
After you sign your franchise
agreement, you begin working closely with one
of our Training and Development Specialists.
Their role is to help you step-by-step with
all aspects of opening a strong and exciting
bakery. You will spend a great deal of time
with him or her on the telephone going
through checklist after checklist to make
sure you have everything in place before
opening day.
We want you to benefit from our knowledge of
opening bakeries for over thirty years, so he
or she will help you with the do's and don'ts
of running a retail operation. Some of the
things may not make sense at first. This is
where we ask you to trust us. We've seen what
works and what doesn't. You are paying for
the benefit of learning from other people's
mistakes, so please take advantage of
this.
One of the first things After you have a
signed Franchise Agreement
you'll be given access to
our internal intranet, “The
Breadboard†which contains all of
our proprietary information. Initially,
you'll be working with
your Location Hunter and Training and
Development Specialist.
They'll guide you through
The Breadboard and walk you through the steps
for getting your bakery opened. The
Breadboard is the foundation of our Learning
Community. You can post ideas or questions
and receive a response from our bakery owners
or the Dillon staff.
You know the saying -- "Location, Location,
Location!" We are very passionate about
helping you find a good location within your
community. The Location Hunting Guide and a
Site Selection expert will walk you through
the process.
We will ask you to do some preliminary
research before we schedule a trip to your
community. Our Site Selection expert will
evaluate the locations you have selected and
provide you with feedback on the pros and
cons of each location. He will provide a
financial analysis to help you analyze the
costs associated with that particular
location and draft Letters of Intent for
promising locations. Our Site Selection
experts will help review your lease and make
suggestions as you negotiate with landlords.
With that said, before you sign a lease we
strongly encourage you to have an attorney
review it.
Listen to this interview with Mike Ferretti,
Great Harvest CEO, about the Site Selection
process.
You will be working closely with your
Training and Development Specialist to
determine the best time for you to attend
your required training. Ideally, you will
attend around the time you sign a lease.
Dillon Learning Week and Sandwich
School: You will all attend Dillon
Learning Week and Sandwich School at the
headquarters in Dillon, Montana, where you
will be joined by a group of new franchisees
just like yourself. This 8 day training
provides you with an operations overview for
opening a bakery. Many long-term friendships
develop by the end of the week. Topics
include accounting, wheat, marketing,
inventory management, sandwich production and
hiring great people for your bakery. You will
spend time in our test bakery learning to
successfully manage and execute the sandwich
product line from day one. You even get to
help the Dillon staff make and sell bread as
a fundraiser for a local non-profit
organization.
Bread Week: At least one
person will spend another week in Dillon for
“Bread Week
Training.†Bread Week is five
days of intense, hands-on, one-on-one
training with one of our experienced bakers.
The purpose of this training is for you to
become comfortable and proficient in making
bread, cookies, muffins and scones. By the
end of the week, you should be a pro at
making Great Harvest products!
Host Bakery Training: At
least one person will attend three-days of
hands-on training in a bakery of our choice.
You will get a glimpse of what it is like to
live the life of a Great Harvest bakery owner
-- baking bread, serving customers, and
observing the operations of the bakery. This
training should also be the most fun part of
your start-up experience. You will form
relationships and friendships you can draw on
later as you become more active in the
Learning Community.
We have set training schedules (currently
every other month) for each week of training,
except Host Bakery Training. While this may
look like you will be spending a great deal
of time away from your family, we have found
this training to be invaluable when you are
ready to open your
bakery's doors.
One of the most important things we hope you
learn during your bakery training is that
Great Harvest bakeries don't have to be
clones of one another to be successful. Many
people find this a big surprise at first. New
owners always want to know, "Who is right?"
We'll make strong recommendations on the best
way for you to build your business. That
said, you will be exposed to many different
business ideas. You can choose to implement
the ideas you like best. The way we see it,
diversity is strength, not a weakness. And
thanks to the freedom that Great Harvest
bakery owners enjoy, the new ideas of today
often lead to the innovations of
tomorrow.
Listen
to this interview with Janet Tatarka,
Director of Franchise Services, about all the
training systems for new bakery owners.
Armed with your bakery training, you begin
searching for equipment and fine-tuning your
marketing plan. With a signed lease, major
equipment in hand - an
oven, a mixer, and mill -
we're between two and three months from
opening day. We design your layout together.
The equipment search is narrowed to a short
list of hard-to-find items. With your
Training Specialist's
help, you set a work timetable, listing what
to do yourself and what to contract out.
Heavy destruction and reconstruction
begins.
This is the time to buy insurance, get a
phone installed, and get to know your Health
Department. The exterior signage is designed.
Your storefront features a "Coming Soon"
banner and a big poster hangs in your window
explaining who you are and what Great Harvest
is all about. Pre-opening and opening
promotion is planned and started.
You are getting close to opening day.
Step 7: Open Bakery