We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Francesca Bleys a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Francesca, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
As of now, I am solely operating and updating all social media. It is nice that I can take my enthusiasm from the bakery into the social world, but it can be very taxing as well. Making sure that each post – picture, text – is well defined and complete can take a lot more energy and time than expected! Eventually I would love that someone could help out with social media, especially if they are a student. They get experience and maybe we would be able to teach each other a thing or two! I remember when I was a student, I always appreciated anyone that would let me volunteer, shadow or work with them. I’d like to be able to do the same thing for someone else if it means that it helps them.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We are a local Bakery in Plano, TX that prioritizes the use of whole and natural ingredients. Everything is handmade and homemade as well as the personal touch of being a family-owned small business! My parents started the bakery a little over eight years ago. Being born and raised in Belgium, they found that bakeries are not as common as found there. With our principles in mind, they hoped to bring a piece of Europe to North Dallas. We make a variety of pastries like croissants, scones, cinnamon rolls, etc.. Our fresh bread provided by the loaf can also make for delicious sandwiches. We also have many desserts that we offer on a daily basis in case of instant craving gratification: cake slices, eclairs, macarons, cookies, cheesecake, cake pops and more! The last thing we specialize in is custom cakes. Whether it is a birthday cake or wedding cake, we make anything in between! Although we do have a few common designs for easy decision making, we can also make sure your cake is 100% custom designed to your occasion. We always encourage pre ordering to ensure that we have your order and quantities as we can run out of items through out the day. Quality over quantity any day!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
As simple as it may sound, being a genuine business trying to help customers get their perfect cake/pastries, engaging in daily conversations, and focusing on the best product we can produce will lead to clientele that come back! Word of mouth advertising are also very beneficial. It is through happy clientele that we have been able to survive COVID and continue to bake everyday! The use of social media helps spreading the word to people about promotions, new products, gorgeous designs; especially if they haven’t heard of us yet. Yelp/google reviews have been the most helpful when new customers want to get an idea of who we are and what we have through positive experiences they’ve had!
Any advice for managing a team?
To maintain high morale on a daily basis, I make sure that we put our employees first. I understand that they choose to come here everyday and do their best at the bakery so we always try to have a memorable time! We laugh, share stories, and help each other out as much as possible. I wouldn’t be able to run our bakery without them and I try to make sure they know that!!
Contact Info:
- Website: millstonebakery.com
- Instagram: @millstonebakery
- Facebook: Millstone Bakery
- Yelp: Millstone Bakery
- Other: Email: [email protected] – OR – [email protected] Phone Number: 972-618-2253