4 posts tagged “the village baker”
The Village Baker bakery and all it's entities are now closed. Recession blues, and being in a tourist town in the off season took it's toll. My stepson is now out of a job. To say he is bummed is an understatement.
To all my ex-coworkers, I hope you find other employment soon. I know it's not going to be easy here. Especially now.
I'm very sad about all this........not a great thing to happen just before the holidays.
Take care my friends!
Remember this post?
Well, after 8 months, the cafe is closing, along with the original one in Poulsbo. Part of it has to do with the recession, and I'm sure there's other reasons too. One being that my kick-ass co-worker, Jewlz, finally found a great job with an easier commute and more money. If anyone knows that it's hard to replace Jewlz, it's me. Her leaving had a lot to do with the decision to close the cafes. Around here in these parts, it's hard to find people like Jewlz and me.
So that's the end of the Village Baker Cafes, but there will still be wholesale bread and danishes coming out of the bakery. And the first of the year, they will be selling the bread and danishes right out of the bakery Tuesdays thru Saturdays. So they are scaling down by closing the cafes but not the bakery. Some of my pals get to keep their jobs, in fact most of them. The ones that are hitting the unemployment line are the ones that manned the cafe counters. It's all very sad to me, since I was involved with the cafe openings from the very beginning.
Since this is a tourist town, recessions really hit us hard. The rumor is that a lot of businesses here won't make it through the winter with the gloomy holiday season forecast.
Here in the Welch household, we are "canceling" Christmas. No gifts this year. We'll spend family time together and have a nice dinner, but that's it. No presents, no stockings, none of it. Our non-spending won't help the economy, but the economy isn't helping us either. Times are really tight for us right now. All I want for Christmas this year is to be less in debt. Besides the last thing I need, or any of us need is more "stuff". I don't have any room for any more stuff anyway. You should see my office.......
So I have this whole section of my garage full of pastry equipment. Should I keep it? Will I get back into pastry again, or what? I have no idea what will happen in the future; I don't know how long I'll be taking care of my mom.....it could be a couple of years or maybe 10-15.........I wish I had a crystal eclair to tell me.
For now I'll just take things as they come and try not to worry about what I can't control.
If you live in Seattle, you lucky people get to taste Jewlz talents at The Famous Northwest Catering Co.
She will kick ass as usual!! Not Mom, I mean Jewlz!
Speaking of kicking ass, someone needs to kick mine. I'm not real motivated lately to do any extra projects. So far I'm just keeping up with the status quo. I feel like I need to do more..........
I'm sinking in guilt and feeling like I'm in over my head. Where to start? If I pay Calvin that dollar, I bet he'll tell me.
Yipes....it's been a month since I posted to the ol' blog, but it's summer, and summer is full o' tourists, weddings, and people who like to ignore all the nutritionists warnings about the obesity epidemic, heart disease and refined sugar in American diets. Not to mention high fructose corn syrup, which is in practically everything. But I don't care about nutrition, because I'm a pastry chef......public enemy number one!
I've been a baker with no village to work in.
But not anymore. The Village called me in February actually. They were missing their idiot and were wondering if I might be interested in the job. I jumped at the chance and sped right down for an interview, 'cause if there's anything I'm REALLY good at, it's being an idiot. Luckily, they were also looking for someone who's obsessed with pastry and dessert, and hey, that's ME!!!!! Talk about a dream come true.
I am now one of the talented staff at The Village Baker in Port Hadlock, Washington, just 20 minutes from Port Townsend. Primarily a wholesale bakery with its focus on artisan bread making, they recently ventured into croissants, danish and pies too. Now that they are opening a retail cafe in neighboring Poulsbo, they needed someone to make other dessert items, like cakes, cookies, scones, muffins, tarts, french pastries, and yes, wedding cakes. That's my job....I'm the frou-frou pastry chef.....just like I've always wanted to be.
