Last week in Toronto we said good-bye to Spring and returned to Winter, now we are edging slowly backwards to Fall. Whatever is happening, it isn’t nice and it doesn’t feel like May.
But we have a lot going on at Prairie Girl! Last week we welcomed our new Customer Service Manager, Danielle, a breath of fresh air with her enthusiasm and ideas. With the wet and cold weather, sales were lower than usual but it occurred to me that one week’s sales numbers are a short term business factor whereas a strong addition to the management team is a more important long term factor.
Another longterm item that happened last week was signing an agreement between Prairie Girl Bakery Ltd. and George Brown College’s Food Innovation & Research Studio (FIRSt) on the development of a cupcake that can be scaled for large-scale production. If the partnership leads to a new product, it won’t be sold in our stores – our in-store cupcakes will always be baked fresh onsite. Instead, the collaboration is going to explore whether there is a fit between cupcakes and some of the current nutritional trends.
Brief note – we’ve had a great response to our revised Cakes by Prairie Girl menu. Our customers were clearly looking for less expensive but really pretty cakes for their special events. We spent a lot of time editing the menu of fancy fondant cakes – leaving only the top sellers- and adding buttercream cakes that are less expensive. Check the options out if you haven’t yet.