Baking Up Business

As usual, the enormous, freshly baked tray of the most temptingly gooey cinnamon buns arrives at the Bakery, ready to be sold and joyfully consumed. Just then, a customer steps up to the counter. “I need a cinnamon bun,” he says. Luckily, I had already begun to carefully separate the buns from one another, starting logically from the bottom corner. “And I want…the fifth row from the left, sixth one down.” Just my luck – it’s one of those customers.

Getting these customers’ desired sticky buns is no easy feat. By the time their bun is packaged to go, at least three other surrounding sticky buns look like they’ve been partially put through a grater, and I am covered in more caramel goo than Lady Gaga has on in makeup. It’s no joke – these buns are seriously gooey.

But what can I say? The customer will always get what he or she wants. For some customers, what they purchase at the Bakery are indeed specialty goods. The Bakery’s primary location is in a tourist trap, so serving customers who announce they “came all the way from Texas” or “made their annual summer road trip here” just for a heavenly taste of the Bakery’s cheesecake is not uncommon at all. Forget the fuel costs – these are specialty goods they’re here for! There is no way these customers are leaving the Bakery without exactly what they want in tow.

For some customers, but especially the ones ordering a pricey customized cake, the Bakery’s goods are a shopping good. They want a beautiful, high quality product for the best possible price, so comparing all alternatives is important to them. Believe me, cake shopping for a certain special occasion one day will awaken your inner Nancy Drew too.

Last but not least are the customers who purchase the Bakery’s products as convenience goods. And more often than not, it’s an impulse buy. Why? It’s simple. Nothing draws the immediate attention of a boyfriend/husband bored out of his mind from shopping all day than the sight and smell of food.