the Adapting to the new consumer age presents obstacles and opportunities. BY JOHN UNREIN Prior to Hurricane Ike back in September 2008, Houston-based retailer Three Brothers Bakery already had begun to reinvent its century-old family business. After Ike, "the transformation took on a life of its own," says the company's president and co-owner, Janice Jucker. Two important events soon followed that put Three Brothers Bakery on the national food map. The first occurred when Country Living magazine named the bakery's pecan pie "the best mail order pecan pie America has to offer." Then came a local challenge by Greg Morago from The Houston Chronicle to create a 3-layer piecake, which Three Brothers named the "Pumpecapple Piecake." Consumers outside of Houston - many people - took notice. They started calling Three Brothers from across the country. All of this leads to the story of how one retailer began a journey of discovery into the digital world that today involves a multifaceted e-commerce platform that includes a robust online ordering platform, a tablet-based point-of-sale (POS) operating system, and a digital marketing agency - to name just a few. Jucker is learning important details like cost per acquisition and social ROI (return on investment). "You (as a retailer) are being compared by consumers to Pizza Hut and the doctor's office," Jucker says of today's bakery. "The buyer wants the Based on years of valuable experience, Jucker knows what she is talking about when she suggests the benefits to investing wisely in modern POS systems that include mobile payment capability. A new Visa study reveals that 78% of consumers surveyed rank a digital payment method as the No. 1 preferred payment option. 14 < JAN 2019 | bakemag.com THERESA SCARBROUGH same kind of service everywhere."http://www.bakemag.com