6 Steps to Going Green and Saving Thousands
Step 1: Evaluate Areas To Go Green
For a business to go completely green, there are a lot of complex areas involved. The easiest, and most obvious, is reducing or eliminating the need to print. This translates to hundreds if not thousands of dollars in savings per year as you no longer need to purchase paper, print reports, replace toner, replace drums and/or printers. Download our more detailed, step-by-step guide below for more information on other areas to help reduce your carbon footprint and costs to your business.
Step 2: Evaluate Costs
Evaluating your monthly expenditures on paper and printing will help you calculate the ROI of implementing software. With less expense, you can reinvest the savings back into your business or take a nice vacation. Use the […]
The Future Landscape of Software Hosting: What’s Right for Your Business?
Would you rather manage your data locally or allow a third party to host it?
Do you prefer to maintain your own server, knowing you will have to replace it when it fails?
Are you prepared to upgrade your equipment and devices every few years?
One common dilemma businesses face is whether to adopt web-based software or continue hosting their software on-site. As the world migrates to cloud computing, the choice may seem obvious. But there are still many factors to consider when facing your next software upgrade.
With seemingly limitless choices, it can be difficult to narrow things down. The first basic question to ask yourself is whether you want to host the software on your own server(s) or contract with a company that will host it for […]
Healthy Eating vs. Sweet-Tooth: The Everlasting Dilemma
A recent article in bakingbusiness.com took on the complicated nature of consumer eating, investigating the seeming contradiction between the rise in health-consciousness and growing spending on snack foods. Fully two-thirds of American adults report indulging in snacking, while nearly half replace meals with snack foods. At the same time, the types of snack foods Americans report eating are changing, with 45% of people citing nutritional value as a factor in their choices.
Fueling the growing snack foods market are millennials, many of whom reach for a snack four times a day. While some indulge out of boredom, others want a burst of energy during busy days that don’t allow for sit-down meals. The need for healthy, convenient foods is driving the rise in consumer […]
Sell Dough to Boost Holiday Satisfaction
Does your bakery sell dough?
Home baking may be rooted in America’s vision of the holidays, but many consumers are pressed for time and can’t make fancy holiday treats from scratch. Buying finished, unbaked dough allows them to enjoy your high-quality products while still filling their homes with the warm scents of gingerbread or butter rolls — and even express some creativity without making quite such a mess of their kitchens. For consumers, it’s a win-win scenario.
Want to give dough sales a try? Here are a few ideas to start with, all holiday-friendly:
- Sugar cookie dough: a versatile classic, package this dough with a few different cookie ideas your customers can make with it. Real Simple has […]
Free Samples: How Giving Away Samples Boosts Sales
Offering free samples to your customers can have dramatic positive effects on sales.
Customers like free samples — consider this article about a beloved bakery where the author got a free slice of bread at every visit: the bread didn’t just give this customer a sense of delight and increase his feelings of loyalty toward the bakery. It turned an errand into a treat, encouraging him to make an extra stop after work more often.
When the bakery was sold, the new owners put an end to the free slice of bread.
Fresh bread? Yes, please! (Of course, your hand will have a glove on it.)
“Worst […]
Inspire your marketing and merchandising campaigns
What makes customers buy a tee shirt from a café, bakery, or restaurant and wear it around, advertising that business to everyone they meet?
For some, it’s a special love for that particular business. For others, it’s a foodie identity, a feeling of being in-the-know about good food and where to find it. Some might find a slogan funny or irresistible, or a logo or design thoroughly charming. There’s even a list at Food and Wine of their picks for best food-related tee shirts, including this one:
How do you design a shirt that customers will want to wear? And […]
Should Your Bakery Publish a Cookbook?
Have you seen the Amazon cookbook bestseller page recently? Many of the top sellers come from bakeries: Magpie’s beautiful primer on pies, Momofuku Milk Bar’s spread of innovative modern desserts, Tartine’s elegant collection of classics, and more.
Cookbooks are purchased as gifts nearly twice as much as other books; put together an attractive package that highlights the unique character of your establishment, and you’re giving customers a great, non-perishable gift option that makes your business a topic of conversation right in the recipient’s home.
Do you have to be a nationally-known bakery or restaurant with a celebrity chef before you can publish a cookbook? If you’re looking to play on […]
Reach More Customers: is a Food Truck Right for Your Bakery?
Want to be part of a popular cultural trend while expanding your business and reaching more customers, without the price tag of opening another storefront?
Consider adding a food truck.
While food trucks come with their own costs and administrative hurdles, they also come with quite a few perks, including visibility and flexibility. Food trucks can give you a presence at major events, introduce your brand to new audiences, and boost your social media impact. Check out these successful bakery food trucks for inspiration:
La Farm’s bread truck (photo from Twitter) — come for a sandwich, but how can you not leave with a loaf of bread, too?
French artisan baker […]
Bakeries Strengthen Customer Rapport by Offering Classes
Do you want to strengthen your relationships with your customers?
Give them a better understanding of the value of your expertise?
Make more money during slower months?
Try offering baking classes. Here Barb Gardner of Let Them Eat Cake talks about what classes have done for her, and answers the question “will my customers stop needing me if I teach them how to bake?” (spoiler alert: they won’t).
Bonus: use your baking classes to improve your Facebook marketing. Scheduling events on Facebook is one of Swipely’s top social marketing tips for bakeries.
You might even make a local news story, like Soonja’s Bakery in […]
Three Leadership Traps to Avoid
Managing a business is stressful work. In the thick of things, it can be tempting to try to save time with shortcuts that hurt your company in the long run, or to preserve focus by shutting out distractions — such as employees’ needs. Protect your business from these three destructive management traps:
Discount your team’s opinions.
Richard Branson describes listening as one of the hallmarks of experienced leadership:
“If you want to stand out as a leader, a good place to begin is by listening. […] Leaders who are great listeners are often terrific at uncovering and putting in place strategies and plans that have a big impact.”
Ignoring your employees’ input hurts their investment in your company’s success — why should they care about the company, if the […]