I've been working as a bakery closer for about a month now and it's pretty awful. Just to give some background; this is a smaller, older store compared to others but it's in a growing town so it's pretty busy. The tables go empty very fast since there isn't much room. The bakery's freezer is filled to the ceiling and stuffed with 5 wheelers, and we even share space with the deli's freezer.
When I got hired, I had no idea I'd be working alone which feels criminal at this store since it's the busiest time, 1-9pm. We get a load once a week but it's 2 full pallettes that I have to unload by myself. So when I have to unload and it's busy, I can't always be around to help customers.
This bakery is small and so cluttered and dirty. I could go on and on about how gross the counters/floor/pans are. The bakers reuse the pans and my department head told me they even reuse parchment paper ( 3 of the bakers don't wear gloves when handling food because they have long fake nails). I know it's my job to clean but I already stay around 9 hours and it would take me all day just to wash the pans.
We are constantly behind. I have to help customers, package leftover donuts/bagels/rolls and bake around 40 loaves of french bread, 10 cases of cookies and whatevers left for garlic bread. This is stuff that should've been done by the bakers. Yet I get blamed if the tables are never perfectly full. I don't even take breaks or have lunch because there just isn't enough time. :(
This store also gives out free cookies. Now the managers will get mad if you just leave a box of cookies out for people to sample; they want me to come over/interact with customers. Honestly, this would be fine and I don't hate it, but I feel like with this and how much I help customers, it's really downplayed by the management in how much time this cuts away from doing actual work. So it's like the managers want me to always interact with customers and help them, my department head and the bakers always want me to pick up their slack.
I try to work hard, in some ways I feel like I'm being taken advantage of and that it's unfair that I work by myself at the busiest time in a small store. Now I know why one of my friends told me people don't last long in the bakery, I already feel like quitting.
I've been working as a bakery closer for about a month now and it's pretty awful. Just to give some background; this is a smaller, older store compared to others but it's in a growing town so it's pretty busy. The tables go empty very fast since there isn't much room. The bakery's freezer is filled to the ceiling and stuffed with 5 wheelers, and we even share space with the deli's freezer.
When I got hired, I had no idea I'd be working alone which feels criminal at this store since it's the busiest time, 1-9pm. We get a load once a week but it's 2 full pallettes that I have to unload by myself. So when I have to unload and it's busy, I can't always be around to help customers.
This bakery is small and so cluttered and dirty. I could go on and on about how gross the counters/floor/pans are. The bakers reuse the pans and my department head told me they even reuse parchment paper ( 3 of the bakers don't wear gloves when handling food because they have long fake nails). I know it's my job to clean but I already stay around 9 hours and it would take me all day just to wash the pans.
We are constantly behind. I have to help customers, package leftover donuts/bagels/rolls and bake around 40 loaves of french bread, 10 cases of cookies and whatevers left for garlic bread. This is stuff that should've been done by the bakers. Yet I get blamed if the tables are never perfectly full. I don't even take breaks or have lunch because there just isn't enough time. :(
This store also gives out free cookies. Now the managers will get mad if you just leave a box of cookies out for people to sample; they want me to come over/interact with customers. Honestly, this would be fine and I don't hate it, but I feel like with this and how much I help customers, it's really downplayed by the management in how much time this cuts away from doing actual work. So it's like the managers want me to always interact with customers and help them, my department head and the bakers always want me to pick up their slack.
I try to work hard, in some ways I feel like I'm being taken advantage of and that it's unfair that I work by myself at the busiest time in a small store. Now I know why one of my friends told me people don't last long in the bakery, I already feel like quitting.
Oh I more than understand where you are. Even though I initially trained at a medium sized store before we bumped up to a market place. I honestly feel like the size of the store does not matter when it comes to working in the bakery. As you are FOREVER behind!
I mean at my store there is the cake decorator that helps out a little bit in her last hour with stuff. And then the pastry chef who may do the same. But then we have the person that does the bread slack out. And of course my DH does his little bit of stuff, albeit more talking on the sales floor than not. But yea, when I'm down there for closing or anybody else on those shifts. You have to do damn near EVERYTHING else(although our bakers do wash the pans and get their baking done. But when it comes to finishing some of the dough slack out, I have to do that, as the bakers no longer do their own slack out for the next day. And only one other chick knows how to do it. But not 2 of the other closers).
Only slight saving grace is that the one back up manager will bake the cookies and other stuff. And our deli back ups will help with the packaging and labeling. But seriously the struggle is beyond real when you don't have help in the nights and customers need stuff written on, orders taken, answering the phone all night, in addition to everything else. And the sad thing is, it's not like we can ever hire another person to help in the evenings instead of leaving everything up to one person.
I wish I had some helpful tips or something that I could provide to help you through this. As the only somewhat/semi solution I found to being in bakery is getting a full-time position in Deli. And I'm only in bakery for a couple of times or once a week instead of being down there. So only mini suggestion I could think of for you would be seeing about cross-training in another department, if possible. So that way maybe if you can, you'll get enough skills in another area and can possibly transfer into that department so you don't burn yourself out in bakery and totally give up working there altogether.
Extra long fake nails with NO GLOVES in the bakery? Where is you trusty health dept when you need them? They should be notified.
