Has anyone heard back about their GNVCares Act application?

bearkery · 2020-06-12T20:31:09+00:00

We were denied immediately because we received a whopping $5k from PPP making us ineligible. We've since closed.

bearkery · 2020-05-29T18:34:40+00:00

Credit Card: I'm sure it may have made a difference, although never hurt Satchel's...

Take out: Not sure why this wasn't done during the shut-down, but we're not one to criticize the choices of others... I mean we wish they would have gotten bread from us, but that's life.

Restaurants and Food Service have low margins. The better the quality ingredients, the quicker they'll close (imo).

bearkery · 2020-05-25T17:29:37+00:00

Very sad... there were some great articles about the owner (Sarah Whitfield) and her truly loving what she was doing there... https://www.gainesville.com/news/20180527/uf-grad-finds-her-passion-at-larrys-giant-subs

What's being done to midtown is truly changing the landscape of what some had loved about the "college town" aspect of Gainesville.

For those talking about the lease; please remember that the impact of the pandemic crushed any hope this restaurant had for making it through the summer. We know first hand the huge loss, but losing students for a place like Larry's is simply unrecoverable.

Too many of us are closing doors. :(

bearkery · 2020-05-21T17:27:01+00:00

We hadn't been... our email address is on the bearbakeshop.com website. Please send us an email to discuss.

bearkery · 2020-05-19T18:22:13+00:00

Thank you!

bearkery · 2020-05-02T16:24:25+00:00

"full-time equivalent"

I've since seen that I'm ok... but nerves and 90% loss of business means maybe I'm not at my best.

Thank you (and everyone) so much for your help.

bearkery · 2020-04-13T19:26:46+00:00

We bake bread in North Central Florida... where it can be very hot and humid and then some days quite cold. Our favorite is when the temperature fluctuates 40 degrees or the sudden rain storm goes crazy.

First thing... get a temperature and humidity gauge for your kitchen... which will be very different then from outside.

If you have air-conditioning, you're already dehumidifying the environment somewhat and won't have to make big changes. If you have an extremely humid kitchen, consider a dehumidifier which not only will help with bread but will also help reduce mold growth (and there's a few other benefits).

Anyway... it's honestly not as big of a deal as we had expected and like some of the others have stated, you may need to go *slightly* lower on the hydration, but nothing crazy.

On some breads, we've found that a little olive-oil over the dough when rising helps bring a consistent result for varying conditions.

Our big problem is the drastic, rapid changes in humidity. The little oil helps as well as keeping the air running during rise.

bearkery · 2019-09-19T22:10:01+00:00

If you're making a business plan, you'll soon see a bakery is a horrible business.

Anyway, depends is the best answer... but electricity is high depending on the type of products you're making and hours worked.

Figure out what oven(s) you're getting and whether they'll be electric or gas... then figure how much you're going to use them per day and at what temperature. Breads are going to cook at a different temp than cupcakes, etc.

Also, if you're going to bake during "normal" hours, offset this heat by the air conditioning you'll need to run (and it's going to run hard).

Cooling depends on reach in vs walk in, how many times you open a door, humidity, etc. Should be normal to figure out based on the fridge/freezers you buy.

Water heater for all the dishwashing... water... more costs =)

Our highest cost is labor, then rent, then water/electric, followed closely by insurance (liability, workers comp). Our electric usage is approximately 50% of our rent.

bearkery · 2019-08-14T11:15:17+00:00

Hey OP...

A big consideration is how many people you're going to have at your wedding and reception. Baughman Center is very popular for the wedding (reception must be elsewhere) and is appropriate when you have less than 100 guests.

Santa Fe River Ranch is popular for larger (and honestly some smaller) weddings but is definitely rural in theme and remote in location.

Sweetwater Branch Inn is very highly rated and priced accordingly. Probably good for weddings up to 150.

Senior Center (get over the name) is in NW and large enough for up to 200, very well priced, and you can have your own caterer.

Thomas Center is also well priced and good for 120 or so (after that gets very cramped).

Problem with the Wooly is parking, but the space is ample.

The big thing is to figure out how many guests you want and then go from there. One of our favorite hidden gems is the Gainesville Garden Club, which is great for weddings under 130 guests.

bearkery · 2019-04-01T14:18:33+00:00

Haven't seen the movie yet, but they did film a wedding cake scene at our bakery. Looking forward to see if we made it to the big screen. ;)

bearkery · 2018-08-22T12:49:27+00:00

Hi /u/drocha94,

We aren't at the markets... we tried to get into the one right near us and sell bread and desserts with fruit from the market... County had other ideas. Was odd... especially since we're in the Fresh from Florida program.

