Posted on Wed, Mar 17, 2010
Posted by Kate Ord on March 17, 2010
The biggest perceived
challenge for small business owners during a down economy is having enough funds for marketing.
Personally, I don't think money should be the main issue. There are lots of inexpensive ways to fine tune your business during slow times.
Let's start with the most important marketing fundamental - do you truly understand your target market so you can seek out more like-minded customers? If you don't have a handle on this, your marketing efforts are likely scattershot and therefore not as effective as they could be.
During a down economy, analyze who primarily shops at your 
specialty retail business (i.e., young moms, empty nesters, physically active adults, long-haul truck drivers, mimes or gnomes) Maybe it's a mix of some of these. However, your revenue is more dependent on one group of customers than others. The absolute wrong way to market is to be all things to all people. So be sure to prioritize your marketing efforts based on the type of person most likely to love your products.
Find out what's important to the people in your target market: Where do they shop for clothes and groceries? Where do they dine on special occasions? Which causes are important to them? What books, blogs or magazines are popular in their circle? Which fitness activities do they participate in (i.e., biking, jogging, aerobics, yoga, curling, or bob sledding)? Yes, you must get inside the minds of your customers to make sure your marketing activities are hitting the mark. If you can't answer these questions, create a fun, simple survey with an inexpensive, yet sweet incentive. Blueberry Coffee Cake, anyone?
If the majority of your customers are empty nesters who shop at Whole Foods that tells you they value quality over cost and are not particularly price-sensitive. They are likely to be college educated and in an upper income bracket. If many belong to fitness centers or yoga studios that tells you health and fitness is important to them. If the last book they read was by Michael Pollan (author of Botany's Desire, or the Omnivores Dilemma) that tells you they care about the integrity of their food.
Now you can make informed decisions about inexpensive grassroots marketing outreach. Use the data to decide between the tractor pull or the local 5k road race. Design your lobby around a clear, orchestrated theme that compliments local interests. And the list goes on.
The goal of your marketing messaging, your lobby, your products, your customer service, and your community involvement is to build relationships with the people who are most likely to become long term customers.
What grassroots marketing ideas appeal to you as a customer? as a business owner?
Posted on Fri, Mar 12, 2010
Posted by Bonnie Harry on March 12, 2010
Receiving the "Phenomenal Bread" Windmill at the Great Harvest annual convention is a coveted award among Great Harvest bakery owners. Recipients of this year's 7 awards were Jim and Robin Condie (Clackamas, OR), Ted Beveridge (Atlanta, GA), JP and Michelle MacFadyen (Lafayette, LA), Bonnie Alton (St Paul, MN), Jim Hansman (Lakewood, CO), Dan and Lisa Allen (Medford, OR), and Kyle and Chris Skalisky (Wenatchee, WA). Kyle and Chris held the top spot for quality in a new store.
Bake Phenomenal Bread
is the second line of the Great Harvest Mission Statement and has been a core value since the company's beginning in 1977. In a country where most bread is baked in huge facilities or from frozen dough or dry mixes, making bread like you would make it fresh at home with fresh-milled flour and no preservatives or additives, is fairly unusual. We often get comments -- "This is BETTER than Mom used to make". Not to discount Mom's great work, but fresh-milled flour and our unique process make the difference.
Our challenge from the home office has been, "How do we help the Great Harvest bakery owners deliver the best, fresh-baked, made-from-scratch whole wheat (and other) breads to their customers?" While making phenomenal bread may seem like a given for a bread company, baking fresh from scratch with raw materials every day is far from a "no-brainer". Using honey and 100% fresh-milled whole wheat flour, with their multitudes of enzymes and individual characteristics, makes this especially challenging.
Several years ago we started a "formal" bread tasting program as a new service to our Great Harvest bakery owners. Loaves o
f Honey Whole Wheat bread are gathered from each store throughout the year. A group of tasters at the home office in Dillon, MT, taste the bread with critical taste buds and score the breads based on texture, volume, look and of course, the flavor. It's a bit like wine-tasting. Both wine and bread are fermented products with all kinds of nuances of flavors!
Out of the 190 plus loaves tasted, the top 25 scores go into a final round in early November and the top six from that round are the Phenomenal Bread Award winners for stores one year or older. New locations submit a loaf every month and the bakery that scores consistently the highest gets the Phenomenal Bread Award for a new store. All of the results are kept secret until the convention when the awards are announced. It's a hard thing to keep quiet. We get very excited for the bakery owners because we know how hard they work and how much they care about their quality.
