bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 32

Chi-town

Baking

Midwest bakers converge
on Chicago for professional
educational conference.
by Catherine Lewis
Deerfields Bakery, voted the best
bakery in Chicago's North Shore for
19 years in a row, uses technology
and innovative ideas to run like a
well-oiled machine. There are three
locations, but for simplicity, all calls
come to the main store in Buffalo
Grove, IL, to a bank of customer
service operators who are connected
to the rest of the bakery empire by
T1 computer lines.
Kurt Schmitt, who owns the
bakery along with two brothers,
gave a tour to attendees of the
Midwest
Professional
Bakers
Educational Conference on March
25. The three-day conference was
sponsored by the Retail Bakers of
America (RBA) and the Chicago
34 · BAKING BUYER · MAY 07

Area Retail Bakers Association
(CARBA). The tour covered
Deerfields Bakery, The Arlington
Cake Box Bakery and Central
Continental Bakery.
Schmitt described the various
ways that Deerfields has used
technology to become more selfsufficient. They are able to print all
their own posters since they invested
in a large printer found on eBay. A
more recent purchase is a light tent,
a specially designed collapsible cube
that eliminates shadows and allows
them to take all their promotional
photos for a professional look
every time. Schmitt also revealed
that Deerfields' comprehensive
computer program that handles

orders, inventory and such was
written by his brother. Schmitt
himself custom-built the bakery's
pan washer and donut depositor
(donuts are the only product made
from a mix at Deerfields). This DIY
attitude can be translated into your
own bakery, even if you have no
idea how to go about building a
donut depositor.
Visiting other bakeries and going
to various industry conventions can
really expand your horizons and
give you ideas that you might be
able to steal for your own bakery.
And it doesn't necessarily need to be
a convention tailored towards retail
bakers. Mary Pappas, a co-owner
of Alpha Delights European Bakery



bakingbuyer - May 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of bakingbuyer - May 2007

Contents
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 1
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 2
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 3
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - Contents
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 5
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 6
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 7
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 8
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 9
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 10
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 11
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 12
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 13
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 14
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 15
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 16
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 17
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 18
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 19
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 20
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 21
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 22
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 23
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 24
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 25
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 26
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 27
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 28
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 29
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 30
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 31
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 32
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 33
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 34
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 35
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 36
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 37
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 38
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 39
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 40
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 41
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 42
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 43
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 44
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 45
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 46
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 47
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 48
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 49
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 50
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 51
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 52
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 53
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 54
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 55
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 56
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 57
bakingbuyer - May 2007 - 58
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_10_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_08_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_06_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_05_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_04_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2011_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_10_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_08_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_06_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_05_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_04_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2010_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_10_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_08_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_06_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_05_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_04_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2009_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_10_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_08_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_07_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_06_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_05_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2008_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_10_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_08_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_06_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_05_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2007_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2006_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2006_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2006_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2006_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2005_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2005_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2005_05_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2005_03_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2005_01_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2004_12_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2004_11_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2004_10_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2004_09_01
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/bb/2004_08_01
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com