If you're not familiar with Poulsbo, it's a town across the Puget Sound from Seattle, Washington. Just take the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, then drive about 15 minutes to Poulsbo, and you're there. Poulsbo is home to the world famous Viking Fest and many Scandihoovians such as myself. Now it's also home to the first Cafe location of The Village Baker (soon to be known as the best bakery on the Peninsula, if not the entire.......universe.). All right, maybe not the universe, but certainly the Milky Way Galaxy. Big opening is Mother's Day, May 13th. Stop by, won't you? Treat Mom to a frou frou dessert, or a fresh baked loaf of organic artisan bread. Or try a pie or a kick-ass danish.
We've got it all.....even eggless chocolate cake! Yes, you can also grab a cup o' joe or tea from our friendly counter staff and Longbottom Coffee and Tea Company. Really, The Village Baker truly is the best bakery in the galaxy, and I'm not just saying that because I happen to work there. It's home to the future Coupe du Monde competitor, Tyson Jenson, the head baker and manager at The Village Baker. Not only is he a kick-ass baker, he's also a part-time logo boy. The happy baker on our sign at the Cafe is our one and only Tyson. That's right, our sign features a REAL baker, not some hired model. That should tell you something about our ethic and authenticity, right?
Let's not forget about all the people that really make it all happen at TVB! There's Mo, awesome bread mixer and shaper, and second-in-command to Tyson at the special Tibiletti bread oven. There's Scott, who, by morning, runs a route delivering bread to one of the three counties we serve, then he morphs into the main bread dough mixer guy when he gets back from his route. Scott is such an easygoing guy, he makes other easygoing guys look like like major stressballs. Every place needs a guy like Scott.
There's Susan, who by day is a mom to two cute little kids and wife to Tim, and by night, bakes some of the best danish and pie you'll ever eat. There's Konstance, who also makes pies, and does all the "odd jobs" in the bakery, on top of having four children! I bow to you Koni, because I couldn't do it.......I mean, have kids and work too? How does ANYBODY do it? I can't imagine. All working parents have my utmost respect.
There's Anna, the 17 year old fireball who will go anywhere she wants to go. For now, we are lucky to have her as our new Cafe manager and counter girl. Previously she worked at the bakery doing what Koni does now, so she knows the deal. Ask her anything about our products and she will be more than knowledgeable about it and friendly to boot.
Add to Anna's counterstaff, and you have Nicole, another girl who cares a lot about the product we make and the people we serve.....yet another prize in the employee pool!
Lillian and Rick round out our delivery driver staff and are both hard working, sweet, and friendly. Rick and Lillian are my official "taste testers" and give me feedback on treats that I leave out for them. So far, they've had nothing but good things to say about the things I make......did I say how much I like Lil and Rick? Hee hee.
Lars.....he's our packing guy......and mysteriously, hardly ever makes a mistake. This is a very good type of guy to have in that department and Lars rules. I don't see Lars much, because like most of the bakery crew, they work in the dead of night, when most of us are snuggled warm in our beds. I'm the rare employee that works during the day.
Cody helps Mo shape bread on the busy nights....Thursday and Fridays, he's another young guy, who, like Anna, is really on the ball.
There are two other employees....whom I don't know and have never met.....as soon as I figure out who they are and what they do, I will post about them too.....because without everyone we're nothing!
Oh wait....how could I forget the people who've made it all possible? Michael and Molly, the proud and busy owners of the whole operation! For reasons beyond my comprehension they actually decided to buy a bakery two years ago.
Wait a minute, you say, is it CRAZY to buy a bakery? Yes, Grasshopper, it is. It's downright insane. Why do you think I've been a baker for 16 years and not a bakery owner? 'Cause I ain't "man" enough, that's why. It takes a special kind of person to own a food establishment, and an even more special type of person to have enough moxie to make it successful. Michael and Molly = Moxie x 2. As I like to say, "they've got it goin' on".
And I like workin' for folks that got it goin' on.
But for now, just call me.........