish and saying that across town a very successful bakery sold amazing croissants for $1.95. Well guess what buddy, thats becuz THEY USE FROZEN DOUGH. betcha didn't know that ...

however it is good to get kicked in the pants now and then to keep you on track with is it the best it can be?? or to put it another way Goodfellas Henry Hill would say "The way I see it , everyone takes a beating now and then". words to live by. at least it wasn't a review.

Melissa McKinney

Chef/Owner Criollo Bakery

mel@criollobakery.com

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You should post it publically with your reply next to it addressing all of their points. Or just post something saying why does my stuff cost so much? List your reasons: fresh quality ingredients, etc. Oh, and raise the price on your croissants! :laugh:

Meanwhile, feel free to vent here, we understand.

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Mel - we get the same complaints every now and then. "How come cookies are a nickel at Wal Mart?" We then explain the whole premade/crap food story to them. Sometimes they understand, sometimes they don't.

We're going to put up a bulletin board with clippings from Baking Buyer and other trade mags so people can see that shitty shortening and sugar concoction that some call frosting as well as other craptastic items that are used to help sell muffins for a quarter across town. A little education is in order.

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The thanks goes to extramsg for the photos and I had the tart cherry and hazelnut brioche this weekend and it was great!

Pamela Wilkinson

www.portlandfood.org

Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or you can stand tall, show it your teeth and say "Dish it up, Baby, and don't skimp on the jalapeños."

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Hi, Mel.

Sorry to see that some idiot felt compelled to WRITE you a letter about how your croissant should be a cheap as across the way.

I can't believe how weird people can be.

I know you're giving your clients the best quality and product for their money.

Screw 'em!

2317/5000

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That's retail, hon...get used to it. There's always going to be some twit who has a problem with your stuff.

A friend of mine who worked in a Second Cup in Vancouver had a customer one day who just totally went off on them because of the price of their coffee, and how it didn't taste nearly as good as what he drank at home for a fraction of the price...which turned out to be Nescafe. Go figure.

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Oh god I remember those types of situations..............wait until your bakery is full and some idiot starts screaming about something completely off the wall. It's going to happen, it does to every business.

Just in case you don't know how to handle it (I didn't until I saw someone else do so beautifully)....go up to them-talk softly and ask them to calm down and talk more quitely too. Keep engaging them, don't blow them off....just listen to their shit until the place clears out of reg. customers. Don't try to reason with them (you can't reason with the unreasonable), just keep them engaged quitely until the place clears out. Then tell them to leave or you'll be forced to call the police.

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...just listen to their shit until the place clears out of reg. customers. ... Then tell them to leave or you'll be forced to call the police.

:laugh::laugh::laugh: Life in the real lane.

Many people don't understand that many bakeries use mixes and frozen goods, baking them up and implying "made here."

Maybe you should do a little leaflet about your place, your philosophy, your personal history as a pc, the sources for your food supplies, emphasizing that you do not use ANY premixes or frozen stuff that you just bake off, etc. You could even give some suggestions about how to incorporate your pastries into more complex desserts, plating and garnishing suggestions, etc.

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

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I was thinking again last night about the hole it left when the original bakery closed. The bakery almost seems to anchor the neighborhood and keep the small neighborhood feel to the area even though it's becoming a trendy little area for going out to dinner with all the small restaurants and big wine lists. It's frightening to think of it being anything else, like another damn Starbuck's or something like that. I'm glad Mel had the vision. It would have changed the whole neighborhood to have anything else in that spot. I don't care how many bakeries we have in town. That neighborhood needs it's little bakery. It belongs there.

Pamela Wilkinson

www.portlandfood.org

Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or you can stand tall, show it your teeth and say "Dish it up, Baby, and don't skimp on the jalapeños."

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aww shucks... thanks. it is really fun to meet more peeps from the hood, and have people meeting there and doing exactly that --anchoring the community. sometimes I look out front and know almost everyone there! BTW, I have 8 tables out front and 2 outside. I also serve lunch- sandwiches, soup, salads, panini which is a big hit. I would say it provides up to 30% of sales especially on weekends. The weekends are great, and slowly building. A lot more whole desserts going out Fri, Sat. I am hitting my target numbers more or less on weekends. mid week it is still a complete crap shoot, never know what biz will be like. sales can be up to 40% off where they need to be mid-week. oddly Tuesdays have been picking up for lunch!

Melissa McKinney

Chef/Owner Criollo Bakery

mel@criollobakery.com

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Regarding weekday lunch: do you have businesses in the area who order in lunches for their employees or for meetings? Would you be willing to start accounts with monthly billing for them? You would have to offer delivery to them but it would be a great way to generate more weekday lunch business even if your tables are always full.

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I would take a menu down to First Impressions, maybe a few cookies and say "Hi". I know when they do double header classes they offer a box lunch for in between the two classes if people want to order it. Usually it happens on saturdays but if they have a special artist in town teacher, they sometimes do it midweek. And they have employees that look for a quick lunch and can always head customers in your directions if they ask where to go for lunch after shopping.

Pamela Wilkinson

www.portlandfood.org

Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or you can stand tall, show it your teeth and say "Dish it up, Baby, and don't skimp on the jalapeños."

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Oh, and the owner of First Impressions is Donnie. Ellen or Denise would be good people to talk to. You can say you're a friend of Pam Wilkinson. :cool:

Pamela Wilkinson

www.portlandfood.org

Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or you can stand tall, show it your teeth and say "Dish it up, Baby, and don't skimp on the jalapeños."

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I can't believe how fast I devoured this thread. By the time I got to the pics, I was almost sobbing, I was so proud of Mel, her husband and all their hard work.

Congrats, Mel!!! You are my hero!

