Elevated Grains Bakery will be altering its business model next month as a result of challenges in finding employees to help run the business. They will be closing the dining room portion of the business and switching to taking orders for baked goods until a solution to the employment problem presents itself.
Emily LePinnet, who opened the bakery in May, explained that "July 1 will be our last day open to the public. Then I'm going to take a week off. When I come back, I'll probably post a small weekly ad in the newspaper and definitely regular updates on Facebook so that people can pick from some menu items." Locals will be able to put in orders for whatever they are interested in. "I'll change the menu every week. That way, if someone wants to bring cinnamon rolls to the office, then they place an order for a half dozen cinnamon rolls."
Emily went on to explain the labor shortfall that is prompting the change: "I'm going to be in a place where I'm left without any staff, because all of my help are students. They're either moving away to go to college or they're going back to school. They're not going to be available in the same capacity that they are during the summer, which is completely understandable. After my student help is gone, I have no one. I cannot operate at this capacity to deliver the level of food that Big Sandy is enjoying by myself. And so I figured that the best thing that I can do to still keep the space so that if one day, the staffing situation resolves itself, is to restructure and move to custom orders."
The shift to order only makes it possible for the bakery to reopen the dining area later. "By doing some baking throughout the week in my spare time, I'll keep the space paid for so that the lights stay on and I can get the building and all that. And that way, when I figure things out down the road, hopefully someday soon, I'll still have the ability to just pick up where I left off."
Part of the challenge for Emily is running the dining room along side doing the required baking. "The espresso setup is a time-consuming service to provide. I love it, and I'm very excited to have the ability to offer coffee here in town, but if I am trying to pull espresso shots or steam milk, it's very time sensitive. It has to be done a specific way in order for it to be enjoyable and for the cost of espresso drinks, it should be. However, that leaves certain things on the other side of the kitchen that get neglected or forgotten. I can't be in two places at once. And there's some things that the staff that I have is not trained to do. So it's just a matter of something's got to give, I guess."
I asked Emily what sort of help the bakery needs to run the operation. She explained, "I am looking for probably two adults that want to work full time." She went on to explain that employees would need to be there early in the morning for baking. She is looking for employees to start at 3 AM. "I have to have help in the hours that I'm closed to the public. That's the most important thing. And that's what I'm struggling to get. There's only so much that can be done by hand & from scratch in the two or three hours' time before I open. I can't keep getting up at midnight or 1:30 in the morning to come to work every day. It's just kind of tough."
Emily explained that running the bakery has been a great experience. "I absolutely love being here and providing a service to the community. I'm doing something that I really enjoy, and I feel like, on the whole, people are enjoying the food and service that I bring, which makes me feel great to do something for the people here. My only issue is that I'm stretched so thin that I know it's not healthy for me to continue in this pattern. That can only be resolved with more help." She explained that she "expected it to be quieter, because we can be such an intimate little town. Much to my surprise and thrill, we've been very, very busy every single day since we opened, and that's been a wonderful blessing."
For locals who are concerned about losing their local source for delicious baked from scratch treats, Emily assures us, "I don't plan on going anywhere. It's my every intention to do everything that I can to still offer food to Big Sandy." She also explained that she might experiment with "reopening as a pop up shop one day. I know a lot of other small towns do pop up bakeries where they fly a great big flag outside, and say, hey, 'we're open' and then when they're out, they're out. I've been in communication with a lot of other small bakers and trying to find options for what works for them and where they find success."