If you belong to the union, Kroger is required to make sure you can get your due breaks and lunch. have you discussed this with your deli/bakery dept head? And if you have, with no results, have you asked to have a heart to heart, face to face discussion with your store manager?
If not, I would be doing it as soon as possible. Do you know who your union stewards are in the store? You may need to get the union involved.
Sounds like you may need to try changing stores (if there is another one not too far away) or ask for a dept transfer.
You should not have to put up with the crap that you are going thru! I feel for you.
Bakery is a tough department to work in in a store that is fully staffed, let alone one that needs more help.
It seems its impossible to keep people in the bakery because they either hire idiots or the good ones end up getting chased off due to stuff like this.
Bakery is a tough department to work in in a store that is fully staffed, let alone one that needs more help.
It seems its impossible to keep people in the bakery because they either hire idiots or the good ones end up getting chased off due to stuff like this.
Or in my store's case. They don't really show up once they are hired. As this it the second person that is supposed to come in for the 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. shift but who knows if they will show or not.
And we have already lost one of the new peeps from the deli already. But man, I wish they would just cross-train some of the new folks over there like they had me do for Deli. I mean it's only fair after all. As we have tons of folks in Deli in the afternoons and even on closing. But in bakery we barely have much of an afternoon staff at all. And closing has to finish up with was started from the morning and from slack outs. And from the sounds of the original poster's comments, at times even the whole department apparently. Which is beyond wrong.
I live in a right to work state and there aren't any unions here.
I think I'm going to try transferring to a different store. There is another Smith's that is newer and it's much bigger. It probably gets the same amount of business as my store does, only because mine is closer to the city.
So to transfer, do I just talk to my store manager? I know they are hiring at this new store because I saw openings go up since around the middle of September. Can my manager basically tell me no, even if there are openings?
I think all Store are seeing the same things with a dramatically changing workforce. I think Bakery will be changing dramatically in the next few years, with everything being prepacked or being baked at a central bakery and shipped in daily. I don't know why we haven't already done this a lot of stores already have daily deliveries of "Fresh Cut Produce, Deli" etc. As I said in a previous post, most customers do not care about Bakery Items being baked offsite and shipped in (most bakeries do this already, if they have multiple location). As long as there is someone to do "Special Orders", customers will not be impacted.
I think all Store are seeing the same things with a dramatically changing workforce. I think Bakery will be changing dramatically in the next few years, with everything being prepacked or being baked at a central bakery and shipped in daily. I don't know why we haven't already done this a lot of stores already have daily deliveries of "Fresh Cut Produce, Deli" etc. As I said in a previous post, most customers do not care about Bakery Items being baked offsite and shipped in (most bakeries do this already, if they have multiple location). As long as there is someone to do "Special Orders", customers will not be impacted.
Yep, we already get in plenty of pre-packed items shipped in already. But I honestly rather it's pre-packed or shipped in from the offsite bakery or not. The customer is going to be impacted. As there are forever folks that are looking for specialty breads rather we have ever stocked them or not. Needing answers to their questions about is it really buy one get one on all the cookies or just particular ones? Can I have something written on my cake? Pretty much all that person to person interaction stuff. Is what actually impacts us all really and the customers most especially.
Yup, there will always be the "special requests", but having one facility produce all the items for 50 stores is more effective. That facility could also produce more variety and allow stores to stock more items depending on their sales. Using Cap data would allow most items to remain in stock, store could produce "daily items" if needed.
And speaking of offsite baking stuff(and sorry to jack your thread OP), but does anybody officially know why Kroger never does chocolate on chocolate cake? Or white on white cake? And absolutely acts like they have never once in their lives heard of chocolate on yellow cake?
Heck for that matter, I'll even toss in, what's the beef over the German Chocolate cake even? Can't believe how many customers I get a day asking for these and have to tell them that we don't offer them(well for the German Chocolate we do in that not as appealing upside down version. And as of late a double layer version we got in with our seasonal stuff).
As I think they are majorly missing out on a golden money making opportunity with those options. People would totally buy those up in a heart beat.
I have been a bakery closer for about 2 years at my store and my store sounds a lot like yours. It's small and we don't get a lot of volume. I usually work 2-10 and I have sort of come up with a routine that helps me.
First thing I do when I come in is fill the floor and work backstock. This could be cookies or tables whatever. Once I work the floor and if it is a truck night I stop around 5pm and get the truck. Most of the bakery stuff is usually on one pallet if it's a big truck so I bring that pallet out to my department since I am the only one there. I work stuff from that pallet for about 45 minutes. I stop then and run the cap for the breakout. This is around 6pm. I start to pull all the dough and sweet goods. This usually takes me about an hour (I have been doing this for so long I'm pretty fast at it lol) when I am done it is usually around 7pm. I either take a break for 15 minutes or I continue to work the truck and start cleaning up. Then around 8pm I start pulling all the parbakes and donuts. This usually takes me 45 minutes. Around 9pm I markdown donuts and package bolillos and finish cleaning up. As for the sample cookies I only hand them out to kids if they ask and stop giving them out after 7pm. After you have been doing it for awhile you develop a routine. Hope this helps stick with it(:
