How long did it take you to learn how to do the bread dough slack out for the next day? I ask, cause I'll apparently have to be doing it on my own in the coming weeks. Because of how our vacation schedule is falling and pretty much the folks that know how to do it are either going on vacation, or having requested time off for Mother's Day. And even the current chick that is really good at it, after she comes back from being off do to issues with her back. She is being moved to the Cheese Shop(less heavy lifting over that way I guess).
Also is there an actual guide or whatever in one of the binders? I've heard that there is, but I've never had a chance to look it up and make notes on it. And any time I try and ask someone else about it, that HAS done the slack out, they keep saying they do it their own way or everyone has a different approach. Which in theory is fine. But I just want to know what the heck is the RIGHT way to do it at all in the first place. Cause thus far I've only done the bagels and sweet goods a few times. And like twice for the other stuff. But I still don't have a handle on the other stuff, cause folks that start out showing me, always just walk off or are busy with other stuff and forget the fact I don't know what I'm doing.
And what kills me so much about it, is the fact that peeps keep saying you should take a moment and just watch someone doing it. I would do that, if they had someone else filling the sales floor so I can get a second to learn anything else!
Do you have a Go-No Go book? That can help you a little bit on knowing what types of breads are what.
I actually made a little breakout guide as well and drew pictures in it to help show people how it's done as well. Too bad I don't have a scanner, or i'd scan the pictures to help you out.
I love this forum. Just learning all kinds of stuff. As for the Go-No Go book, I'm not even really sure what that is. Last binder I even vaguely had a glance at held our CAP reports. But haven't been able to check it out or find another one that might have how things are supposed to look.
Do you have a Go-No Go book? That can help you a little bit on knowing what types of breads are what.
I actually made a little breakout guide as well and drew pictures in it to help show people how it's done as well. Too bad I don't have a scanner, or i'd scan the pictures to help you out.
The Go No-Go book only tells you how to bake something and if something is baked or finished properly. It has nothing to do with CAP or how much dough to break out.
As with most of my bakery training, I learned to do things mainly by myself. I was supposed to be trained on baking for a week straight way back when I started years ago. The lady that was supposed to train me showed up the first day and called off the rest of the week. I think as long as you can work with the baker or someone else that has a good handle on the slack out I would say learning would take a day or two. I am also a baker. Getting the slack out done in a consistent way is hard to do when we had three people transfer to our store all from the same store. They do things a lot differently and I had to work with them to get things slacked out the right way. So what I did 19 years ago when I first started was take a small notebook with me and write down everything that I was told about slack out and made sure to pay close attention to how the baker(they did their own slack out back then) slacked their stuff out.
The Go No Go book basically just tells you the amount of time the breads should be proofed and then the baking times and temperatures that they get baked at. And pictures of the finished product with examples of the way the bread should look versus a no go picture.
We have print outs that we got from the web that also baking instructions for everything and it tells you how to slack them out onto trays but that was a long time ago and I'm in the Columbus divison.
Well I'm no longer on in the morning hours with the actual bakers any more. And when I get in most days now, they are either just leaving or already gone. But I did ask the one chick that isn't one of the bakers(but has been with the company for like 10+ years), but whom is very familiar with the slack out, if I could get with her Sunday to spend some time seeing how she does it so I can take some notes. I'll also ask my back up manager about it as well when I'm on my next shift. Cause I know if I don't say anything to her before Sunday(and even remind her again on Sunday if she is on), that I would like that time with the other chick so I can get my notes together.
I will also admit to a certain extent I've had to learn how to do some things on my own as well. Although from time to time when we were at our old store, someone would say you would bake this or that on a particular temp and time. But since we hit the new store, it's like we are suddenly supposed to be psychics and know how to do everything. When out of the 8 months or so I've been hired on. I haven't even really been shown how to do most things. And with me NOT having any history with baking whatsoever. I do need a bit more one on one training with things. Most especially the slack out. At most I know we start out with a bunch of Italian bread and write on the sheets so the bakers know what stuff is. Beyond that I'm confused til the sweet goods and bagels.
