We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Frances Coffey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Frances below.

Alright, Frances thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How has Covid changed your business model?

Like many other businesses, the Covid pandemic forced us to rethink how we operate, top to bottom. On the customer side, we had to close our retail store to the public and rely 100% on e-commerce sales to help our company survive the past two years. To still serve our retail customers, we adapted to provide our curbside pick-up option which allowed people to place orders online for no-contact curbside pick-up. This was not an option we offered prior to the pandemic but is something we plan on continuing, as it has been very helpful for us as well as our customers. Looking at the bigger picture, we knew if we were being challenged during the pandemic, so were our customers. In an effort to both increase sales for our own survival and try to lessen the burden on our customers, we also offered a 20-30% off promotion with a coupon code that could be applied to online orders. The online discount code also allowed us to utilize our POS system to facilitate ordering, instead of employees manually entering orders through our retail system, which was crucial since we lost employees during the pandemic. The combination of providing curbside pickup, offering the discount codes, and utilizing online ordering through our website allowed us to continue doing business and survive the pandemic despite major staffing shortages.

Frances, 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?

I’ve been working in the food service industry since I was 16. On weekends, I worked both front of the house and back of the house for a local catering company. Thanks to my Puerto Rican upbringing, I was basically born knowing how to cook. Food plays an important role in our culture, so my mother had me cooking since I was tall enough to reach the stove. I never knew much about other cultures’ cuisines, so while working for the catering company I was very interested in what the chefs were doing and wanted to learn more. Despite my interest, the chefs kept telling me I didn’t want to become a chef like them and to do something else, so I went off to college and majored in Biology instead in hopes of becoming a large animal vet. After three years at Georgia State University and being introduced more and more to different cuisines, I didn’t feel I was on the right path, so I decided to go back to my original plan of becoming a chef. I registered for culinary school and really excelled and enjoyed introductory pastry class. I did so well my chef instructor strongly urged me to go the pastry route instead of savory route. I took her advice because pastry was extra new and exciting to me, and very artsy as well, which I love. I graduated from culinary school in 2007 and continued on my path.

Throughout my career as a pastry chef, I worked in hotels, country clubs, and restaurants. I enjoyed the kitchen and the industry but, after I got married, I decided I wanted to spend more time with my husband and family, which doesn’t exactly fit with chef life. So, I left the kitchen and tried my hand at sales for a local distributor. I really liked meeting other chefs and heard all of them stating the same concerns: they wanted to source different products but I had no way to get them so I couldn’t help. From that experience, I decided to pivot careers once again and open my own business so I could directly make contact with vendors and manufacturers to distribute the products that were desired but inaccessible by so many chefs. This is when the Pastry Depot was born!

Though we exclusively focus on providing professional-grade products and supplies, we distribute these raw products for chefs and enthusiasts alike to create their own pastry masterpieces. If a customer is looking for a certain product, I try my hardest to find it for them. If I can get it for them, I do. Even if we cannot source a product, we try to guide the customer toward where they can find it. We may not benefit financially, but we believe building memorable relationships with our customers is just as important as selling to them. The Pastry Depot team strives to go above and beyond for our customers, providing the best service as possible and consistently communicating along the way so they are always in the loop.

I think the most important thing that sets us apart is the majority of our team is made of former chefs, so the knowledge base on the products we sell at the Pastry Depot is much higher than other companies and we can relate to the needs of our customers. Because of this, we understand the urgency for products sooner rather than later since we’ve all experienced the fast-paced, quick-changing environment in the kitchen and know what it is like to require the products you need in-hand by a certain time to prepare for service, and what a nightmare it can be if you do not have those products.

Honestly, I’m most proud of our small business surviving Covid. So many of our customers didn’t survive and it was an incredibly scary time. We were able to approach such an unprecedented challenge in a way that allowed us to not just survive but grow. I’m also very proud of our staff. We have THE BEST employees, and we couldn’t be luckier to have found them. Our team is truly a family and I think that is a big part of why many of our customers keep coming back to The Pastry Depot again and again.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first started this business, it was just me and one friend running the retail store. He ran deliveries for my wholesale customers, and I ran out to try to introduce myself to as many new wholesale customers as possible. In between wholesale calls, I ran the retail store by myself. My mother came up one day to visit and saw me running around trying to wear all the “hats” a small business owner has to in the beginning and decided to help me along this journey. I taught mom how to run retail while I was away on wholesale calls, but eventually we had to let go of our delivery driver, so I started doing wholesale calls myself along with running deliveries and then supporting my mother with retail as customers grew. It was a lot, but we got it done!

In the meantime, we were able to get the e-commerce side of the business going and we were able to now offer online sales and shipping across the country. That’s when another friend asked to help me grow the business. Stacey came in to run ecommerce for me so I could continue to focus on wholesale and retail. By our second year, we were on the way up and I was able to hire two more employees to help with receiving and shipping orders. We were growing as a team and growing in sales. Things were going well!

We felt we were finally on our way to success, actually on pace for a record year, when Covid hit. With retail closing, unfortunately we had to let go of our two new hires. On top of that, Stacey was one of the first people to be taken down by Covid as well. She was out of work for five months recovering from what the terrible virus did to her lungs. That five months was very humbling because it took mom and I back to square one, where it was just us doing the jobs of five people. We ran around like mad women trying to keep shipping, receiving, fulfilling wholesale orders, delivering orders, preparing curbside pick-ups, handling accounting, purchase orders, inventory, etc. – all by ourselves – until that glorious day Stacey was able to come back and help us!

Eventually, we were able to bring in another new hire for some part time work, a full-time team member six months later. Now, two years later, we just hired our newest employee and are looking to grow even more! We are finally on the up again but, without that drive to make it, we would’ve gone under like so many other poor businesses did during Covid. We’re incredibly thankful to have survived and to have some new wonderful employees to help us on this journey.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My advice is to treat your employees like people. Give them time off when you can, vacations, let them have a night or weekend off once in a while (if the job requires night or weekend shifts). Let them know you appreciate them and value them. When you can afford benefits, get it for them, even if it means it will take a bit longer for you to receive a paycheck. Take care of your team and they will take care of you. For managing, communication is key! Clearly communicate responsibilities, procedures, and expectations so they understand the job you are asking them to do. Also, let your employees in on some decisions. It lets them know you value their opinion and makes them feel included in the team.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pastrydepot.com
• Instagram: @the_pastry_depot
• Facebook: @thepastrydepotatlanta
• Youtube: The Pastry Depot Atlanta

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