bake - March 2017 - Cake4

SELLING THE
EXPERIENCE
THERE ARE MANY INNOVATIVE WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BAKERY FOR GRADUATION SEASON.
EXPAND YOUR VISION AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES WILL FOLLOW.
A different mindset and approach to marketing your
bakery are required in preparation for graduation season
because the stakes are high.
"You have to stop thinking like a baker in this economy.
You have to think like a salesman," says Beth Fahey, owner of
Creative Cakes in Tinley Park, Illinois.
In order to expand your sales opportunities, Fahey
recommends the following key steps:
* Grab a bigger box by offering options that may not be on
your menu
* Make pricing easy to understand
* Get social ("If you don't know how to do SnapChat,"
Fahey suggests, "have a 12-year-old show you.")
* Emphasize the value to the customer (not the cost)
"The value you are creating is the customer experience,"
Fahey says. "If the conversation is all about the price, there is
no room for upselling."
For starters, here's a useful exercise to improve your
business prospects for graduation season. Pinpoint your
bakery's location on a map and draw a circle around it 50
miles from the center. Any public or private school, college
or university within the circle is likely a potential customer.
Are you missing out?
"We are really surprised by how far people will come and
consider us their local bakery," says Marc Serrao, owner of
Oakmont Bakery in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
Rather than social media, Serrao prefers the old-fashioned
way of staying involved in the local community. In the spring,
they will post fliers at churches and schools. Oakmont
Bakery is a proud supporter of school activities. "People love
knowing you sponsored their kid's play."
"In our area, graduation parties are spread out over the
whole month of June and into July, as graduates try to
space out their parties so they can attend all of their friends'
parties," says Lynn Schurman, owner of Cold Spring Bakery
in Cold Spring, Minnesota.
To market your graduation cakes, ask your local schools
if you can advertise in their newsletters and include a flyer
4

2017

THE GRADUATION ISSUE

"Stop thinking like a baker
in this economy. You have to
think like a salesman."
- Beth Fahey, Creative Cakes
in the packets that are sent out about ordering invitations,
caps, and gowns. You can also take to technology to spread
the word.
"Pinterest is great because it helps with your marketing."
says Fahey of Creative Cakes.
To draw attention to their graduation cakes at That's The
Cake Bakery in Arlington, Texas, owner Nancy Newsom says
they use "Facebook, Google, the bakery's website, and word
of mouth mostly."
Another related occasion to be on the lookout for happens
in August. "Off to college" parties are growing in popularity,
occurring almost as often as graduation parties.
ENHANCING THE EXPERIENCE
Every graduation party is different, but there are some
general rules of thumb to keep in mind as you prepare your
bakery for this busy season.
Mini dessert bars are a growing trend, as customers are
drawn to variety in products and flavors.
The second important consideration is quantity. People
tend to get overzealous when ordering desserts, according
to Ryke's Bakery in Muskegon, Michigan. They recommend
a simple equation to estimate the amount of dessert that
customers can count on guests to consume at open houses.
Number of close friends and family + Half of everyone
else invited = Number of servings
Remember that not everyone is going to eat cake,
especially if the event falls on a popular weekend.
To the bakery owner, innovation comes in many forms
and applications. Innovation starts with a deliberate change
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