Cracked Cauldron Spillings

We'll be travelling to Texas this weekend to visit 5 bakeries and speak with the owners and bakers at them. And collect pricing ideas and menus.

OK, to be honest, I already have several of the menus garnered from online. By collecting menus from assorted bakeries, we can see what our competition is offering, what we have that's special and different, and what we can expect to receive for our offerings.

We've decided we'll not be offering biscuits, but we will have scones. Granted, there's not a lot of difference, but the primary one is a doozy: biscuits are best served hot, scones travel well and may be eaten cold.

Should we ever do biscuits (and at this point, even in our expansion plans, we don't foresee that happening), they will be small batches, spur of the moment, maybe a special treat for customers in the shop.

I think perhaps the biggest thing we're looking at on this trip is decorating ideas - see how they look, what equipment they have, how they're set up, and how we can adapt it to the locations we'll be looking at.

Manager wants to let cauldrons be the theme of our bakery - big ones, filled with rolls, little ones filled with flowers, and others setting about for ambiance. Adding a Celtic knotwork wall paper (border, full wall, murals?) and stone look floor will add to the rusticity of it. We'll be adding in live herb plants, as well, mostly in hanging baskets (more cauldron uses!).

Colors, however, are definitely something we need to consider. I kind of like using that dull Oklahoma red as a base color, it will blend well with the stone look floor (there's an Arby's here that has the perfect floor, and they told us who the supplier was so we can duplicate it - and stencil a few Celtic knotwork designs in special areas to make it ours). But we don't know what other colors to add. A green, I think, slightly blued. And should we add a third color, something bright as an eyecatching accent?

And on a totally unrelated note, when I was in talking to the baker at Best Donuts, a fresh fruit and vegetable deliveryman came in for donuts. We got to talking, and I now have his card. We'll need fresh fruits for the pies and pastries, and veggies for the soups.

I called up some old friends of mine - John at Hobart Herb Farm and Carol at Golden Trowel Herbs, and the kids at the OSU Agriculture Extension (those blackberries they grow are phenomenal! If I can't grow them, we can at least buy them for pies and jellies.), and the gal at Shawnee Flour Mill. Slowly, we're building up our supplier network.

As much as possible, we'd like our suppliers to be local. I know this isn't realistic on some of our supplies, like some specialty flours, but where we can, buying local to help boost the local economy. Recycling at its best.

The Friends of the Library sale netted us 2 interesting books: one on QuickBooks for Dummies (which, after reading the first 3 chapters, looks like a program we could use), and one on building and maintaining networks -business and personal.

Oddly enough, we'd already been doing some of this own our own in our own bumbling stumbling way. This book pulled it together for us, and helped us organize what we're doing. I don't have the book here with me, but I'll post the title tomorrow. If you haven't read it, and are like us, bumbling to open a business, it is a truly useful book. I especially like how she handles people who are "network drains" - those people who take and take and take, but never pass anything along, never give back.

There was an article in a recent Good Housekeeping Magazine (working acros the hall from a library with a ver friendly librarian is also a big help!) on handling people who were always late. With this book on networking and that article, I think we'll be able to formulate a good policy for building our business and handling employees. Employees are also a part of a network, right?

We arrived at the Friends of the Library Sale about 45 minutes before it opened. We were near the front of the line. Manager was initially embarrased that I insisted on bringing a rolling cart - one designed for grocery shopping or laundry, but by the end of our pillaging of the sale, she agreed it was a good idea. It didn't hurt that many people pushed similar carts.

Anyway, in line for the wait, we started talking about the Cracked Cauldron. This being Oklahoma, people will talk to one another in long lines - and this is traditionally a long line where we wait a long time. So, the folks around us all started jumping in on the conversation. We got a few recipes, made a few friends, and probably got quite a few future customers. We also had a few of them come up to us with books they'd found they thought we'd like. Most of the time, we did.

One of them, a burly biker dude, was flipping through a bread book, and saw me across the table. He grinned and said, "I done got this book, you'll need it for your bakery." It was the La Brea Bakery book, and yes, one I'd been looking for. I took it and asked him if he'd tried the recipes in it.

