bake-a-boo is changing – important news…
bake-a-boo makes some big changes….
Summarised on this post it and then below written in detail, because I always get carried away!!
Following our decision to close during the week in January, fearing it would be quiet and everyone would be deep into their new year diets and saving the pennies – in fact bake-a-boo has been busier than EVER! To be honest I have actually struggled to keep up, even when I have had many days where the shop has been closed. I’ve been so busy with enquiries and parties and bookings that I haven’t actually got to achieve all the things I wanted to get done in this time. It has actually been an extremely challenging month work wise. I have also had a lot to think about. Choosing my word for 2012 as ‘grow’ – I have used this month to really think about the best way to ‘grow’ and be fearless in doing so, as I know some people wont understand my decisions, or see them as attempts to grow. But they are decisions based on the want and need to grow, but also the need to survive, because its tough being a small independent business! Its tough when people tell you what they think you should be doing and when you desperately want to please everybody!
When I opened bake-a-boo – I actually had planned to take it in a very different direction, but the demand took me down different pathways and as we are now into our 6th year of the shop, I feel we have now established our direction and where our strengths are. I never thought ur main source of business would be parties and especially hen parties. I didn’t think afternoon tea would be more popular than cupcakes, there were many things I didn’t think – but you go in the direction that helps you survive and encourages you to grow. In thinking about what direction to go in next with bake-a-boo and the shop and myself I have to chose to ‘grow’ in the direction of the strengths we have worked hard to establish over the last five years.
So……. in March bake-a-boo (kind of) re-launches itself as
bake-a-boo – ‘bake shop, tea room and party parlour’
After our trial run we will now remain only open on Friday’s Saturdays and Sunday – however we will be extending our hours on these days.
Why?………..
We are a completely different shop during these days. We already close Mondays and Tuesdays as these weekdays, relying on passing trade on Mill Lane is just not lucrative enough for us. Remaining open on Wednesdays and Thursdays has now begun to almost ‘take away’ from the success of the weekends.
We only produce cakes – stock that does not keep – if we don’t sell it, we bin it! This is not good for anyone?
It’s not all doom and gloom, we do have other work outside of the shop and we are working on building these projects and also concentrating on maximising the pretty space we have at bake-a-boo by concentrating more on parties, private events and organised events including workshops and activities. This helps us in have pre-planned things booked in and also gives us more time to focus on the things we do best – and enhancing the bake-a-boo experience overall.
What will be doing during the week?…….
We will still be in the shop to take calls and answer emails and enquiries. We will still be able to bake orders throughout the week if they are pre-ordered and collection times have been arranged and we will still accept afternoon tea bookings for larger groups on 10 or over during the week days.
We will also strengthen our programme of workshops and events and launch both baking classes and a craft club in the evenings. These are decisions based on feedback from our customers who have asked for these things – particularly the baking classes. We will launch the craft club and the baking classes in the spring and these will be weekly fixtures at bake-a-boo – please sign up to our mailing list to be kept informed.
And the rest of the time we will be preparing for a busy weekend of parties galore in our party parlour and beyond!!
So how will bake-a-boo change?…………
Our new opening hours for the tea room will be;
Friday, Saturday and Sunday – 10am-6pm
We will offer more breakfast goods to cater for people during the ‘morning hours’ and be able to fit in more of our ‘activity’ parties with the earlier starts.
We will tighten up our party packages both in and outside the shop and be able to offer you more choice. With some exciting new party ideas in store.
We will also be changing our system for ordering cakes which makes the information clearer and the process much easier.
We hope to improve, grow and focus on the bake-a-boo experience, and we hope to continue to make your cakes and your party dreams come true. We hope to have your continued support.
The new bake-a-boo come in with full force from Friday 2nd March 2012. We will continue to open on the weekend only with our current hours, please bear with us while we put everything in place and hire new staff to cover our new extended weekend hours.
We also want to get Valentine’s weekend out the way before making changes as we will be opening specially on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th for you to come and buy Valentine’s treats and to save on confusion we will be changing the hours after that week, but we need to remain shut on the weekdays in order to implement these things.
We look forward to seeing you this year – bake-a-boo remains the same, same cakes, same experience, same boo! We just hope to make it even better and even more creatively active with the new changes.
Thank you for your continued support.
Love boo xx
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