Small retail business success in any local market is always challenging. It’s not enough to create a great product; the experience needs to be top notch as well.
What’s the secret to making this happen? It always comes back to PEOPLE.
Emily Kreig and Michael Muth, brand new owners of the Hillsboro, OR Great Harvest bread store, come from a people management background at Target. They know firsthand the importance of creating a winning team. Emily is managing the store by herself while Michael keeps his job. Her energy and enthusiasm is amazing, -- so fun to be around. She’s passionate about serving her customers, leading her employees, and growing the business. It doesn’t hurt that she’s competitive (runs marathons and the like), so failure is not even part of her vocabulary!
Emily (in the pink shirt) inherited some great employees from Craig and Lynnette Hardy, former owners of the Hillsboro store. She dove in head first, working side by side with employees to gain their trust and get them on board after the transition, with the full understanding that it takes a team to run a bakery. No matter how much you care about the business, if your employees don’t, it’s going to be very hard to succeed, if not impossible.
I had opportunity to work side by side with some of these people last week. Their passion for producing the best quality products and delivering awesome service is obvious. It’s just a matter of getting them pointed in the right direction, giving them the tools, and getting out of their way.
Buying an existing store is a bit like jumping on a moving train, and requires a different approach than starting one from scratch, especially when it comes to employees. After all, they’ve worked there longer than you and they’re concerned about changes; no one is thrilled about having the status quo upset. Unless they understand why you’re changing it. And once they do understand, the ones that care about making things better, are on board. I am totally impressed with Emily’s honesty, appreciation, and care as she’s helped the employees through the transition, and at the same time made changes without upsetting everyone. Oh yes, and customers are others that don’t like the status quo upset. She’s been spending lots of time with them as well, listening to their needs and concerns, and doing her best to keep everyone happy.
Hats off to Emily for a great renewal of an already successful bakery!
Have you been to the Hillsboro store?
See our website for more information about purchasing an exisiting Great Harvest bakery.
