Retaining relationships

Sendik's in-store bakery department has actually enhanced its relationship with area bakeries. As it opened its own in-stores, it continued to work with area bakery vendors, and took greater pride in the bakery department, which led to better merchandising of all the products. The in-store bakeries feature a blend of Sendik's-produced items as well as specialties from local favorites, such as Breadsmith, Suzie's Cheesecake, Simma Bakery, City Market, Broadway Bakery and Wild Flour Bakery. Sendik's also partners with bakery vendors for a line of Sendik's-branded artisan breads.

“There is a big following for the different brands,” Wollner says. “People grew up on the bakery that was close to their house, and they want that product. If we can get it, we're going to bring it in.” The company currently partners with about nine area bakery vendors.

“We offer what the clientele wants,” he adds. “It's a one-stop shop. Customers have all their favorite bakeries in one place. It might seem kind of silly to do competition for ourselves, but if the customers can have what they want, that's what we'll do. We are known for providing customer service.”

The Grafton bakery acts as central production for all locations, supplying doughs and finished products. It is equipped with vertical mixers to make all of Sendik's scratch items. With the chain's rapid expansion, Grafton has struggled to keep up with demand.

In addition to Klug, Grafton has one other skilled baker and plans to add a third so the store can add a second bake shift. The Greenfield store also has a new baker on staff, which Wollner hopes will help alleviate the strain on Grafton. Currently, Grafton is supplying the other bakeries and some delis with product at cost.

Such growing pains are to be expected in a company that had no on-premise baking as little as four years ago.

Managers phone orders into Grafton at least weekly. The newer stores, such as Franklin, are not yet able to get a good read on the number and types of products they need on a weekly basis. Franklin opened less than six months ago and is still seeing an influx of people who are checking out the store for the first time. “[Customers will] buy a lot of a product, and then that product will totally die down,” Endthoff says. “It's been impossible to predict what we need on a daily basis, but we keep working on it.”

Product delivered daily

The bakery products, either frozen doughs or fully finished, are delivered to the locations daily. Sendik's two trucks begin deliveries at 8 a.m. and circle around to each store to return to Grafton by 5 p.m.

The bakeries use a combination of production methods, depending on the product. They use frozen cake layers for cakes and frozen pastry sheets for a variety of pastry items. Some signature items, such as bear claws and almond horns, are produced from scratch or mix. (Chocolate-covered bear claws are one of Sendik's top sellers, Klug says.)

For almond horns, the staff mixes the marzipan batter, shapes the pieces into a “u,” dips them in slivered almonds and freezes them. The stores thaw the almond horns overnight and bake. After baking, the horns are coated with almond glaze while still warm, and the ends are dipped in chocolate.

Another popular product is almond rings. Bakers use a frozen pastry sheet, cut into 1-in. strips, and roll the ends of the strip in opposite directions to twist it. The twisted rope is then shaped into a circle, dipped in almonds and frozen.

Cakes are always big business for in-store bakeries, and many Sendik's locations sell as many as 200 cakes a week in addition to the custom orders, which vary from store to store. During a recent week, the Franklin store had 54 custom cake orders for Saturday, and Grafton had 75.

Each location has one to three decorators on site, and the newest bakeries also feature cake decorators up front where customers can watch them work. With Sendik's focus on customer service, the decorators have to help customers, which can take away decorating time.