He lit up and described the started he'd made, and we talked about yeast beasties for a good 15 minutes. He'd never heard the term "yeast beasties" before. I told him about my starters, and shared that my favorite was one I'd brought from Germany, named Heike, and that I had a vigorus one named Penelope. Then, he confessed he'd named his starter: Somerlyn. We agreed to give one another daughters of our starters.

He asked if we took bookings, and I answered, "not until we get closer to opening." I gave him my email address, and got his. We parted on very amicable terms.

I can't wait to get Somerlyn's daughter.

By the time we'd scoured both the General Collections and the Collector's Choice Room, we'd scored about $40.00 in suitable books - most of them were $1.00 or $1.50, one was $8.00, and the rest were $2.00 each. It was a stack of books on breads, entreprenuership, and business forms that stacked higher than my knees. The Friends of the Library Booksale is and has always been a grand resource.

Later on, when Manager and I went out for lunch at iHOP, the waiter got all excited about the Cracked Cauldron, because we were drawing up floor diagrams of how we wanted the workflow to go. A lot will depend on what we actually manage to find to rent, but it never hurts to have a few ideas in mind while we're looking. Anyway, back to Brent, our waiter. He thought a bakery would be cool.

When I told him there were several bakeries in town, he dismissed them as "restaurants" and not "real bakeries".

That may be true of Panera's, Someplace Else, and Ingrid's because they are more deli and meal oriented, but Big Sky Bread is only bread - franchised, but still, just bread.

Still, as we stumble along, we are discovering so many people who really want what we are planning to offer - and most of them like our targeted location area, too.

They like the thought of bread, soup, and sweets, with live performers and an Open Mike Night.

One of the results of the weekend was learning that Manager only has a math class and her Capstone left to graduate.

Since many things are coming together much faster than anticipated, and she can complete her degree by August, we are altering the timeline we created.

New plans are to open by mid October to take advantage of what we've always called "chocolate season" - October to May when chocolate is sold cheaply and appears in all the festivities. It's dense with holidays that want breads and cookies and hot soups.

This means she'll be getting bakery experience in May, June, and July, and asking for the start-up loan in August, or possibly July. We should be ready with a location by July, we'll have September and the first half of October to remodel as needed.

Word of mouth advertising has already begun, paid advertising will begin in June.

here we go - the avalanche into opening. Let's hope we keep things under control.

I heard on the radio this morning that the city is releasing funds to help businesses in the "Capitol Corridor", either by drawing new businesses to the area or by refurbishing existing businesses. That is exactly the spot we werelooking at for the Cracked Cauldron. Plus, the historic golden domed bank building is subdividing for "multicultural businesses" - also in the "Capitol Corridor".

I'm not sure it would be feasible to be in the dome, but the renovations in the area will certainly be a plus for the Cracked Cauldron.

We'll do some investigative work over the weekend, after we leave the Friends of the Library book sale.

Mardi Gras is next Tuesday, and we have orders for a Zulu Krewe version of Mardi Gras King Cake, as well as a few conventional ones.

The Friends of the Library Booksale is also this weekend, and we hope to score some good baking manuals then.

Once we get back from the Book Sale, though, we'll be up to our elbows in dough for the King Cakes.

I was clever and ordered purple sugar several months ago. I don't know why, but purple decorator's sugar is virtually impossible to find locally. Maybe it's because so few people here celebrate Mardi Gras.

Maybe the Cracked Cauldron will change that.

We are all about good holiday baking - and Mardi Gras has a fantastic traditional baked goody.

I noticed that most King cakes sell for $35.00 or more on line. I know from experience that the ingredients retail cost less than $4.00, and the time is spent mostly in waiting - less than 15 minutes actual construction nad decoration time is used, even at $10.00 an hour, and adding in overhead use, that's still a considerable profit.

This makes me happy.

The 2003 Bakery Survey from Bakery Net is out. It's $150.00 to purchase, and looks like a sound investment for a portion of our business plan.

