“Bread Week” - Building Skills for the Bakery Business
Last week, new Great Harvest owners Logan Despain (Plano, TX), Bonabeth Nishimura (Evansville, IN) and Jody Keeter (Amelia, Island, FL) joined Mark 
Peterson and Paul Tikalsky (Great Harvest Headquarters, Dillon, MT) at the company training lab to learn the ins and outs of baking. Janet Tatarka (Dillon headquarters) headed up taste evaluation each day to give them feedback on their progress.
Developing skills for the venture you’re undertaking is paramount to success in any business. At Great Harvest, learning to bake bread and sweets is one of the critical skills needed for running a strong bakery.
To assure they enter the business with good baking skills, Great Harvest hosts what we call “Bread Week” for all new owners. During this week, owners completely focus on learning the baking skills required to make phenomenal bread and sweets. While many people bake at home, producing large batches on a 140 quart mixer is a bit different! While it’s not rocket science, making great baked goods requires attention to detail, practice, and basic understanding of the recipes and baking science. Not only do they need to do it well themselves, they need to be confident enough to train their employees in the same skills.
This process of learning and feedback on progress is carried into the bakeries 
as they open, and as they receive continued visits and support. Training support covers a multitude of skills that go far beyond baking. Still, learning to bake is a fundamental cornerstone to running a neighborhood bread store successfully since the products are all baked fresh and from scratch. No frozen doughs or mixes... No buying bagged whole wheat flour. Even the whole wheat flour is milled fresh in each store, and milling is an art in itself, just like the baking.
There’s nothing much more gratifying than seeing (and tasting!) the work of your own hands, and realizing you’re going to make your corner of the world a little brighter place with” out of this world” delicious baked goods and a fun friendly place to come and hang out. No wonder they’re all smiling!
What are your favorite Great Harvest goodies?
Did you know they’re all made fresh from scratch?
