Yay! You did a story time! Keep doing these! I like! I used to work a front counter at a Mexican bakery and it is so hectic. Especially Saturdays where everyone and their mother has quinceañeras and big baptism parties. One day it was a crazy Saturday and a lady all dressed up like she was coming from a party came in with a cake that was half gone. She was in a rage. Turns outs she ordered a cake from us for a big baptism party she had and as she was serving slices to the guests, a food service used glove was in the middle of the cake! I guess someone who was making the cake took off their gloves and somehow didn't see it go inside when she was icing the layers! lol I was so embarrassed even though it wasn't me or my fault.
Awe I remember when you made videos about the bakery and if I'm recalling correctly you would make a video before Christmas and one after Christmas to show off how empty it became!!! I was always amazed at how much effort was put in.
What a wonderful story. My background is in retail and I can totally understand the stress. Our major holidays where Halloween, the line to checkout wrapped around the store and New Years Eve we would have tons of large balloon orders! It's fun now to think back to those days.
Thanks for sharing! You're an inspiration to us all. As a cake decorator it is very challenging as you said not many people understand the pressure and work involved. Thanks for sharing your vegan recipes. I have tried some of them and they are amazing. Thanks again for all your hard work and effort in bringing all these amazing vegan recipes to us all.
wow pls. more vlogs like this,.sooo interesting to hear story like this, never knew how a bakery turn out during holiday season. I could imagine like working in the office, how I organize and planning my stuff as efficient as possible.... Hope to hear and see more vlogs like this Gretchen....
Love your vlogs! You crack me up, I felt the stress building inside me as you were describing what the holiday season was like with all the orders and people everywhere lol! Wow, I can't even imagine and you did it for 10 years...I give you props!!! Take care! Dora
I love this vlog and I believe every little word you said about the stress during the big four holidays of the year. And why do I believe you? Is because I owned a flower shop and just like a bakery the life in a flower shop during the holidays is just like you described it. On top of what you said I will add that as the owner of the place (bakery or flower shop or restaurant, etc.) you have to deal with all your employees problems and all your customer problems and all the paper work etc. and this is on top of working at the table with your employees shoulder to shoulder. A lot of times during the holidays we barely had time to eat or use the rest room. My heels will be cracked so deep that they will bleed and when you close the store you don't get to leave right away you have to do the register and prepare some things for the next day and some times I was closing the store at 3 AM just to be back at 6 or 7 AM. And I had my shop about 35 minutes away from where I leave. I loved having my own shop but there where days when I felt like I wanted to just scream at everybody: "yes you got a damn freaking number". (I used the number system too). The customers sometimes do not help you to help them. And I forgot to say that we have families at home too and we have to get ready for the holidays. I am not complaining with everything I said it's just that you do what you do because you love flowers, or you love to bake or cook and instead of getting a "thank you"', you get something like a phone call from a customer to complain their roses bloomed and they want some money back. Or the circumference of the arrangement is about 2 inch smaller than described in the picture and they want some money back. Let me put it this way after just three years in the business I lost my hair, I gained a whole person, I got thyroid problems, I have high blood pressure, I had to have carpel tunnel surgery on both hands, I got rosacea, my gland is barely working and this are not the only health problems I am dealing with that I didn't have before the shop but they started about two years after I bought the shop. I will still like to have a flower shop one day but on a much smaller scale than before. But for right now, (three years later) I am still home dealing with some health issues.
We also have a number system on holidays, although most of the customers don't make orders. One holiday a customer came in, wanting to pick up his order, and we were like "oh everything has already been picked up, but what do you like?" So he didn't know what it was and even wasn't sure if it was the right bakery. So in the end he left without buying something and we were pretty spechless 😉
Hi! i went to culinary school and dropped out once i started the internship because i just couldn't handle the stress of the kitchen. which totally didn't make sense to anybody (incl me) because i work as an OR nurse. how did baking croissants be more stressful than saving someone's life? anyway, i know the stress some can take it some can't. I'm still really disappointed with myself for quitting, but I had to do what I had to do to keep myself sane. Keep posting! Love you!
I worked in a bakery for about 7 years. One Christmas Eve, we just had baked chocolate chip cookies. A frequent customer came in just as they came out of the oven, and when she found out, she proceeded to walk around the entire store yelling: "COOKIES! THEY HAVE COOKIES!!" This went on for several minutes! Holidays are crazy!
Hi Gretchen! I've been following you since the CB days and I have purchased several of your products and books. I just wanted to say how much I love you! Continue to be YOU!
This is the first story time video I've seen by you so I gave it a like as soon as I played it :) I've been watching your channel since Woodland Bakery. It's been good to see your journey unfold. I identify w the story as I worked in food service industry for 20 years. It was nice to remember that time. It was stressful hard work, but it could also be really fun, I enjoyed the "dance", and the wonderful people I got to serve. Thank you for sharing.