Not only has our tasting program proved to be a great way to choose the Phenomenal Bread winners, it's been an excellent way to help owners troubleshoot problems and to help them take their bread to an even higher level. The bread is always good ....but our joint goal is always "phenomenal." In addition to the bread tasting program, we have an excellent bread baking training where owners come to Dillon to learn to bake with no other distractions. In the midst of complexities of running a small business these days, this training is invaluable to assure the adequate knowledge and experience to bake phenomenal bread.
And as far as the tasting we do in Dillon? Sure, it's a tough job as you can see, but someone has to do it!
Posted on Tue, Mar 09, 2010
Posted by Brittny Bird on March 9, 2010
March has truly become one of my favorite months. One of the reasons is that it is National Nutrition Month®. Each year the American Dietetic Association and dietitians across th
e country use March as the month to refocus everyone's attitudes towards eating healthy. I love this years' theme of "Nutrition From the Ground Up." It is a reminder to all of us that the easy way to focus on eating better is to start with the basics: build your nutritional health from the ground up.
Going back to the basics is the first step. Here are a few things to help you to build and strengthen your healthy eating foundation.
1.
Focus on fruits and veggies: Most Americans are not eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (about 5 cups total each day). Fruits and vegetables are important sources of essential vitamins and minerals as well as being low in calories and fat. I encourage you to count how many you and your family are eating each day to see how you measure up.
2.
Look locally: From farmer's markets to community-supported agriculture, you have many options to find new, fresh foods in your area. At Great Harvest, we love buying local as much as we can and go out of our way to support family-run farms.
3.
Make calories count: Too often, people think of foods as good or bad, so we try to eat only those on the ‘good foods' list. When you're choosing between options, focus instead on the one with more of the vitamins and nutrients that you need. Sometimes, foods with fewer calories aren't always the healthiest options. Remember all foods are good in moderation.
4.
Test your taste buds: A healthy eating plan emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free dairy and includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans and nuts. Those are the basics but too often we get stuck in a rut of only eating the same five things. Branch out and try new recipes, new fruits and vegetables, or a tasty, savory whole grain bread.
5.
Be aware of portion sizes: Even low-calorie foods can add up when portions are larger than you need. As a general rule start with a small handful or fist size portion. If you are still hungry, go back for more. Eating slower can also help keep portion sizes in check.
For more information about the basics of eating health check out www.mypyramid.gov and www.eatright.org/nnm.
What things do you do to eat right?
Posted on Wed, Mar 03, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on March 3, 2010
Would you love to meet the brightest minds in your business?
Who wouldn't?
Well, I just did. Annually, we invite all of our franchisees and 
employees to a conference where we deal in depth with a particular topic, do some networking and have a ton of fun. This year we spent 3 days in Napa, CA studying how to make our stores more profitable in the face of an increasingly volatile commodity world and uncertain retail environment.
Every year I come away amazed at how talented and insightful our bakery owners are. I am truly blessed to be able to work with them and honored to have that privilege. The energy they generate and the ideas they share are inspirational.
We also have a chance to build and improve our sense of community. There is one thing we do that is really cool. Each year we take a portion of the revenue we generate at this event (it is not a profit center by any means...we charge some fees to offset costs) and award a scholarship to someone in the Great Harvest family (owner, owner immediate family member, bakery employee, franchise office employee) based upon a very non-traditional selection process.
Our specific goal is to award a scholarship to an interesting and meaningful applicant that falls outside of traditional scholarship channels. We look for passion, vision, and people that have limited traditional funding means available. We look for people giving back that have a need. People that make a sacrifice (social worker or teacher or artist or national park ranger) have a greater need than an investment banker. People a touch out of the mainstream are more interesting, in this context, than people taking a traditional education path. We like people that do things a little bit different and we want to help them stay a little bit on the edge. This helps keep us connected with a fun part of life.
Writing things like this feels gratuitous or as if I am the kid screaming "look at me!" That is not my intention. We think connecting with your community in ways like this makes the world a better place to live and hope to set a good example for others.
Thanks for reading. Do you have any fun community stories to share with us?
Posted on Tue, Mar 02, 2010
Posted by Misti Maisch on March 2, 2010
Green...who doesn't like green? Green is the color of luscious grass and the lucky 4 leaf clover. It's iconic for putting the earth and its preservation first. Green eggs and ham oh Sam I am! Can you say "wheat grass smoothie"? Really, who doesn't love Kermit the frog? We certainly can't forget that it's the color of money either. When we think green, we also think of St. Patrick's Day which happens to be on the horizon.
