I was curious to know if anybody has been able to come up with an effective plan for closing their dept. when you have just 2 people???
I ask, because my dept. head has decided that our manager doesn't know what he is talking about needing/having 4 people on closing at night for our dept.(bakery). Which I think is truly a bunch of BS considering the fact that our cleaning requirements have definitely up a great deal. And having 2 people on closing(like we did tonight) did not get nearly enough stuff done. Sure we hit the big ticket items, like trash, cleaned out the doughnut cage/marked down doughnuts, threw out individual bagels and rolls, and cut up all the bread loaves, and did doughnut slack out. Washed and squee'd the floor as best we could also. I even did my best cleaning out the bread slicers, dusted the top of the counters off even, and cleaned out the bread rack trays, and so forth. But I honestly feel like we didn't get nearly enough stuff done. And have a strong feeling that I'll get bitched out about it tomorrow as the other chick is off til Friday.
So in the future, does anybody have any effective time saving tips when closing with as few people as possible? I know Kroger is known for skeleton crews on things for sure. But truly curious if someone has a somewhat decent game plan for these sorts of situations. I'm sure it won't be the last time it will happen either.
Also for fellow "bakers" that work in a larger sized Kroger or affiliate store, does anybody know if there is a end to baking at some point during the night any more? I know at our old store I think it was at 5 or a little before then. But now it seems like we are nearly baking well into the night til like 6 or 7 pending on what it is. I know they said we are doubling our production which I get. But dude, I think that really cuts into the clean up time with things too and causes us to get even further behind.
In my old store, a lot of times there was only one person in the bakery after 6 or even before. You must work in a really big store so it's hard for me to say. each store is different on a lot of things.
When i'd do breakout, i'd like to be done with that by 6 so i could start cleaning up by 7, giving me time to do extra afterwards depending on what was needed (like baking cookies), i'd like to the floors last thing.
In my new store, it's usually one person working at a time, all by yourself for the whole 1-9 shift. But this store really is an exception to the rule since it is SO tiny.
I've never seen a bakery have 4 closers at night, you must be in one of the biggest stores in your division if you really need that many.
In my old store, a lot of times there was only one person in the bakery after 6 or even before. You must work in a really big store so it's hard for me to say. each store is different on a lot of things.
When i'd do breakout, i'd like to be done with that by 6 so i could start cleaning up by 7, giving me time to do extra afterwards depending on what was needed (like baking cookies), i'd like to the floors last thing.
In my new store, it's usually one person working at a time, all by yourself for the whole 1-9 shift. But this store really is an exception to the rule since it is SO tiny.
I've never seen a bakery have 4 closers at night, you must be in one of the biggest stores in your division if you really need that many.
Only 1?!?!!! O_O um yea, our old store was kind of medium sized I guess. And the bakery had a lot smaller sales floor to work with for the area(so small, we used to have those wooden displays that were built back to back, and end to end just to get everything stocked. Had about 4 main ones and a couple of tables for other displays thrown in). So although I was on closing by myself one time and that was at least til 9 one night. It was definitely a bit of a hustle to get things done. But at least I was able to get some help from Deli peeps a bit that night.
See that is one of our biggest issues lately. The slack out! Cause typically we have like 6 bakers(well did have 7, but the 7th was more experienced and was more of a back up to the Dept. Head, so she and the DH's other back up people, became assistant managers over in the Deli), however that has changed recently, do to one baker taking a vacation week all this week and one of the other bakers(both were being shifted somewhat from earlier morning times of coming in, to afternoons so that slack out could be done for the day), has been playing Starbucks rescue or something the last few days. As it seems every time we turn around, she is like I'm outtie, they need me over at Starbucks". And leaves slack out for our manager and ironically a transferee from Starbucks to do slack out(which God love Mary, she has been doing the best she can for sure with it. I wish I could help her out, but I've only been there 3 months myself and they STILL have yet to show ME how to do the bread slack out. So, I can't help her any more than the next unfortunately).
I have to add too that, I don't know what the DH and the manager is smokin' lately. But we've also been doing an over abundance(in my opinion of cookies). I mean I know we have these like 3 level table displays now and we can get more than enough of the cookies out there on the floor. And we don't want to run short. But seriously, what once used to be done of the baking at 5, it's going til 8 p.m.(which is usually when we were trying to begin collecting up trash and do other clean up stuff). And usually at 5 or 6 we used to clean out the doughnut cage(as we have to not only clean the doors inside and out, we have to get a step stool and clean off the top too) and also try and do the doughnut slack out around then as well. But dude, now at the new store our manager wants us to start cutting the bread at 6-6:30 as if that is enough time(we have like two long and very broad display racks in front of kitchen area. And even though it's great for the customers to grab what they want and even cut it themselves(they still ask us to do it for them though, haha), bag it up and go. For the employees it is kind of murder especially during the holidays, when ALL flavors of the La Brea and Private Selection is in! And the bakers also bake up like 6 loaves of each kind(as you can fit 3 in the front row of the display, and 3 in the back row of the display), to make things look full as well as having an area for loose bagels customers can grab and bag up on their own too. But when it comes to the end of the night and we have to slice it all up, it is a nightmare unless you have two people working both break slicers at the same time(which hasn't happened(having 2 people cut bread), as folks are still boxing and labeling tons of cookies still!
Honestly for the evening it usually starts out somewhat strong as we have enough people scheduled at times from 3-7 and closing. But honestly I just think my manager and DHes, don't know how to effectively use the evening crew we have. Cause as it stands the only time they have 1 person doing much of anything, is when they are getting truck, or filling the floor(and I should know as I'm usually the unofficial recruit. To say the least I'm definitely getting in shape from the former of the two tasks), and also when it comes to making the party trays and as of late doing the bread slack out. Pretty much everyone else is on cookie or bread baking duties throughout the day. Oh and can't forget assisting the customers too in all of that as well.
