Where I work, we have boxed mixes on the shelf, in case we are suddenly without enough desserts and need something fast. Even then, they have never just followed the directions. It is always a glorified mix- added pudding, fruit, butter, etc, etc, etc.
I have worked in commercial bakeries as a cake decorator. They all use the same distributor, the difference is always the actual labor as far as the intricacy of decoration, but for instance when I worked at a local grocery store they far preferred quantity (and believe me, gawdy, ugly cakes) over quality. I think I lasted there two weeks. The grocery store before that had snooty customers, so we had the dilemna of very high volume vs. very few workers and even less time. It is possible to create good quality in a short amount of time, if the workers are talented enough. I agree with Kwan, this is the root problem.
Anyway, where I work now we are constantly getting samples of mixes from our distributors. We often try them out, just to see. People like the made-from-scratch stuff best, so we stick with that. They've had to hire extra pastry people, but that is because they want to maintain the quality (I"m also happy about it because I was one of those hired). The amount of ideas that are brought in and tried out is enormous. There are a few things we make every day (according to customer demand) but other than that, it is just the premise "We need to feed x amount of people." But my point is this- how many "new" things can you try that are mixes? There are only so many flavors. When you start with actual ingredients, from scratch, the sky is the limit. When you control the texture, the flavor, the mouth-feel, there are so many more possibilities. To be limited to mixes is to continue to stifle creativity.
W. DeBord- I think we can all guess that you are not the type of person that could last very long in this type of mix/pre-made kind of situation. Hooray!!!
~~Shimmer~~
