Learning Through Challenges

Picking up where I left off last time brings me to the new Habitué after we doubled our size one year into the coffeehouse. It turns out that when you change things up that much, that it can cause confusion for the team. I was beginning to learn the next thing and that was that every time that you change at all, you have to rethink the steps of how you do things. My journey of growth as an owner and leader happened as I continued to grow my business, which makes sense. If I had not bought the other building to grow our footprint, it would have eventually maybe happened, but every time we would say” what if we did this and changed that” – it forced me to look at how we did the work and new growth thoughts would come. It even made me rethink some things and how we could make it better and easier, as well as cost of goods and labor and efficiency. We developed maps for where everything is and job cards for standardization so that my people all knew what they needed to do the work. Work was getting easier in lots of ways because of the new space that we had. Dishes were now washed on the main floor, and we developed all new checklists for how to do the work in the kitchen with a new flow.

We didn’t have enough space for preparation and storage with the kitchen in the basement, but with a whole new professional kitchen and walk-in cooler and freezer that changed everything. We could make more and sell more, but there was much to be learned about waste and inventory control. I am continuing to learn more and adjust. That’s what has made the difference over time. Having more space was so good, but it also began this issue that I didn’t even recognize at first. More space meant more we could do and more people that could do it, which was a blessing. However, over time I realized that more people meant more things going on and it would get chaotic. I would everyday work to get more done and it took so much of my time keeping people working together. More people turned into more conversation and just more activity. Labor really got out of hand, and it was probably the thing that cost us the most. More space also meant more cost to operate it. We will talk more about that later.

When we moved into our new space the focus really began to be about how would we be able to do some business out of the back of house to help sustain the business. What could we make and sell in the kitchen that could be a good income for us that doesn’t get eaten in our store? We had been making amazing cupcakes to sell in our case from day one. We had wonderful recipes like Black Bottom, White Chocolate Strawberry Champagne, Vanilla Bean, Lemon Dream, and Carrot Cake that was really the best I have ever eaten. We made these cakes in rounds and cupcakes and sheet cakes when ordered. I would say that the focus was the wonderful cake and buttercream, but we didn’t really decorate like with writing and different tips. It just wasn’t our focus. We didn’t make wedding cakes or birthday cakes with fancy decorations, but they were beautiful with a finished border and dollops of buttercream, and we certainly used ganache.

One day I was standing in the kitchen at Habitué, and I called a good friend who had made our children’s wedding cakes and our birthday cakes as our children were growing up. She made the most wonderful cakes, and they were so beautiful too. Betty VanderWeide was the owner of Betty’s Cakes in Maurice, Iowa and she was always busy selling and making and delivering cakes and cupcakes and other things all over the area. There were no better cakes than hers. Betty started when she was about 20 years old, and she had been doing it for about 50 years. I greeted Betty and she asked me if I needed a lemon raspberry cake for Mike ordered? I said it sounded really great but that was not the reason for my call. I proceeded to ask her what she was going to do with her business when she retired. She told me that she thought that she would just fall over in a cake some day and die. We laughed and I told her that I didn’t think that was the best plan! Then I asked her if we could talk soon and that I was interested in buying her business. She couldn’t believe it and she started to cry. We set a time to talk, and we ended up buying Betty’s Cakes. Part of what I wanted from her was her knowledge, so I also hired her to work in my store for the next two years to teach us how to do what she did. It was an amazing journey that I am so grateful for. Betty and Rod became dear friends, and we learned so much from them both. Betty worked with many people on my team and taught us so much about cakes and decorating, and so much more! Betty had the best reputation in our region for wedding cakes and display of wedding cakes.

We began to sell wedding cakes, and it was a big challenge, but many of us learned how to sell – really sell our services as a boutique wedding cake and dessert purveyor. I am so proud of what we learned and how we grew during that time. There’s so much to the story and we will pick up there next time…