BUSINESS PROFILE:

Village Bakery

www.villagebakery.ca

Village Bakery is nestled quietly along the Main Street of Shubenacadie. With its unassuming appearance, a first-time visitor might drive by without knowing the marvels of home baking that await their taste buds.

About Jennifer Kennard, Owner and Operator of Village Bakery

Jennifer Kennard was not a baker and had no goals in life to own a bakery. Having moved to quiet rural village of Shubenacadie from Ottawa in 1989, she certainly was not expecting such a hectic, life altering, change in plans, but sometimes the things we least expect, we most enjoy.

Shortly after five years of living in the village, Kennard was approached by a friend to work with her at a new venture entitled Our Bread and Butter Bakery, which was later sold to another gentleman who renamed the business The Shubie Bakery. The second owner sold the bakery equipment to Kennard, who opted to purchase a separate building, operate under a new name, Village Bakery, and has since been learning the ropes of a successful operation.

Kennard is a hands-on entrepreneur, working closely with her one full-time employee, Sheila. In the summer months, Kennard also hires a student to help with the busy season. Together, the women manage all the tasks of operating a retail and wholesale bakery and café, including baking, serving, delivery service to retailers, product development, marketing, networking, administration, and more. Kennard often works ten to 14 hours per day but her love of what she does keeps her smiling.

Networking: A Recipe for Success

A mother of four, Kennard was active in her children’s activities and built her first circle of Shubenacadie networks through the parents and club organizers. While working with her previous two bakery employers, she maintained a friendly disposition and naturally, her network expanded; however, upon opening her own business, Kennard realized the strength of personal contact in developing professional networks.

One of her first successes was to develop a partnership with an existing business, thereby establishing a weekly wholesale order of her products to support her own retail sales. Withrow’s Farm Markets sold local produce, lacked bureaucratic red tape, and was a natural fit to sell local baked goods when it no longer produced goods “in-house.” Kennard approached Withrow’s and has since been a regular supplier of the markets in Belnan, Rawdon, and Mount Uniacke. From there, Kennard capitalized on the change in the local Milford Co-Op, from a Co-Op Store to a Co-Op Basics, which would open the doors to independent purchases by the individual stores. Once more Village Bakery products found their way to another retail location. Kennard continued with her own retail sales while watching for opportunities to supply others at wholesale prices and has since established relationships with Farmer Clems, McCoul’s, Catering Unlimited, By the Way Bed and Breakfast, Hac N Sac Tea Room, Sutherland’s Diner, Stewiake Tea Room & Gift Boutique, Ettinger’s Funeral Home, and Tidal Bore Rafting Park.

Kennard is actively working with the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in pursuit of food services on site to accommodate the possibility of bringing in tour buses to the area and having the people make a day long adventure in the Shubenacadie area. She feels that partnerships amongst businesses are the key to getting more tourists to come and stay in the area for more than an hour or two.

Building the Village Bakery Brand

Branding is likely one of the most difficult and long-term marketing devices a small business owner will ever encounter but, once established, is often one of the most cost effective marketing tools. At Village Bakery, one glance around the room and the familiar blue logo is everywhere, even mirrored in the washroom sign.

Kennard hired a local man, Andrew Lynds, to develop the logo in 1998. Simple in its design, the logo clearly states the company name against a blue background with a loaf of bread centered at the top. The logo’s image reinforces the bakery product without losing anything in the “noise” of complicated logos.

Not one to miss an affordable opportunity to promote her bakery, Kennard hired another local man, Dave Miller, to create vehicle magnets for her delivery van. Now, on each delivery, Kenard is her own mobile billboard, repeatedly advertising her product on the same routes each week. This marketing tool is relatively inexpensive compared to other media and is a one time charge that can promote for years. Miller also developed fridge magnets that Kennard uses to remind customers of her products every time they open their fridge.

Pete’s Frootique Finds Village Bakery through Proper Website Development

Kennard recently began courting a new partner retailer, Pete’s Frootique’s Downtown Halifax location. Out of her normal distribution area, Kennard had not approached a Halifax retailer and was surprised when the staff at the well- known retailer found her name and number. Kennard asked the staff member how they had found her and the retailer replied “through the Internet.”

Kennard’s website was meticulously planned and designed by Athena Computer Solutions so that virtually any search for any related topic would bring up her site. Proper prior planning had paid off.

Pete’s Frootique was not the only organization to find Kennard. A Florida based company that required catering services in Dartmouth, NS also found their way to the small Village Bakery, as did several independent people looking for personal catering services. Kennard admits that doing the background work was well worth the effort to create an effective website that has measurable marketing results.

With expanding to meet the needs of new clients, Kennard says it takes time to get used to the new needs and how she has to adapt to meet those needs. Bottlenecks in production and human resource requirements must be assessed to see if the cost of overcoming the bottlenecks will be recovered in sales.

Shop Local Initiatives Begin with Local Business Owners

Kennard is active in the Small Business Advisory Panel for the Hants RDA, which meets to discuss ways of having local business groups work together more effectively. Kennard is an ideal role model for other business owners: she buys her fruit pies from Apple Valley, jams and jellies from Ed Giffin of East Hants, and uses local service providers for marketing and other such services. Wherever possible, Kennard supports her community’s businesses and donates to community schools and organizations.