Course 201 on Customer Service Training Builds Stronger Bakery Teams
Running a successful bakery takes more than great recipes. It requires strong customer service, business skills, and a workplace culture
A bakery owner recently said something I had never heard articulated before:
This statement resonated deeply with me because in my own journey as a business owner has many moments of mangled attempts of training. I have always had the best of intentions, but rarely has my path been straight and clear.
I was instantly transported back to when an AM baker gave their two week notice in late October, igniting a race to hire a responsible adult who is willing to start work at 4:00AM and work most Saturdays. This uphill race is really more like a relay: because so much of the pace is out of my control. The prayer that I will find the right person quickly, that they will be able to start immediately, they will be able to be trained before the holiday rush starts, and that they will fit into our bakery culture went unanswered. I sprinted toward the first person that was willing to take the job, even though there were red flags and a gut feeling: I knew I was settling. I poured gasoline on this fire because by their first day on the job we were already miles into our marathon of holiday baking—leaving no space for intentional training. Within one year, a corrective behavior plan, and hurt feelings I decided to part ways with this employee in October the following year—literally putting me back into the SAME position as I was the previous year!
However, this time I had the benefit of learning the hard lesson of how important it is to slow down with our hiring and the knowledge that I needed to put effort into somehow creating an easier and more consistent way for me to train my staff.
This situation prompted me to go through several stages of growth that I can clearly define in two stages: Getting my Humane Resources and documentation in order. Secondly, having a foundational and detailed training regime.
First, I sought out hiring a temporary HR service. At the time I didn’t know you could hire temporary HR services. I was lucky enough that one of my best customers just happened to be an HR expert and a business coach. If she would not have been on my radar I would not have never sought this out for my own business – however it has proven to be one of the BEST investments I have given myself and my business. Yes, I had job descriptions, an employee handbook. However, they were written with the lens of what I was up until that point: a singular pastry chef. Instead, I needed to develop training and documentation that protected the health of the business, that would set clear boundaries and expectations for staff, and the tools to keep my staff accountable.
Secondly, I needed to be able to quantify a uniform training that spoke to every position within the bakery. The truth is I have different pastry chefs for different positions with the bakery. With a wider lens, every bakery is drastically different. However – there is a universal language we can extract from the (core/innate/foundational) pastry knowledge that is spoken within every bakery.
For example: I may think it is easy to wash dishes in a three-compartment sink—but this is really a series of small lessons:
That “simple” task is really a dozen small lessons—each one worth documenting. Over time, I began breaking down all the foundational skills in this way, creating a library of lessons I could use for consistent, measurable training.
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Running a successful bakery takes more than great recipes. It requires strong customer service, business skills, and a workplace culture
Starting a job in a bakery can be both exciting and overwhelming. From learning recipes to understanding food safety, there’s