I find it interesting in reading it that 56% of bakeries offer conventional coffee service. This is particularly intersting because it has contributed to the strength of their business. The Cracked Cauldron will have an UNconventional coffee service, with our clever little Coffee Monkeys designing coffees for our customers.

Local surveys indicate the people around here have decidedly outre drinking habits, and they really want a nice place to hang out since the very hip Galileo's stopped having Open Mike Night. I haven't spoken with the owner of Galileo's yet as to why they stopped this.

Speculation on my part (based on conversations with business owners in other cities who stopped offering Open Mike Nights) would be that they weren't selling enough drinks to justify the work.

As a bakery, I think we can circumvent this because we don't offer alcoholic beverages, so they are less expensive, drink for drink, plus we offer a nice line of "music munchies": pastries, small cakes, cookies, and pies. No single thing is terribly expensive, but quantities will add up.

We're speaking to lawyers [1] about entertainer contracts for those scheduled in to perform on other nights of the week. We hope to offer them a percentage of the night's sales, plus some drinks and food. Some of our performers have offered to perform just for the food. What can I say - they love our baking!

Open Mike performers will get a free beverage, stage time, and recognition for performing. If they draw a lot of people, or sales are really high during their performance, we might even reward them with baked goodies.

My son is working on the logo. He's almost got it - a cauldron with breads spilling out of a crack. Right now, it's still too complicated looking, but he's refining the lines and simplifying it, so we should have our basic logo quite soon. Once we have the logo, we'll be able to start advance advertising.

And along with that, joining a few professional organizations. We already have a pending membership in at the American Society of Bakers. Many of these offer seminars, support, advice, and yes! recipes! for bakers. The discounts on equipment and such doesn't hurt, either.

We're looking forward to the bakery tour in Boston in September, and hope to attend the Baker's Convention in Germany this year.

Things are suddenly moving along and coming together very quickly!

[1] Yes, they can be useful - especially if you help pay their way through college and offer emotional support as they take their Bar exams so they feel grateful to you...all those years of befriending college kids is paying off

I don't read our blogroll near as often as I should, but I do try to get through it once a week. I'm absolutely delighted by the review Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends gave this blog!

Thank you for such lovely - and inspiring - words.

A friend just handed me a page full of bakery related comics, most are Atkins oriented.

At the auto tire shop where I went to get new tires for the old car I met a banker who was also waiting for tires. She saw me leafing through some professional bakery magazines, and we started talking. That's how I found out she was a banker, and she found out we were working towards opening a bakery.

She got all excited about it, but we'll remain loyal to our (read my) bank. They will be our first contact for financing.

If that's not enough, then we'll pull up reserves.

Opening the bakery won't be cheap, or easy, but Manager is determined. And she has a lot of help.

Hmmm - hadn't thought of what the Bioterrorism Act would do to our bakery. I will grant we're way down on the registration scale, as we don't do wholesale, and we don't import a lot. We're hoping to use local produce as much as possible.

Our greatest impact will be from purchasing from dealers who import. Even there, we'll still not be greatly impacted.

It just goes to show how many details will jump up and bite if we weren't constantly looking for them.

Speaking of which...Manager is doing a grad check to see how many more classes she needs to take to graduate. Right now, it looks as if once she's done with this semester, all she needs is one more math class and the Capstone class.

They don't offer Capstone in the summer, but she may be able to finish her math class during the summer months.

Our bank (OK, my bank, since Manager uses a different bank right now) gave me information on business checking accounts and loans. It's still months too soon to contemplate a loan.

Hard as it can be, we will stick to our schedule because we don't want to rush things and discover, too late, something that would have been easy to fix and will now be a hair puller.

I know people are getting anxious for us to open - emails prove that, and even questions from co-workers and others who know what we're planning. We want to open, too.

Still, we have a lot of prep-work going on behind the scenes.

We'll be taking a tour of a couple of Dallas bakeries on February 28th. We have some information coming soon about rack ovens, deck ovens, and used Hobart floor mixers and ovens, not to mention walk in refrigerators and freezers for storage of perishables. We still need to finalize our opening menu, and locate all the equipment we need. Since we hope to be able to get the really expensive stuff used, it will take some browsing nad hunting to find what we need.