Patti Davis

www.anatomyofadinnerparty.com

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Hi Mel,

I wanted to go again before posting just because when I went I was sort of rushed and hungry and ate things too quickly and was a bit mesmerized to tell you the truth because there is that whole other display around the corner. I couldn't decide what to get and it all looked so good. I told the friend that was with me that I was getting so many thing to share with my boyfriend but I have to confess I only gave him maybe three bites of the cheesecake (which was all that was left when I got home).

The peanut butter cookies are REALLY good. They have the perfect amount of salt. (Why do so many people overlook this?).

Anyway, I want to get over there again soon (I'm way over in NW) and perhaps make your acquaintance and congratulate you in person.

Oh and the florentine with pistachios and candied orange peel was delightful.

Best of luck,

Elizabeth

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Here are some very happy accidents that happened this week. While constantly testing the stuff we make to check for yumminess, consistency etc... we (me & the pc's) talk collaboratively about what will make stuff even better. After a mad rush on croissants, we needed more and did a fast thaw and stuck 'em in the proof box. it ended up being at 80 degrees.well, 5 hours later I discovered that those babies had been forgotten and were still in there. looked totally overproofed, but I baked them anyway assuming they would collapse. THEY WERE AMAZING, completely light, crisp buttery flaky and the butter didn't even melt or ooze out. they looked SOO overproofed, anyone would have thought so. now I am tweaking thaw times, proof times (SUX figuring all this stuff out + weather factors) but it has 2 B done. The next thing happened today, once again a big morning rush on breakfast pastries and I was running my ass off pulling scones, biscuits and danish and bear claws. Just earlier this AM we were discussing, why do bear claws made with danish dough end up cakey? all other danish are nice flaky layers..hmmm. I did a 20 minute room temp thaw on them, jammed them in the proof box at 90degrees for only 20 minutes and shoved them in a convection oven. it was an emergency thing, thought well let's see how they turn out!. THEY WERE AMAZING!! crisp, seperate flaky layers, no almond filling ooze out, and they were not cakey. pretty crazy! I took pix of danish with fresh fig & lavender preserves to show they layering. sometime I'll post pix I swear. :biggrin::blink::shock:

Melissa McKinney

Chef/Owner Criollo Bakery

mel@criollobakery.com

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Pretty cool.

I remember reading some tips in PA&D with a french chef in NYC, one of those 10 best guys, and he said after he had an accident with his proof box during the blackout, he never turns his on anymore.

Just sticks them in it.

2317/5000

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Everybody!

It's hard to beleive that I have been open for three months. It seems like one big, long day to me. It started in February! The seasons did not apply to me at all this year, kind of have that on-the-moon, need- gravitational- pull- feeling. You'll all be happy to know I am getting more sleep and we definitely have a groove going at the bakery. A routine, if you will. :raz: It cracks me up when people say "It must be soo fun to be your own boss!" HA HA HA it's soo much fun. let me tell you about the fun..now don't get the wrong idea here, obviously this is a vent forum for me because of all you understanding peeps out there. I am not trying to be negative, just tellin' the plain and simple truth about what it's really like to open your own bakery. OK, so I may shatter a few illusions. GOOD. I have been 100% honest about everything along the way here, so I'll just keep going.

Being my own boss means being everyone elses' boss. Duh, I knew that going in ...but thisis my first time as a business owner, with 100,000,000% responsibility. Massive insurance bills, suing those bastards in FLorida and having $14,000 of my money which would have been working capital go down the toilet, taxes, dear God the fucking taxes!!! Oregon makes it extremely hard for small businesses. so when someone doesn't want me to park my car in front of their house because it's "their" spot, well I'll just say some choice words about how I pay WAY,WAY more taxes thank you very much and I should be able to park on the governor's front lawn.... blah blah blah

To the naive who say how fun it must be, or gee whiz I'd love to have a little shop. LITTLE??? I say this-- realize that your brain now splits into 2 seperate sides. One side that is so tired and misses having a life/sleep/fun/sex etc.. says, hey maybe I could take off early and go do the above mentioned things. The other side says, but if I send someone else home ,I will save labor and not have to pay this that and the other thing. The labor $$$$ saving side wins every time. Why?? because it makes sense and is neccesary. Sure, the other stuff is too...but when every dollar counts , which it does, it is the priority....any questions??

I love it when people call me 'hard-nosed' all I can say is that I am trying to be smart and and not get screwed over by people like AKVATEK INDUSTRIES. Just a reminder, DO NOT EVER BUY REFRIGERATION FROM THEM!!!!!!!!! you too will be screwed out of LOTS of precious dollars.

Yes I am having fun as I go along. You know how wacky chefs are, and how blessedly nasty(I am soo refrainng on this blog) how mischeivous and down-right insane we all are. Gotta love it!!

Melissa McKinney

Chef/Owner Criollo Bakery

mel@criollobakery.com

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Mel,

Long ago and far away you wrote about looking for baking stones for your Reed oven. Did you ever find any? We have a Reed 25 pan and are hard crust challenged. For one thing, the steam isn't working, for another, the former bakers did eveything soft crust, so they had no wisdom to share. Any thoughts on how to get a better product out of a Reed?

Also wondering about panini bread. We've got a customer who pays $.70 to Sysco for a piece of crap "panini" roll that looks like a squished hoagie. We've tried making a foccacia-style flat bread, but thinner. The results were only ok. Tomorrow we're going to experiment with a thick pizza dough to see if that gets us the texture we're looking for. What sort of bread have you been using for panini?

Thanks for sharing your struggles. We took over our bakery about the same time you opened, so we can share your pain and joy (more of the former than the latter, it seems at times).

Cheers,

Steve Smith

Glacier Country

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