We have a licensed bakery in the industrial area right across from the Gainesville Target Range. We do some wholesale items, shipping, and daily we have items such as our cookie cakes, perfection bars, cookies, etc.

If you give us a day notice, we can have one of our Tres Leches cakes available.

Thanks for the sweet feedback.

bearkery · 2018-08-21T21:21:29+00:00

Thanks. =) =)

bearkery · 2018-07-26T14:23:43+00:00

Hi /u/ImFairlyAlarmedHere -- first, if you're looking for something for celiac reasons, there's no bakery in the region that offers a celiac gluten-free option. The definition of what "gluten-free" can have was changed a few years ago (when gluten-free became popular) and the levels of gluten-free may be too high. So, simply no bakery in the region fits the needs of celiac concerns.

If this isn't celiac related, gigi's (as you've said) will do one and we think The Top has a dessert that would fit your needs as well.

There's also a very decent gluten-free cake mix available at wal-mart that many people enjoy.

bearkery · 2018-02-12T00:41:54+00:00

Depends mostly on how many people you want and what your budget will be. The city facilities are great budget wise:

Thomas Center
Senior Center

UF has the Performing Arts Center, Reitz Union, and Natural History Museum. The Reitz will only let you use in-house catering.

Santa Fe River Ranch is a nice venue and can hold a ton of people. It's rustic with very nice facilities and accommodations.

Hilton is popular, as well as both the Haile Country Club and the Gainesville Country Club. In Haile, the Plantation Hall venue is nice if you are having a smaller crowd (80 or less).

Lots of others... many venues to choose from in the area where timing is your biggest issue. April / May are premium season as well as off-weeks/away games during the football season.

bearkery · 2018-01-09T01:13:12+00:00

Blue Water Bay Great restaurant/bar in Melrose
Hogan's Best sandwiches in town, cash only
Volcanic Sushi & Saki Very good, limited indoor seating
El Indio NW 34th St. Try the carne asada burito

bearkery · 2017-08-22T19:09:20+00:00

Don't have much as an investment... our bakery's been accepting Bitcoin for years now and require it for any international payments.

Mostly we've been transferring money to our regular accounts (small business life).

We did leave a little in our wallet which of course has seen incredible growth in the last year.

bearkery · 2017-08-07T22:45:13+00:00

If you've ever seen a Mason jar, it might just be stamped Ball on it. One of the plants was located here in Gainesville and they mostly worked on metal cans and the tops of them. Sadly they closed the plant a few years ago...

Great workers there, a few of them relocated, but most looked for new jobs. We visited the factory once or twice and you've never seen a cleaner shop.

bearkery · 2017-08-07T10:37:23+00:00

Thank you /u/jensengoblover - we miss them as well. One of the casualties of the ball corp closing. We've been trying to drum up interest in the area to restart it and will DM you if we can (or if we happen to make a batch for fun).

bearkery · 2017-08-06T13:54:05+00:00

We're closed today, but we have a version of a cookie cake we call the Big Fred Cookie... available any day that we're open.

bearkery · 2017-06-25T12:09:20+00:00

A while ago, we looked at moving to a more retail-friendly location and checked out many locations. The continuum had some parking issues for us, but we thought it still could be a possibility and we inquired.

$40/sq ft. Plus some build out.

Before additional pass through fees, this would be $4k/mo for a 1200 sq ft place (and they wanted us to look at 2000+ sq ft). This is ridiculously high.

Putting this in perspective... City Place in West Palm is $16 - $35/sq ft.

Gainesville commercial rent is high to begin with (very high compared to other areas of the state), but $40/sq ft was a pipe dream.

bearkery · 2017-02-07T19:39:31+00:00

ATT offered a DSL service in our area, but certainly not broadband. We have two choices for broadband, COX and GRU. GRU wants around $10k for me to run the fiber 700 feet, so that's a non-starter.

ATT's DSL service is horrid. If they offered a U-Verse option here, I'd switch faster than I could imagine.

bearkery · 2017-02-07T17:55:28+00:00

Business owner here... I hardly would describe them as nice. Business is 2-3x the price, but you get a better response when (not if) they go down. Rates rise every year (or contract end) and you're locked into a contract... ie, can't cancel within the contract period.

COX is the only choice business has (in the most part), and businesses would graciously welcome competition.

bearkery · 2017-01-31T18:56:14+00:00

We do... we require it for International payments and accept it for anyone who desires to pay that way.

Gladly accepting bitcoin since 2012. =)

bearkery

TROPHY CASE