Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Annemarie Maitri. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Annemarie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

I opened our bakery in 2010 in 600 square feet. I had a few friends and family helping out. It was a small operation, but I definitely under estimated my staffing needs. I wasn’t great at determining what made a strong employee in those early years, I got lucky with some team members and others I quickly realized the hard way, they weren’t a great fit for our organization. Fourteen years later, I feel this is one of my strongest assets. Part of it, is a willingness to identify key traits in people who may not have all of the skills you need, but that are willing, kind and coachable. Training on the front end will take time, but if you are playing the long game, you end up with incredible staff that in turn lifts your company to new height.

Annemarie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Annemarie Maitri and I own Bloom Bake Shop and Lallande. Bloom Bake Shop, opened in 2010, is a sustainable, organic bakery that specializes in french pastry, french breads and sourdough as well as classic American desserts and layer cakes. Our bakery also serves our vegan and gluten free community as well. My partner and I trained at the San Francisco Baking Institute, we have a passion for sourcing, supporting local farmers and purveyors and deepening our connections with our community through our bakery and our restaurant. Lallande is a french inspired bistro, with ten tables and an open kitchen. We opened our restaurant this past summer, serving dinner with a menu that rotates with the Midwest growing season.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We have had to pivot the bakery a few times in 14 years. In 2016 we outgrew our space and had to find a new location. We were happy to find a former restaurant in our neighborhood, walking distance from our home. It was previously a Mexican restaurant, with some ingenuity we turned it into our new bakery space. This new space also had seating for 43 and a kitchen that served the restaurant. Realizing we had an opportunity, my partner and I set to work to create an additional menu, adding breakfast and brunch to our bakery responsibilities. We had no formal experience in this area, but we worked hard to create a great menu, hire additional team members and launch the restaurant along side the bakery in 2017.

January 2020 we had wrapped up one of our strongest financial years with the cafe and bakery when the Pandemic shut us down, along with the rest of the world and small businesses everywhere. On March 16, we had to let go of our entire team and quickly determine how to keep our small business alive. My partner, along with our three teenage children, created an online store and began baking for weekly preorder pick ups of bread and pastry. We sent out a newsletter each week, highlighting what we were baking up that week, every Friday a line would wrap around the block as masked customers would wait patiently in line to pick up their order.

My partner, Mark and I decided to rewrite our business plan and pivot the bakery to let go of the cafe and focus on being a full service bakery. We took over our former dining room and expanded our bread and vienoisserie program into it, we added a formal take out window, and slowly hired our team back. It was the most prudent move to survive and it worked!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Be vulnerable when you tell your story. Sharing photos of beautiful baked goods and breads gets attention for sure, but it is the posts and newsletters when I really dive into the behind the scenes, sharing the challenges, the day to the day, where I find that I make the best connections with our customers, or future customers.

Being true to who you and your business are, sharing your values, is the best way to communicate. For then, you attract the customers who also identify with these values.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bloombakeshop.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloombakeshop/
• Facebook: Bloom Bake Shop
• Twitter: Bloom Bake Shop
• Yelp: Bloom Bake Shop
• Other: you can also find us at, Lallande :: https://www.lallandemadison.com