Sometimes, I think waiting another 11 months to open is not long enough!

Manager jogged my memory about IQD: International Quirkyalone Day, traditionally (all 2 years!) celebrated on February 14th. It's a celebration for those who have no significant other, or even potential significant other, in their life. Some are this way by choice, some by circumstance. Either way, all that emphasis on couples and romance can be depressing for them.

So, while we will offer the standard Valentine goodies, we may also provide Quirkyalone goodies: Daisy shaped fairy cakes, daisy cookies, cream wafers filled with primary color fillings, and blueberry goodies.

Thanks to a friend, here are the deomgraphics of the area where we plan to put our bakery:

35.18% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 39.4 years.
Most householders are over the age of 55.
Most are couples; few have younger children, although some have adult children living at home.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is almost $37,600.
Almost 60 percent of households receive income from interest, dividends or rental properties.
Residential:
Homes are in older, established neighborhoods.
Suburban, single-family, and owner-occupied homes with an average value slightly lower than the national average.


26.7% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 39.4 years.
More than 40 percent of the householders are between the ages of 45 and 64 years.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is $52,000.
Two-thirds of the households receive income from dividends, interest or rental properties.
Unemployment is 50 percent lower than the national average.
Over 20 percent households receiving retirement or pension income.
More than 90 percent of adults (25 years and older) have completed high school; more than 40 percent, a college degree.
Residential:
Homes are owner-occupied with an average value 40 percent above the national average.
Most homes were built between 1950 and 1969.
Comprised of single-family homes.


20.12% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 36.7 years.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is slightly over $42,600.
Unemployment is low.
Most of the working population is employed in professional or managerial positions.
More than 35 percent of adults (age 25+) have earned a college degree.
Residential:
Mix of single-family homes and townhouses with smaller (two to five units) rentals.
Most homes are owner-occupied, including condominiums.
Average home value is above the national average.

This makes it look like a really good neighborhood for a bakery of the Cracked Cauldron sort.

The neighboring areas are:

48.4% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age, 32.4 years, represents the gap between householders under 25 and over 75 years. (national average)
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is $21,400.
About 60 percent of households earn less than $25,000.
The rates of unemployment and poverty are twice the national averages.
Residential:
Single-family units, duplexes and quads account for most of the housing.
Most of the housing is older, built before 1950.


25.95% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 31.1 years.
Approximately 25 percent of are in twenties.
Households are single-person or shared.
Socioeconomic:
30 percent have a bachelor's or graduate degree; almost 30 percent have completed some college or an associate degree; 20 percent are attending college.
Represents 1.5 percent of U.S. population.
Median household income is $24,600. Half of the employed population is employed part-time.
Residential:
20 percent of the housing is single-family, owner-occupied.


8.63% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 36.7 years.
Socioeconomic:
More than 35 percent of adults (age 25+) have earned a college degree.
Median household income is slightly over $42,600.
Unemployment is low.
Most of the working population is employed in professional or managerial positions.
Residential:
Average home value is above the national average.
Mix of single-family homes and townhouses with smaller (two to five units) rentals.
Most homes are owner-occupied, including condominiums.

and

26.28% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 34 years.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is $30,800.
Represents more than 5 percent of U.S. households.
Unemployment and poverty are low.
Half of the work force is employed in the manufacturing and service industries.
Residential:
Average home value is 40 percent below the national average.
Neighborhoods offer affordable housing: older, single-family homes and duplexes.


20.73% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 37.6 years.
Half of the householders are over 55.
Mostly couples with no children at home and singles are increasingly common.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is $24,900.
Represents a 3.7 percent share of consumers.
More than 40 percent of the households are receiving Social Security income.
Two-thirds of the adults have completed high school.
Wages and salaries are not the only source of income.
16 percent are self-employed -- in farming or other business.
Residential:
Average home value is 60 percent lower than the national average.
Single-family houses account for almost 75 percent of the housing.
Almost 70 percent of the homes are owner-occupied; more than 10 percent of the housing is vacant.