If you're lucky (no pun intended), you'll find Popeye bread in your local Great Harvest. Of course it has leafy green spinach in it but also so much more. We are talking about sweet roasted red peppers and savory parmesan cheese. This bread makes an incredible roasted chicken sandwich. I like to flatten some chicken breasts and then bake them with a little sea salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil, and fresh lemon juice. Then I take some of my favorite cheese -- Dubliner Irish Cheddar, of course -- and put that on the chicken. Toast some Popeye bread, assemble, and you have an amazing sandwich. (By the way, Great Harvest bread is so flavorful and moist that you can skip calories from mayo and you won't even know it's missing.)
My favorite bread in March is the Gouda and Stout bread. If your local bakery isn't using Guinness beer in this recipe, chances are they are using a local microbrew. This bread is a great side to some hearty stew. Many of our Great Harvest bakeries will also be baking Irish Soda Bread , Chocolate Mint Cookies, and quite possibly some Blarney Scones. The Blarney Scone takes its name from the Blarney stone of the famous Blarney Castle which happens to be a world landmark and one of the greatest treasures in Ireland. Millions have flocked to the castle to kiss the stone which legend believes gives the gift of eloquence. Oh, only if it were that easy!
Does your family have any favorite food traditions for St. Patrick's Day?
Posted on Thu, Feb 25, 2010
Posted by Debbie Huber on Feb. 25, 2010
Recessions are scary. Yes, we hear experts say that recessions are a good time to start a business, but experts have been wrong before. What about people who have actually done it? Listen to this 4 minute interview with the Great Harvest Bread owner in Wenatchee, WA for her side of the story.
Photo of Chris & Kyle Skalisky, Great Harvest Wenatchee, WA
Anyone else have a recession start-up story to share? Or any stories about Chris & Kyle's bakery?
Posted on Tue, Feb 23, 2010
Posted by Brittny Bird on Feb. 23, 2010
Today's million dollar question: What makes a whole grain a whole grain?
If you are like most Americans, your answer probably included saying that whole grain is brown, only wheat, only fiber, only the bran, the same as multi-grain, tastes bad and is never sweet. Hopefully if you have eaten at Great Harvest, you didn't include the last two in your answer.
The truth is every grain starts out as a whole grain. Grains have three parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. If after processing (milling, grinding, etc.) all three parts are still there, it is a whole grain. If any parts are removed, like removing the bran and germ for white flour, it can't be a whole grain.
Did you know that whole wheat is the same as whole grain? Whole wheat just specifies which type of grain is the whole grain. At Great Harvest, all of our whole wheat products are made from our daily fresh ground whole wheat flour - nothing is added and nothing is removed!
What's your favorite whole grain food? We'd love to hear.
Posted on Fri, Feb 19, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on Feb. 19, 2010
To be honest, we don't. Like a lot of companies, we talk about it and wish for a utopian society where we all fairly comment on each other's work habits and skills and strengths and irritants. But, we are human. We never quite get it right. So we do the best we can and keep looking for a better way. If you know of one, please share it with us in the comment section.
Something we do have nailed is customer reviews. In this case, customer means a franchisee, not a bread buying customer. Every decade or so we have our franchise agreement reviewed by the Association of Franchisees and Dealers to make sure we meet their standards for a fair franchise agreement. The AAFD is the country's leading advocate for franchisees and we respect their opinion. We are in our periodic review process as I type this and hope that our agreement is recertified as fair. And, if it isn't we will know where we are lacking and work to fix the issues.
We think we run a fair business and like to share that with others. A number of years ago, a company called Fran Survey approached us. They do peer reviews of franchise companies and sell those reviews to people interested in buying a franchise. That is a great selling tool for us but more importantly, it is a better management tool. The report is put into a format that can be published, but we get to see the raw responses in anonymous form. Every year we take those and see if we can fix the problem areas. Some we just can't for a variety of reasons. For example, we always hear "We should do national advertising." Maybe, but while we are a good sized company, we still are small enough to where local efforts are best. But, we fix what we can. This year, the one we are tackling is "The CEO doesn't spend enough time in our bakeries." To better hear what people need for me to hear, I have c
ommitted to taking a trip into bakeries every other month for 2010 and listen to what our owners have to say in person. There is no substitution for direct interaction. CBS is even doing a reality show now on CEO's in the field.
My first field trip this year was a blast and I was able to see an idea we have been tossing around successfully validated in the field. Any time you can spend more time with your customers, that is a good thing. In the meantime, let us know if you have the 360° employee review process figured out...
