Happy 5th Birthday, Prairie Girl!

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This Friday, April 1st 2016, will be the 5th anniversary of PGB”s first day in business!

Wow! Where does time go?

It was supposed to be a friends-and-family-only day but we realized that it wasn’t exactly an auspicious start to a new business to tell customers that no, you are neither friend nor family, please go away.

PGB had 3 employees that day, all trained as bakers but we’d planned that one of them would help me with customer service. That didn’t work because they were too busy baking so Andrew who was on “vacation” that week called his brother, sister in law, cousin and cousin in law to help.

The cupcakes didn’t fit the inserts, the inventory plan that seemed so smart was disastrous, I hadn’t thought through what we would say when people called to ask us to “set aside” some cupcakes, and at one point the cash register just decided to shut down.

It was amazing.

There have been lots of other great days in the five years since then, but I bet if you ask 10 small business owners, “What was the best day ever?”, at least 9 of  them would say, “Opening day, what a rush!”.

To the friends, family and many customers who have been so incredibly supportive and loyal for five years now…THANK YOU….from the bottom of my heart.

Jean

About the author

Jean Blacklock

Jean opened the popular Prairie Girl Bakery in the financial district of Toronto in 2011. She owned and operated the business until it closed in 2021 as a result of the pandemic’s impact on downtown Toronto. Read more about her background in commerce, law, and entrepreneurship here.

By Jean Blacklock

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- Jean