16.54% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 39.4 years.
Most householders are over the age of 55.
Most are couples; few have younger children, although some have adult children living at home.
Socioeconomic:
Almost 60 percent of households receive income from interest, dividends or rental properties.
Median household income is almost $37,600.
Residential:
Homes are in older, established neighborhoods.
Suburban, single-family, and owner-occupied homes with an average value slightly lower than the national average.

and

27.78% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 39.4 years.
Most householders are over the age of 55.
Most are couples; few have younger children, although some have adult children living at home.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is almost $37,600.
Almost 60 percent of households receive income from interest, dividends or rental properties.
Residential:
Suburban, single-family, and owner-occupied homes with an average value slightly lower than the national average.
Homes are in older, established neighborhoods.


26.92% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 40 years.
About 35 percent of the householders are aged 65 or older.
Single-person households account for more than 40 percent of households.
There are few children.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is $34,900, just slightly higher than the national average.
Many of the householders are retired.
Almost 40 percent receive Social Security; 20 percent are on a pension.
Poverty and unemployment rates are low.
Inclined to save rather than invest.
Residential:
Two-thirds of the housing is multi-unit and built before 1970.
Home values are average.


16.99% of residents in this area fit the following profile:
Demographic:
Median age is 34 years.
Socioeconomic:
Median household income is $30,800.
Represents more than 5 percent of U.S. households.
Unemployment and poverty are low.
Half of the work force is employed in the manufacturing and service industries.
Residential:
Neighborhoods offer affordable housing: older, single-family homes and duplexes.
Average home value is 40 percent below the national average.

However you cut it, it looks like a decent place to catch a range of people. Considering it's 5 minutes from downtown and the state capitol on a major crossroad, near a large private university, and situated between 3 large 24 hour call centers, I'd say it's a decent location.

Folks know we aren't opening for a year, yet they still want to place "special orders". The cranberry cherry pies from the winter holiday season were very successful, and some people want those pies - with heart cut-outs or shaped like hearts - for Valentine's Day. I guess it makes a good substitute for people who are allergic to chocolate.

So, we promised to make only 3 such pies. Oven space, until we get the Cracked Cauldron open, is at a premium.

The heart shaped cream puffs were very popular at the bank this morning - they liked the cherry and strawberry fool fillings.

We have several different Valentine cookies, too, that we hope will be well accepted.

Manager invented a lovely brie soup, and that is another offering we think we'll offer at Valentine's.

This year, until we open, will be run offering our special holiday and seasonal items to selected guinea pigs and volunteers, to see what proves most popular, and what needs improvement.

We heard back from the Departmente of Health on the herbs, they have no specific ruling on them, so we'll go with the "if it ain't forbidden, it's allowed". After all, since we did check with them (I had them send it to me on official letterhead), the worst they can do is tell us to stop doing it.

Paperwork, we're discovering, is almost more important than the business itself.

Next fall, probably October, or November, we'll be looking for a good financial person, one who understands business cash flows, and can keep our bookkeeping in order. I know Manager can do this, but with everything else she'll be doing (I'll be keeping my day job for a year or two after the Cracked Cauldron opens and longer if needed), letting an expert handle it day-to-day, and her keeping tabs on it is actually the best scenario for us.

We're codifying our recipes for our Queen of the Flour Monkeys, so she'll have it easier when we get closer to opening. Some of our recipes and methods aren't common, and she has already told me that she doesn't have experience with sourdoughs. Since some of our signature breads are depend on special yeasts and poolishes and starters one thing we'll have to teach her is how to take care of the Yeast Beasties. I have a starter that's 40 years old, and it came from a German starter that was 70 years old when this one was grown from it. This starter has a pedigree and a history. We may start a new one just for Cracked Cauldron. Baby starters need a lot of care and work to stay alive and be healthy.