LOL omg, YES!!! I didn't have that experience in a bakery, but I worked at a shop making gift baskets, and it really was chaos in the very same way! but looking back it was stressful but sooo fun!! I did work in a bakery just over the christmas holidays one time, as extra help....the best job ever!! I got to make cookies and stuff all day to fill those crazy orders and the whole time I was saying "I cannot believe I am getting paid to make cookies!!!" It was great because I didn't deal with customers, I was just there to bake, awesome job!!! =)
Omg!! Laughing so hard I'm in tears! Cockahall, Cockahall! I would so loved to have been there to see that! I probably would have yelled 'Is that your mating call?' Hahaha!! Loving your vlogs!
This is my first time watching your videos and after I stopped laughing I subscribed for more. Thanks for the story and really great laugh. I look forward to seeing more. 😊
Gretchen, It's Boston Kathy! I totally loved the story about KAKAHAL? So funny. I worked in a local bakery for a short time and can totally relate to it. Keep the stories coming. Great job.
I was a doughnut maker at a bakery for a few years and I can totally relate to the holiday scene. I remember one day, just an ordinary non holiday, it seemed like everyone in the town decided to order doughnuts on that same day. Mind you, the workshop was about the size of a walk in closet with all the equipment, we had boxes of orders stacked everywhere, on tables, under tables, both of the refrigerators were packed. Then I get a call from a unhappy customer because she asked us to arrange the doughnuts to look like a flower....yes a flower lol, we couldn't do it because the size of the order wouldn't fit in the box arranged like that. I ended up crying that day from all the stress. The demand for desserts is extreme.
Gretchen, I love the vlog. I agree anything in retail and especially with food on a holiday is a mad house, I've been through it myself. People think you sit there all day making cakes and tossing sprinkles around, somebody needs to be in front to do the register and take orders. Nobody realizes that. Funny stories, love to hear more. Winkle meowed like telling you Don't forget this... lol
I love your bakery stories! I definitely feel you on this one. I work in a small hotel and we ALWAYS have guest who want to store their food in our walk in ( which is against the county health code) but we usually do it and sometimes it gets lost or thrown away or one of the cooks uses it for soup. (lol) gotta love the holidays! Happy easter! I hope you have a good easter!
Fun story Gretchen! I would be a wreck under that much stress! The Italian Deli by me rents a POD between Thanksgiving and Christmas and they park it behind their store for extra space during that crazy-busy time of year for them.
As a business owner I can so understand how you felt. I was able to step away for 5 years. A family member and my husband took over. He does the bills and scheduling and she ran it. No one understood why I was working at a bakery for someone else instead of at my own place. I was so sick of being owned by the business. I didn't own it it owned me. Good news is the economy is better now I'm back and a general manager is running it. The joke is I'm the creative director and customer service guru. I still know in the end when everything hits the fan I'll be the one there.
Haha I had to laugh at the Gretchen cause we go through this with our business now. We have job cards that are perforated 3 ways, one to be stapled to the job, one for the client and the actual job card itself. We ask for names and phone numbers and for them to bring in their card number upon pick up. Most don't bring them in, and they use different names to pick their jobs up 😳 I'm like omg o can't find it etc etc, I start stressing, I can totally relate 🙈
+Gretchen's Bakery You are a good story teller and I do like to hear the behind the scenes stories. I am sure there are tons! I have been around off and on thru the years since your Crumb boss days. ex crumbie Angel from The Bay
Omg.. Gretchen what a nightmare for you! I don't envy you! No wonder you left that bakery! I bet you kept your cool too and was always friendly.., I don't think I could do that! Your amazing! That cockahol (so?) story is hilarious, sure it wasn't at the time though!! 🤣😂
Lol. We always have the problem of people coming to pick up their orders and giving us the name of the person the cake is for instead of their own name they put the order under originally. It'll work out sometimes if they happened to have us write "Happy Birthday _____" but if it's just a plain cake or some other kind of order it's just like *facepalm
I'm looking for an Easter bread recipe, that doesn't get so hard the very next day. Any suggestions or tucked away recipe you have, that will stay fresh for a couple of days. Thanks and Happy Easter.
Love your VLOGS Gretchen you have a really happy and energetic style. I haven't done a Vlog on my channel even though I have made 100 videos I haven't tried but should not be a problem for me. Retirement is much less stressful than the job i used to do because in my job if I wasn't watching I could have killed someone mostly truck drivers that weren't paying attention. Stress for me was 15 truck loads of steel gas Transmission pipe with trucks lined up for half a mile that had to be unloaded and sent on their way that's chaos. You do not want to upset a truck driver when they need to be on time to pick up their next load believe me. I would rather have a store full of people clamoring for orders than telling truck drivers sorry you are number 10 in line Argh.
LOL yes Larry that would be stress, and why I wanted to add that I KNOW there are so many MORE jobs that are WAY more stressful than the bakery, but my point was to say that not many people could ever imagine the stress that goes with the bakery life, since they all think its just cupcakes and sprinkles all day! LOL
Gretchen's Bakery Yes dont get me wrong Gretchen I know that was stressful for you i wouldnt like that much either people clamoring for their order yep thats stressful. im just glad i worked at the same job for 31 yrs and retired back in 2008 at 57 so stress does have its rewards i own my own home cars and dont owe a dime to anyone and have time to spend with my daughter and grand daughter so life is good.
