Hi!
On the 1st Tuesday of every month, my post will answer some of the frequently asked questions that Jenna has received over the previous month. Who’s Jenna? Jenna is on the operations team at PGB and like a couple of other people in operations (Ailish, Director, Customer Service & Catering; and Carly, PGB’s Managing Director), Jenna wears a few hats. Jenna’s hats currently are: Assistant Catering Manager, Project Manager of Retail Expansion and Manager, Digital Presence.
So, no, the operations team is rarely bored but then again, neither are the hardworking people in baking and customer service..
In both Jenna’s catering work and her interactions with our followers on social media, Jenna gets a lot of questions. Recently the questions have mostly been about our new store opening soon in Markham, so I will answer those in today’s post:
1. Why Markham?
For our first store outside the downtown core, we wanted a location with an active corporate and commercial population because a lot of our downtown customers are banks, CPA firms, law firms etc.
Both Mississauga and Markham seemed like great choices and when our hardworking broker at Avison Young, Ali Fieder, brought this unit to our attention it looked perfect: in a busy, new shopping plaza right at the very busy corner of Highway 7 and Woodbine Avenue.
Another offer on the unit had just fallen through so we jumped at it.
2. What about Oakville; Etobicoke; Barrie; Montreal; Vancouver; fill in the blank?
Our 2-3 year goal is to have 10 stores and very likely they will all be in Ontario. We are actively working on a soon-to-be-announced 5th location and then we will assess what’s next.
3. Where exactly is the new location?
8630 Woodbine Avenue, a 30 minute drive/1 hour transit ride from our 18 King East store (or 5 hour walk or 2 hour bike ride, according to Google Maps. Just saying).
4. Will you still be offering delivery?
Yes!
5. Will I be able to place an order for opening day?
Yes…please do! We hope to have a brisk Grand Opening on Thursday April 18th and whenever we are busy, we think, ‘thank you!’, to those customers who have ordered in advance. (we’re grateful for all our customers but the planners of the world have a special place in our hearts!)
6. Will you still be offering same day orders?
You bet, and also Uber Eats and Door Dash once we get those services nailed in Toronto and our feet under us in Markham. (In case you don’t know, we launched on Uber Eats and Door Dash last Thursday and had a great response!).
7. Will your hours be the same?
No, our Markham hours will be longer and 7 days a week:
Monday to Saturday- 10 to 7
Sunday- 12 noon to 5
8. Will we be offering the freezer packs at our new location?
Yes! For those who aren’t familiar with these, we now sell thaw-and-serve packs of minis in Gluten Free; Vegan; Protein Fortified; and Traditional Baking. These are great options to keep on hand for guests with dietary restrictions or of course just to have on hand!!
That’s all the FAQs from Jenna for now…please be in touch with her at orders@prairiegirlbakery.com with any questions on your mind about anything to do with PGB or small business in general. I promise to answer your query in either the April Ask Anything! post or the May FAQs! post.