While she's very experienced in bakery work, she trained when par-baked and pre-mixed bakery goods were becoming common, and the bakeries she's worked in used a lot of this. Ours will be a scratch bakery, the only pre-made item we will use will be phyllo dough, simply because it requires special equipment, training,a nd time we aren't willing to invest in at the beginning.

If, at some point, it becomes better for us to make our own phyllo dough, we'll consider investing.

As a start-up, we do have to consider our resources. There are certain things we must have at the beginning, and others that can wait.

We've already decided not to provide donuts, we're contemplating not offering bagels (this is still iffy, a lot of bagelries are going out of business around here, so there may be a market for bagels in a year, just not a large one), and we'll be buying pre-made phyllo dough. Puff pastry, though, is so easy and quick to make we'll have our own, both sweet and savory versions.

We're playing with breads in fancy shapes: Celtic knotwork, Cat tongues, swans, mermaids, alligators, suns, wheat sheaves, scrolls, and aother shapes.

Some of them rise more than others so we have to shape much more loosely than we'd expected. Other bread recipes don't rise as much, so we shaped them too looselya,d got sloppy breads. This will take much more experimentation.

We hope to have a variety of small fancy shaped breads to sell on Thursdays or Fridays for weekend use, and for holidays.

One bread we're working on this weekend is a sourdough tomato dill bread shaped into roses that form a heart. I think it will be a popluar Valentine roll for two.

We've been approached by several people of the Red Hat Society in town, asking for a Red Hat Tea Party at our bakery.

WooHoo! Bookings before we open!

After all the bad legislative news, this is great.

Of course we can take reservations for a Red Hat Tea Party at the Cracked Cauldron. Why not? I'm a Red Hatter.

If you don't know about the Red Hat Society, check them out: Red Hat Society.

I can't think of a nicer place for them to visit than the Cracked Cauldron just for a brief get-together, their monthly meeting, or whatever. Our bakery would be great to be a place to visit when they host a convention in town, especially if we have an interesting group playing here at the time.

Wonder what other special groups we can tap?

Today is our legislature's opening session, and tonight is the State of the State Address. Gov. Henry has never been poor, and has never tried to start a business from scratch. There is nothing he will say that will address any of the issues effectively that truly face the people of this state.

I suppose that's one of many reasons we're opening the Cracked Cauldron.

The politicians and wealthy people of this state have either never known what it is to do without, or have so thoroughly forgotten they may as well not know.

There's not one of them that can tell you where the homeless live, or how many there are, or what they do when we get freezing rain and ice. There's not one of them that understands the importance of a penny.

Most of them will not even see the homeless living right where they work.

How can they address the needs of their constituents when the only ocnstituents they see are the ones waving hundred dollar bills(anything less is invisible)?

There are a myriad of small charities around, ones that fly beneath the radar of government regulations and IRS tax-free status. I know of 17 of them in town. I'll bet our local politicians can't even name one of them, let alone what needs they address.

Instead, our government is going to concern itself with squeezing more money out of these very people by attempting to pass legislation that impose a tax on filing income taxes, and impose or increase taxes on sugar, soda, cigarettes, gasoline, and fatty foods.

Of course, Cracked Cauldron isn't going to be selling cigarettes or gasoline, but the principle remains the same.

These taxes will impose an undue hardship on businesses, who will have to recalibrate their computers to calculate different taxes for different items. It will impose an undue hardship on people in general who will not be able to afford these things with the higher taxes. In turn, this will reduce the expected revenues so our politicians can scream we have a funding shortage.

And it's the small businesses and the small spenders who will hurt the worst.

Opposing any new taxes is the best Cracked Cauldron can hope to do in order to succeed in both its efforts as a bakery and as a charity.

Sugar, soda, and fatty food taxes will have a definite impact on our business.

In the meantime, we will behave as if these tax proposals will never leave the legislature (because we will be registering our disapproval, and yeah, our legislators will listen to us, uh huh), and proceed with our plans.

We got in a big bag of flour from a local mill. Some types of flours suit some types of baked goods better than others. Besides, where possible, we want to support local mills and businesses. If this flour pans out, we'll be steady customers for this mill. Hope it's good!