Posted on Tue, Feb 16, 2010
Posted by Bonnie Harry on Feb. 16, 2010
Fifteen years ago, Scott Creevy marched into his Boulder Great Harvest bakery with a spray can of paint and wrote "Be Loose and Have Fun" across a wall. He was inspired by a "No Shirt, No shoes, No Problem" newsletter written by Great Harvest founder and friend, Pete Wakeman. Scott was intent to remind himself and his employees that life can be all too serious and work should be fun and serve our lives, not
the reverse. His employees watched with wide eyes, but this kind of action was not a complete surprise from their boss. Scott does nothing half-way. He leads with his heart and his passion, and it's served him well.
I had my first phone conversation with Scott in 1989
; he was a Great Harvest icon and I was a rookie at Great Harvest's home office. I was slightly intimidated by his direct and serious manner. The first time I actually met him face to face was at an informal Great Harvest convention in Isla de Mujeres, Mexico. How could I have thought this man with the twinkle in his eye, quick smile, and wry sense of humor was intimidating? Scott is truly a kid at heart. If he's serious, it's about caring for the people in his life -- his family, his friends, his employees and his customers.
Scott and Sally Creevy opened their Great Harvest Bread store in Boulder, CO in 1983. They were pioneers in a company in its infancy. Great Harvest was a perfect fit for this couple. Scott is fiercely independent and happy to make decisions. They wanted to be their own bosses, with flexibility to spend time with their kids and enjoy their lives. As one of the first 10 stores in the system, the slate was wide open for defining what a Great Harvest bakery could be. The bread of course was the core, but over the years Scott and Sally built the epitome of the neighborhood bakery, a culture in which they raised their two girls and connected with the people of Boulder. Their 20-year newspaper ad says it all, "Yes, we make great whole grain breads but this is why you love it."
The Boulder Great Harvest, true to the freedom spirit, does things its own way and has been a leader in many innovations. Scott appeared in a local video blog (Baking with Scott.) A monitor above their sandwich counter runs a slide show including bakery shots, rafting and Grand Canyon hiking trips. One of the first stores to go full bore with sandwiches, Scott and Sally added a friendly touch. Sandwich customers are on the honor system for paying. Giving generously to others has tied right into their philosophy. They were one of the first stores to spontaneously have a charity bake day for the firemen's families of 9-11. They would have helped anyway but it was personal. Scott's nephew escaped from one of the trade towers and told them he would never forget the faces of those firemen entering the building.
Scott is an avid skier and hiker. He and bakery owner friends, Bill 
Dial and Barry Sparks, have hiked the Grand Canyon for a number of years. In the winter, he plays basketball to keep in shape. Coming on 30 years in the business, the only telling sign Scott and Sally have aged is the fact their girls are grown and on their own. If a lifestyle can truly keep you young and sharp, these two have found the secret.
Have any of you been in the Creevy's Great Harvest in Boulder, CO? Any stories to share?
Posted on Fri, Feb 12, 2010
Posted by Kate Ord on Feb. 12, 2010
Here's a piece of information my co-workers didn't know abou
t me. My family tree includes Johnny (Chapman) Appleseed - the patron saint of horticulture, gentle humanitarian and fashion icon. From what I know of him, he's a darn good example of someone who followed his bliss and convictions. Of course, it's what all of us want - a life well lived and one that contributes something positive to the world.
Michael Pollan in his 2001 book, "The Botany of Desire," profiled my great, great, great "Uncle Appleseed." Since then, I think I've read every book written by this author. His words capture the sentiments held by so many of us at Great Harvest about creating a lifestyle in sync with our values. He underscores that creating, and consuming, pure-and-simple, close-to-nature products is indeed a noble pursuit.
For those of you unfamiliar with Michael Pollan's work, he has become one of the most influential writers in America on issues relating to real, simple, unprocessed food. His most recent book, "Food Rules," provides inspiration for a healthy and sustainable diet.
My all-time favorite book of Pollan's is the "Omnivore's Dilemma." It's a page turner. He explores the origin and political nature of food, and answers the question "what is the quality of the life of the steer who becomes my steak dinner?" This book changed my eating habits completely and gave me another reason to be proud of the whole grain breads Great Harvest bakery owners produce. We can trace every whole grain to a family-owned farm, and every ingredient in our breads is recognizable - freshly milled whole grain flour, purified water, yeast, honey, salt.
Michael Pollan's books have made me think and buy locally. For the first time in my life I know where a bunch of the food in the fridge comes from. I even know several farmers on a first-name basis. I also have a bevy of hens (Thelma, Louise and Betty) who provide fresh eggs. I have come to appreciate knowing where my food comes from, and the sheer pleasure of preparing and eating foods closest to nature. For a city girl, this is a major life transition.
So who influences your food choices? An eccentric member of your family tree who planted apple seeds along the tributaries of the Muskingum River? Your mom? Your home-ec teacher? A physician? An author? Please share!