Beck’s Bakery
“I had so many ideas and concerns around starting and running my business, and my SBDC business advisor helped me to focus and prioritize them so that I could achieve great success.”
BACKGROUND
Beck’s Bakery is a wholesale bread bakery located in Arcata, California. They use locally grown grains in their breads and crackers and grind them fresh in house with a stone mill!
CHALLENGES
Owner Rhonda Wiedenbeck had always dreamed of starting and running a bakery, so she got experience in baking, large-scale food production, and attended a few workshops, but when it became a more feasible goal Rhonda realized she needed more help with running the business-end of the bakery. She needed financial projections, marketing help, and a commercial kitchen. Rhonda was familiar with the SBDC, but now it was time to put ideas into motion.
ACTIONS
Rhonda met with a North Coast SBDC advisor and quickly realized that the preparation needed to apply for a commercial kitchen space was one of the most involved processes she would undertake because she needed a full proposal which included a detailed business plan. The SBDC assisted her to develop these plans, and Rhonda also participated in a specialized program and workshops that helped her to move forward with her business. Rhonda was especially smart in that she created a Kickstarter campaign “Delivering Beck’s Bakery to Humboldt!”, with which she raised $4,065!
RESULTS
Rhonda was approved for a commercial kitchen space in a highly competitive application process, and Beck’s Bakery successfully opened for business. The bakery currently employs five people. Because Rhonda purchased a grain mill, she is able to sell the milled grains as an additional source of income for her business.