Your Vlogs are awesome just like you..now coming to think of the whole article sheet that you maintained wouldn't it be much easier if you created a Microsoft Excel sheet to write the customers name, phone number and their token number..in that way if someone lost their token number you could just hit the find/search button and find their name or phone number and it would help you find their token number within secs..it's just a suggestion of course and you don't really need it now since you wouldn't have to deal with such a chaos now..anyway I really do love your recipes thank you so much for sharing your experiences and recipes with us..love you
thanks! and yes that would be easier if I had a computer accessible in the bakery not to mention KNEW HOW TO CREATE THAT SPREADSHEET! LOL me= NOT computer savvy
Gretchen's Bakery.. haha just the way you helped us with recipes we could help you with computers and then you would enjoy the ease it would've got and probably buy a LAPTOP just to carry to work 😅
Gretchen. love your stories about your bakery. I want you to know that your SMBC has afforded me to be hobby baker and I bake for family and friends for a small fee to pay for all that I buy. It's a shame that I am too old to start a bakery business,, 62 won't get it with the work required. However. if I were younger I would hire you to help me get started. I've been a baker all my life and it wasn't until I ran across your icing that I took off in the cake direction. You can take a look at Jujus Kitchen on Facebook at my accomplishments because of your icing and other recipes. Thank you. Look forward to other posts
+Gretchen's Bakery here in Brazil we all have two last names! Some people have even more than two! We have our given name + your mom's last name + your dad's last name. And women add to that when they get married! 😜
That was so much fun but what happend after their woman got here ordered? and it sounds like some people tried to get free dessert while you were super business too. Did they?
she finally got her order and stormed out, Im guessing she had alot of stress going on that day and the bakery not finding her order fast enough just added to it! LOL I can't say I remember anyone trying to get anything for free though (thankfully)
Oh I think I know what you mean, like someone calling to say they didnt get something? Hmm, yeah maybe that happened.. I would usually know though, but if not I would usually accommodate anyway
i Gretchen, questions: i'm baking a wedding cake for in couple weeks for 140 guests. the sizes i chose were 14', 12', 10'....2 of each but i'm contemplating making 3 layers each. Also, for the crumb coat what type of frosting should i use? I'm going to use your IMBC to frost and decorate cake.....no fondant.
Would you be upset if people still posted cakes using your non vegan recipes? I, honestly, love both and use either one as needed, but if the non ones offend you, I can understand that and will not post them to your FB. I post what I make there because so many people love how I make things and I give you all the credit because without the recipes, it would be nothing but icing. Plus, if I'm proud enough to show you, my Goddess of the Baking World (bows), then everyone should know where I got the recipe from whether vegan or non. In addition...besides my FB there's not many who see the finished product who lives near me less it is theirs. Again, I thank you for helping me along my path of life and helping me to improve myself on either side of the animal world. I do hate the way that they treat animals in the industry and wish better. I, honestly, wish I had my own farm so I could get things like eggs and the like without having to harm the animals. I still eat these things from the industry now, but am looking into the ways of trying to cut back on other things. I plan to make this slow so I won't go back. Sodas and massive amounts of store bought sugared products first. If I can make it or if it's not fresh veggies or fruit, it doesn't get bought. (chocolate is my bane though).
Of course not! I will love to see everything, just as I am still helping with baking questions of all kinds (vegan and not) AND I still have my non vegan blog open and love that people are still finding me through that avenue. I got to thinking after my last vlog about this same thing, like I am not really wanting to convert the vegan recipes back to non vegan for fear that I am advocating for the animal industry by doing so, BUT at the same time I am still offering my old blog and old recipes to people that are nothing BUT animal products, hmmmm... so this made me think a bit. conundrum *Sigh* I guess the point of keeping both blogs open is exactly what you are pointing out here. Which was (is) my goal in fact, to hope that non vegans like yourself who may have found me through the old blog, and realize now I have transitioned, will at least be open to understanding the industry for what it is, and then you can make your opinions as to whether you want to support it or not. It is not for me to try to force people to see it my way or to change if they dont want to. But you said something so amazing and it is all I can wish for! You are being openmided and open hearted and you are thinking of ways that YOU now can cut down on the cruelty by buying differently. That to me, is so very awesome! and I thank you for being so gracious and caring and openminded!
See, ladies and gentlemen, THIS is why I love this woman so much that I follow her despite our differences in eating habits. Though, yes, I am slowly changing, I still eat and buy cow and chicken products...something that is not what she is doing her best to help change the thoughts of those around her to a more positive action. Even though she and I are on opposite sides of that spectrum, she is still a GREAT person and even GREATER baker and advice giver. This is why I call her "my Goddess of Baking". Once again, thank you for everything you do...from one NJ native to another. (bows)
