If you do cottage law baking or own a bakery, what's your specialty that sets you apart from your competitors? Or are you a jack of all trades? Im trying to decide how diverse i want to be in fear of over doing and burning out.
My specialty is on all sourdough yeasted/laminated pastries.
I've been a licensed Cottage Home Baker for 10 years and am in a pretty small rural community, population under 900, so no real competition. Definitely a jack of all trades as a solo operator so all tasks fall on me. I run my operation as a subscription bakery and only bake once a week. I send out an email each week to my customer list offering 2 breads and 1 pastry with a deadline for orders. This way I can make only what's ordered. I tried just baking a selection but that didn't work as it was hit or miss how much I could sell. Over time I have worked up about a 4 month rotation for both bread and pastry with specialty, seasonal items fit in occasionally.
I do a mix of all sourdough, some with a yeast boost or all yeast. I do a lot of bread with whole grains, which I mill myself, and bread with dried fruit, seeds or nuts. Pastry are laminated, as well as various brioche items with muffins every now and then.
I try to balance the bread and pastry choices to extend the work flow over several days so everything doesn't have to be done on a compressed time schedule.
Happy to share more if you have questions.
Janice
Running a bakery has got to be difficult, especially a small operation where you have no days off. Artisan bakeries near here (San Diego, a big city with a small percentage of foodies) bake some products every day and others 1 or 2 days during the week. In a micro-operation you might have 2 - 4 product lists that you rotate through weekly. If you find a lot of customers asking for the same thing, then maybe that gets produced every week.
And you'll probably have some seasonal products as well.
Good luck.