Darley Street: Episode Nine – Darley Street Bakery
Amidst much secrecy the new shop up the ‘top end’ of the street has finally been renovated, the builders kept citing various difficulties, plumbing not where it was meant to be and the list went on.
Laurie Hanlon the proprietor didn’t seem to be too fussed, but his wife noted times when he would have a nightmare caused by some details not being met or a delay. Finally the day had come that the store could be fitted out with the last minute gear, everything was in place and the songwriter could get on with doing their bit, The ‘Darley Street Bakery’ was now alive and happening, all Laurie needed was some staff.
A local recruitment agency was soon used, because Laurie found the people who sent him applications were dodgy, or could barely put a sentence together, this was frustrating after so much work.
They came back with a short list of Bakers, well okay the list was very short. Two people, one wasn't that keen on working at nights, the other was okay with that but not sure about delicacies and pastries. Hans Brill was able to win out in the end and seemed to have a positive outlook that suited Laurie. Together they nutted out what Laurie wanted and what Hans could do. They then whittled that down to a practical list of items and the delicate details they would order in. That seemed simple enough.
Hans agreed to having an Apprentice, but warned they usually started keen then faded fast. Luarie hadn’t thought much about that but saw Han’s point.
Laurie's next task was locating a daytime manager Trish Myles, then Thalia and Gina, shop assistants. Eventually Trish found a willing apprentice, Thomas, young but energetic.
Things started slowly, they weren't at all sure how much to produce, Hans had one idea, Laurie had another, then Trish chimed in with ‘It all depends on how people find out about what we have, so whose doing the marketing?’ Laurie had to think fast about that one.
It took a few days to get the main mix right, and they were careful to not order too many ‘delicate specialities.’ The locals soon caught on and were amazed at what was on offer.
It turned out that Gina was a whizz at making coffees, and the rest were all good at serving customers. Thomas even had to lean in on that one towards the end of his shift early in the morning.
Laurie and Trish introduced themselves to the other shop keepers up and down the strip. The food shops were curious to see how much of an overlap of similar foods there might be. Apart from the coffee, not much infringed on the others offerings.
The Facey Page lit up, various food items were trialled and commented on before Laurie joined in on proceedings. Lurie and Trish could often be seen in a quiet moment discussing how things were going and what could be ‘tweaked.’ Things were generally going well, it would be a long time before Laurie would get his money's worth out of the business but that was okay by him. Laurie wanted to put in a minimal effort, figuring his cash injection to set things up and the waiting game at the start was more than enough, now the thing simply had to work.
Trish set up a discount system for the other businesses in the area, she soon learned that there was already a system in place, she just had to agree to the terms, an off peak sale got a decent discount, she saw the wisdom in that the and agreed on the spot scrapping her work straight off. Laurie didn’t see the benefit at first but was soon on board when he realised it was reciprocal with the other businesses and easy to manage.
One afternoon a customer complained when the shop was busy, ‘I want to see the manager, this food is off!’ - Trish took one look at what they had and loudly said ‘Mam that food’s from Mc Donalds…’ The annoyed customer stormed out. The crowd cheered and clapped, Trish took a bow.
That little interaction went up on the local Facey Page, to much amusement. A few clothes shared other amusing customer stories just because they could.
Mr Mandal introduced himself and asked if they could do specialties like Nepalese bread, there was some discussion, but they soon figured out that the amount required would be too big to be viable. But they liked his enthusiasm. He liked their coffee.
Trish found most of the job was straightforward, training Thali, Thomas and Gina was easy enough and she was pleased to hear about the customer service training that had been put together for the shops was very adequate, thanks very much. It made sense and was easy to implement.
On occasion Laurie would help out if he was there and things got busy, but it frustrated Trish that he wouldn’t follow the service guidelines having his own ideas about how customers should be greeted. Gina had a word to him one day, was respectful but told him what she thought, she didn’t know that Trish was annoyed but pleased when he agreed to have a look at the material. Trish became happier as things progressed.
No two days were the same in Darley Street; people come, and people go. Today was no exception, but it had a yummy outcome!
Stay tuned for the next episode of Darley Street!
More from Steve Gray
Steve writes with passion and intrigue, aiming to inspire and or raise awareness of topics. His poetry can take abstract turns, and his 'Odd Angry Writes' on his website are sure to turn heads with his aggressive approach to topics.
A background in Art and Design, as well as teaching, often gives his written pieces a unique creative perspective.
Like many, he is an ADHD person with some neurodiverse edges. A bunch of E books under his belt and some honourable mentions in the Geelong Writers Group puts his work in good standing.