But yea for us a typical night is looking like as of late:
1. Bake from noon til night
2. Slack out done by whomever(even if they are experienced with it or not)
3. Cut, bag, tag/label all the 99 different kinds of bread loaves we have and clean out the display for them(front to back, as there are lovely crumb trays to clean)
4. Markdown doughnuts(and other markdowns whenever you can, don't forget the food pantry(though we often do at times!)
5. Clean out doughnut cage(all while acknowledging, and even sometimes personally making up a 12ct variety box for them if they want it(as most don't want the ones already done, but the one in your hand or to make their own but want you(the associate) to get the doughnuts for them)
6. Complete Doughnut slack out(mind you duck and dive tons of boxes as we seemed to have hired the jolly Green Giant to stack things nearly to the ceiling, so if something comes hurdling your way, hope you have good reflexes. ;))
7. Clean tables, dishes, trays, slicers(of the bread variety that is), fronts of the stoves, counter tops, on top of the bread displays, all glass surfaces, sinks, sweep out the supply closet, clean the proofer, organize and straigthen freezer, check and record temp logs(which I guess our DHes and manger does that)
8. Collect all the trash(which not only includes our blue cart, but 4(3 that are actually on wheels) trash cans to be emptied, and let's not forget the floor, oh how we must sweep, wash, soap, scrub(and the proofer),rinse, AND can't forget to sanitize it too. Oh and can't forget to clean the hinges on our freezer door as well and the base boards along the backs of the bread displays. Cause the lovely dirty water causes such a bad splash back that makes it look like we don't clean much.
Oh and I believe I forgot to say that, our lovely new ovens, which were meant to cook up two trays at a time instead of one like at our old store, don't do that. And if you aren't careful, one will burn stuff to a crisp on top. And the other one won't even cook trays that are in the middle of the racks at all. Which gets us further behind there too. And as for store size, I'll let you be the judge after I say we have roughly 62 or so aisles. One of which is an actual apparel section, 3 frozen food sections, Starbucks has their own built in cafe area and they are no longer a stand up kiosk in the middle of the floor, but an actual store front too, we have a huge seating area even. So yea, it's pretty big. Hell even the Bakery and Deli got bigger too. I mean for Bakery we have quite a few 3 level tables for tons of stuff across from us, freezer and fridge cases for tons of cakes and stuff, have a semi-walk in retarder to use. Have a pastry chef and her display and work area even. And a little office off the bakery, that I feel is more of a club house for the managers to go in there and yack about whatever or whomever.
Deli, has their typical lunch meat and cheese section, but there is also the boar's head sandwich shop(which is kind of like a mini sub way's), have a pizza and chicken shop also. And another quick question. I know everyone does things differently, but was taking online orders(particularly cake orders) something that was implemented recently or what? As we consistently seem to get orders from on there. But I think only the managers are the only ones that can access it to be able to keep up with it. Which is most unfortunate. Especially when they come holding the print out and it's for a cake design that the baker's can't even do cause the kits for that particular design are out.
Oh I hate online orders. Because you're right, half the time people order things we don't even have. Yes the only people who have access to them are the bakery manager, and the deli manager/assistant. As far as i know they've been available for a while but probably since your store has grown, you're getting more orders now.
yeah it sounds like you have a pretty big store, it is a marketplace i'm assuming? I've only worked in a marketplace for a couple weeks when i was doing my dept. head training. But usually the marketplaces have a lot more people scheduled per day (but this is because the amount of sales are much higher too).
Oh yea, not just for cakes though either. Someone had ordered a bunch of croissants one time too well after the slack out was done for the day. And we didn't realize it til one of the Assistant Managers printed it off and stuck it on the side wall with the outline to do doughnut slack out. If I hadn't of looked over there, nobody likely would have realized it was sitting there for so long.
Yep, a purty big market place. Mhmm, we had pretty much everybody from the old store scheduled like a hour after the other coming in, when we first started. Then they loosened that up a bit, to every 2 hours someone is coming in. And yea for sure not closing til 1 a.m. oh yea, we get tons of folks in and out. That's why I don't get why the DH, thought it was a smart idea to not have 4 people on closing. I mean we have much to clean and do at the end of the night. And 2 people ain't cutting it.
Not in bakery, but I'll speak for our meat and seafood department. I closed non stop for a whole year, so I know, lol. I work at a big store with tow full fifteen foot long service cases. Every night only two of us, maybe three on a Saturday or sunday. We have to break both service cases down, and are supposed to tray everything up and wash all of the pans.....but yeeeaaaahhh, that only happened maybe twice a week.....Also melt the seafood ice, do the dishes, wash down the entire place, put everything up. The sorry ass butchers NEVER cleaned up their cutting room. Grinder, two saws, boxes, plastic, trash freaking everywhere just thrown around. We had to do those dishes too. We also had to make sure the entire sales floor, except lunch meat, was full and conditioned. And oh yes, break down the truck before all of that. We used to have a real crappy market manager that over ordered, guessed at his orders, and always left at least two or three full pallets, even still wrapped in plastic, for us two closers to handle. Also, all throughout the year except for in the summer, the second regular closer could only come in at 5 because he has one car and had to drive his sister from school. Fun fun for me.
Our bakery department is kind of big too, and there is always just one guy, the one male funny enough, every night who just looks so tired and checked out, shuffling with no hurry, lol.
