A new start

I'm back from vacation and excited to start my new "job". I mentioned I was going to work toward becoming a partner in an existing small/new bakery. I've always wanted to have a bakery .....but I KNOW I can't do it alone and really don't want to do it alone! My hubby wasn't supportive of my previous attempt, so I stopped it before I made any investments. (May sound weird to some of you. But I respect my marriage and hubbys thoughts...we don't make investments or go down life changing paths unless we're BOTH in agreement) This time, going in with an existing business brings reality and opportunity into focus for him and I believe he's on board with the plan.

The imediate plan: work with Cindy (who started this bakery) for a couple months to see if we work well together before we draw up any contracts.

It's a risk for both of us, opening up to each other and putting forth our best efforts knowing that nothing will remain "your own". My recipes will be hers and visa versa. My contacts will be hers, her contacts will be mine, etc...

I have nothing to loose. I retain my job experiences and ability to seek future employement if this doesn't work. It gives me the opportunity to put some of my dreams and thoughts into action and find out if I can do what I think I can do. Let's me chase a dream with a partner who can contribute and hopefully will be strong in the areas I am weak and let me help in areas where I am strong and she is weak.

Why write this? For feedback, thoughts, wisdom from those of you that have ventured down a similar road. Tell me where the landmines lay and how to approach and pass them with-out stepping on them.... I know partnership is something most of you frown on.....for many reasons. BUT if you did have a partner, what would you tell me to do so that this works successfully?

The partnership venture failed awhile ago. It only lasted about about 6 weeks. I'm long onto my next venture.

What happened: (lots of little things daily) and a couple bigger flags.

Anyway the final blow was over me wanting to continue my relationship with my last employeer. After I left the last club I was at, the owner asked me if I'd continue making her sweet tables and desserts for their major events (about a dozen or so thru out the year). I definately want to! So I'm doing their Easter Buffet this week and they're my first "freelance" job.

So what I'm on to now is marketing myself as a freelance pastry chef. I work in their (anyone who needs me) kitchen using their ingredients. I bring my own specialty baking equipment. They hire me as a part-time employee paying me an hourly wage. I do anything pastry-wise from making their banquet desserts to consulting, teaching and some graphic arts work. (Obviously there's more to this, but that the basics). I won't get any benifits this way, but I'm asking for a higher wage to compensate so I can provide these for myself.

I've been waiting for this Easter week to happen before I actually do market myself. I want to see if I need to make any adjustments before I make promises.

I do my best to adjust.........sometimes it's frustrating but when life gives me lemons I do my best to make lemon sorbet :D .

Well, I started to write a reply but it's hard to write with-out offending or placing blame........I'll try, but obviously it's got a HEAVY slant seeing how it's only from my perspective.

She had a physically established business. It all worked for her, since she set things up. But there were areas I felt needed some serious help. She wasn't cool with the smallest sugestions for changes= conflict. We each had a different list in our minds as to what was "a priority".

I didn't really know her, how she handles stress, how she spend her money, how she handles employees, how she handles her family life, etc... Yes, we talked about things ahead of time, but we only knew what the other told us about their views (if that makes sense).
For example: I knew she'd been married before, but it wasn't until after we tried being partners that I found out this is her 4th marriage. How that relates: to me it's a BIG factor (tells me alot), to her that's a unrelated detail.

What I think is fugal is not what she thinks if fugal, etc.......
What I thought was wise wasn't what she thought was wise.
Ultimately we weren't at all able to comunicate then compromise with each other. We thought we had similar goals but the reality was completely different. Example: There were left over bananas one day and I picked them up and said "oh let me make you my banana cake, it's auesome" she replied "why, I'm never going to make a banana cake from scratch" and that was the end of the conversation. We both want "quality" products but we didn't even agree about what fit that description and how we needed to approach production vs quality vs sales vs profitablity.

She was comfortable writing me a list of products to make daily, then she'd go work in the office. Eventually I had to verbalize that I was here to try out how we work as partners not to see if i could be her employee........I'm sure that offended her, everything we did offended the other.

We never crossed over into acting like partners. If failed from the first moments.

Anna, I don't think we'd have worked well together from any stage. We're too different in some regards and too similar in others.


Momoreg, have you ever marketed yourself to places where you didn't have any previous ties? I actually think there should be a huge market for this. What's your opinion and experience?

I'm really stuck on my wages. When I showed my non-food business freinds my brocure they thought I was priced too low. But I'm think I'm probably asking too much (18.00 per hour)! I'd rather start low and be able to raise my prices eventually vs. turning people off from the start.......you can't retract a brocure and come in lower if no one responds. It would be cool if I could post my brocure and get some feed back, but everytime I try to import it from e-mail the whole program seems to remain attached and it's such a big file it won't work. If anyone can help me, I'd be happy to share what I'd drawn up?????? I'd love some feed back before I stick my neck out there!

P.S. Thull if your messaging me what we talked about in private messages before, I think it's cool to post in this thread. I'm curious about what you think and I can't get my mail box empty.

Your such a tease Jeff.......but I think you understand all there is to understand.


MOney, well.......REALLY 30.00 Momoreg??????????? WOW!

The place I'm at now didn't flinch at 18.00...........but she did want me to do the total math for her. Like at 18.00 how many hours do I think it will take me and how much will the ingredients cost.

It still seems like things are very depressed around here. Aren't you all seeing the same? Everyone seems to be moaning about how slow things are. That's why I'm nervous about pricing.

hey, I've got another little delemia. The chef at this club has had his wings cut completely. He's not going to make it (the place is a mess physically and emotionally). Anyway I don't want to stir up trouble but .... I faxed him a sheet of ingredients and quanities I'd need for this buffet. He way over bought somethings, bought items I never asked for, bought the wrong items and didn't buy some items. I called him last week to go over the list, he didn't want to talk.

The problem is, I don't want the owner to look at all these bills and think the cost of using me was way over what I told her. I don't know if she'll even take the time to look at them. BUT I don't want to get burned for someone elses stupidity, yet I don't want to put any nails in this chefs coffin. Stuck and feeling bad!

What do you do about ingredients Momoreg? I thought i covered my bases pretty well by providing a detailed list. There's always a certain amount of uncertainty all head chefs have when ordering pastry ingredients (I write almond paste, he buys modeling marizpan).......this is an area I need to figure out. Any thoughts?

No this is a different club, different chef. He's a nice person (the stutterer), just over his head, not a leader type of person AT ALL.

I think I've desided to keep my mouth shut. I summited everything in writing before I began. When I'm done I will summit a record of what my exact counts were and a record of my time. I'm making double what I orgininal qouted with-in the same time frame, so they're getting their moneys worth (numbers have gone way up).

Although it's more work on me, I think keeping really exact records will be important info. down the line in qouting jobs and if there's ever a dispute over anything. Along with any key decisions that effected my job, oven temps, equipment factors..........

Thanks Kevin, I haven't had time to play with it........I will after Easter.