The Bakery - marketing ideas

[Aliya]

We have a great little business in the bakery. BUT we need to increase turnover as you do in a business.

We have been told our bread and cakes are fantastic, people often find the shop because they follow the smell of fresh baking. We bake all through the day so everything we sell is fresh. But it is not on street frontage as it a bit tucked away although very accessible to MRT and office foot traffic etc.

We are looking at (and currently are) supplying local restaurants and bars with bread, cakes and anything else they want. We have a distributor for the pies once they are up and running.

A guy recently came along and asked us for a hotdog roll. We sat down with him and designed the perfect roll for him, made it, supply him and he loves it. Another guy wanted small sponge rolls and we designed and make them for him. So we can tailor make a product.

What I was wondering is if anyone has contacts in the food industry who are looking to upgrade their bread or cake suppliers and would be interested in trying our product could they please contact me or MrA direct at the bakery. He will come and meet with them. We are really enjoying what we are doing but just need to upsize

[Fresh Mint]

Since when did you have a bakery?

[Fresh Mint]

Make bunny chows.

A bunny chow was invented in Durban and consists of a square half loaf of bread that is hollowed out and filled with curry and then the stuffing plonked on tip.

You then eat both the curry and the container.

Hundreds of thousands of them are sold at commuter places, building sites etc every day.

[BoD]

That looks damn good

[baloo]

Try the Butchers Aliya.

I know Oh Deli near my place sold bread for a while at stupid ridiculous prices. They've stopped it now. But those high end delis/butchers must be in the market for good bread. Customers wouldn't balk at buying some really nice bread to go with their 6 stuffed olives that cost them $22.95.

Other then that, you already know the issue which is location. Getting a more storefront type place in an area like say Siglap or Greenwood would help. What about Dempsey ? With Jones the Grocer, Huber's Butcher and Bistro etc all opening up ? Not sure what rent is like though.

[Scrummy Mummy]

Totally agree. However good your bread, the PITA of going there, parking around Arab Street etc makes it a non-goer for a lot of people, including me. I did used to go to the Swiss Butcher every few months, buy a load of vaccum packed meat, and freeze it, but then its not "freshly baked."

The delivery service is a good idea, if you can do it in a cost-effective way.

[baloo]

Tie in with the Swiss/Huber/ The Bitcher etc delivery services. Have them add your breads and stuff to their fliers, they can order at the same place. You deliver to them and they deliver the lot with the meat. They might go for it as it adds another value-add to their service. You may not even have to give them a %

[Aliya]

Actually we have a carpark right next to the bakery so easy to get to if in a car.

[BoD]

Hubers Dempsey already has Swissbake bread (Which is awful) and also Picotin bread (which is better)

[kittykat]

Hi Aliya. What about delivering birthday cakes, morning teas, catering to the offices nearby?? If I'm thinking right - you are close to SunTec, Gateway, Gotham City etc I know the morning tea culture isn't very strong in SG but you could do a blast fax, email, letterbox drop with your menu in there and people can call and order a day before. I know I used to find it a pain to get catering in for lunch at Gateway. Get a website so people can order online. Good luck - come set up a shop here in Brissy. I love bakeries .... mmmm

[Fat Bob]

Delivery can lah?

Need a cake for next friday. If you deliver I'll have one.

If you don't I'll go to NYDC or Dao Paolo in Holland V.

[Aliya]

Hi KK! Yes we are going to do a leaflet drop on all the main buildings in our area to say we can do all that.

And FB yes we will deliver for you. Where to and what do you want? Don't forget you get your 10% discount. Issit a Valentines Day one

[expat yorkshire]

Make bunny chows.

A bunny chow was invented in Durban and consists of a square half loaf of bread that is hollowed out and filled with curry and then the stuffing plonked on tip.

They have a version already the strangely named "golden Pillow" .....



http://www.goldenpillow933.com.sg/


But maybe something you can copy Aliya ?

[sundaymorningstaple]

We order in those golden pillows quite often. Usually 2 or 3 at a time at our office. Pretty tasty, they are.

[azzam]

I'm sorry, but having recently become a phenomenally influential and gifted business guru, I feel compelled to point out that this is all sales talk, not marketing. What you need is a TV show.

[daffodil]

Aliya Bites or Forever Aliya or Naked....oh, maybe not

[Satellite]

don't worry about location for now .. once you establish yourself you can move to a more prominent place to meet your target audience.

Az is right.. this is sales which you also need right now ... but you have to think about your overall marketing strategy .. don't sell yourself short

[Satellite]

oh and if you are thinking of being a supplier then you must make sure

1) you can scale up your operations fast enough - had a friend who couldn't and the whole bakery (the then-bakery junction) collapse.
2) if you wnat to supply high end, but sell low end, better to make sure the public can't associate the two or one or the other brand will not work. And if it happens to be the high end one, then lots of $$$ to lose. (eg. SKII is a marketed as a highh/mid end product but is made by a generic compnay, which not many people know and hence don't mind paying premium)

[kittykat]

Or if you really want people to know who you are and where you are is to get Brad and Angelina to bring their kids in for cakes! Look at the icecream shop guy in Dubai. Now how to get them there. Mmmmm...

[Satellite]

sales idea - specalise/focus on make wedding cakes... pretty good money . Dont know what kind of shop it is but when we were getting our wedding cake.. we went to all sorts of places from low end - high end. A 3 tier wedding cake for 300 pax can easily cost anywhere from 900 - $4000. That's a huge profit margin for expertiese to do a 3 tier cake - which isnt all that difficult (maybe 2 or 3 days /cake). Ingredients cost minimal - I can do it myself if I wanted to.. just to highlight that it will be good business. Advertise in bridal magazines or bridal websites. And go for asian weddings as guest list is high = higher $$$

[azzam]

But, question. Because I've read a book about it...

You'd want to check whether too many people are doing it already wouldn't you? If barriers to entry are low, i.e. anyone with an icing tube can do it, isn't it a bit hard to stay at the top of the market?

[Satellite]

yup. As weith everything, you have to do your market research. Also how well you can clinch supplier contracts. These are just ideas.

Edit; for wedding cakes, lots of peopl doing low end and I mean really low as in $300-$500 for 3tier cake for 300pax.

[Satellite]

I have an idea.

If you haven't already got a signature item, maybe create one first. (I'm thinking that if you do have one, sporeans might go gaga over it like they did with doughnuts, macaroons etc)

Sunday times (lifestyle section) runs some feature on food and the back page sometimes features people in the F&B industry. Contact them ( i think they may have their email on the paper) maybe they might be keen to do a feature of Mr. A or his bakery.

[baloo]

Vegemite Scrolls ! Make them and you'll be the only ones doing it. They are fantastic

[Aliya]

Mmmmmmmmmmm nice.