Do you know how to run the CAP (computer assisted production) report? If not then the instructions are as follows:
1 Sign in to the RF unit
2. Select option 1 CAO
3. Select CAP. On ours it's option 6. Yours may be different.
4. Select prep for tomorrow.
5. Select new session.
6. Type in a name and press ENTER. I usually just put in the date. It really doesn't matter what you call it.
7. Start scanning. You can either scan the bar code on the item or the bar code on the shelf tag. They should be the same.
8. When you're through scanning, hit ESC. Select Print and then follow the prompts to exit out.
9. If the report doesn't print out, make sure your user ID is associated with the correct printer. If not, then ask someone who uses the printer you want to use how to change printers.
10. If you do need to change printers, you'll need to print the report again. Follow steps 1-4 above. Make sure the proper session is highlighted. It will have the name you originally gave it. Select Resume Session. Hit ESC and then select Print.
Now some notes about scanning the items.
When you scan an item, it will show the number of packages available for sale (AFS), the standard number of packages that should be on the shelf (STD), the number of packages it's predicting you're going to sell (FRC), and the number of packages you need to break out (BAKE). The number of items it tells you to bake is the number of packages forecasted plus the standard amount needed on the shelf minus the number of items available for sale.
When you scan each item, the AFS will always be 0 unless you change it. To change it, hit F2 to highlight the AFS number. On our RF units the blue button is the function key. Key in the number of packages you have for sale. This is the tricky part. You definitely don't count anything that gets marked down that day. Some stores also don't count what you mark down the next day either. As long as you're consistent, the numbers will work themselves out.
After you key in the the number of packages on hand and hit ENTER. the number of items that it thinks you need to bake will be highlighted. This is where you need to think. If the number sounds reasonable, then hit F5 and go to the next item. On the other hand, the item may be too small or too large and you'll have to change it and then hit F5. If something just went off sale, then CAP is probably going to tell you to bake too much. You might have had a table of dinner rolls set up somewhere and were baking 15 packages a day. Normally you might only need 4 packages a day. The CAP software doesn't take this into account. It only goes by what you sold during the last 4 weeks. Of course the reverse is true if something is on sale. You'll need to bump up the numbers until CAP catches up. If you're unsure it's always better to err on the side of baking too much rather than too little. Don't fall into the trap of feast or famine though (heavy one day and then nothing the next and then back to heavy). Usually I will bake one package of something even if CAP says to bake none. That way you have it on hand in case everything sells out but you're not stuck with a lot of stuff that's going to be marked down in case the stuff doesn't sell. I like to have everything I bake go out that day so the bread is as fresh as possible when the customers buy it. Occasionally some of it might have to wait until the next morning but if that happens all the time, it means you're baking too much. If it doesn't go out by the time the markdowns are done, then you've definitely baked too much.
Do you know how to run the CAP (computer assisted production) report? If not then the instructions are as follows:
1 Sign in to the RF unit
2. Select option 1 CAO
3. Select CAP. On ours it's option 6. Yours may be different.
4. Select prep for tomorrow.
5. Select new session.
6. Type in a name and press ENTER. I usually just put in the date. It really doesn't matter what you call it.
7. Start scanning. You can either scan the bar code on the item or the bar code on the shelf tag. They should be the same.
8. When you're through scanning, hit ESC. Select Print and then follow the prompts to exit out.
9. If the report doesn't print out, make sure your user ID is associated with the correct printer. If not, then ask someone who uses the printer you want to use how to change printers.
10. If you do need to change printers, you'll need to print the report again. Follow steps 1-4 above. Make sure the proper session is highlighted. It will have the name you originally gave it. Select Resume Session. Hit ESC and then select Print.
Now some notes about scanning the items.
When you scan an item, it will show the number of packages available for sale (AFS), the standard number of packages that should be on the shelf (STD), the number of packages it's predicting you're going to sell (FRC), and the number of packages you need to break out (BAKE). The number of items it tells you to bake is the number of packages forecasted plus the standard amount needed on the shelf minus the number of items available for sale.
When you scan each item, the AFS will always be 0 unless you change it. To change it, hit F2 to highlight the AFS number. On our RF units the blue button is the function key. Key in the number of packages you have for sale. This is the tricky part. You definitely don't count anything that gets marked down that day. Some stores also don't count what you mark down the next day either. As long as you're consistent, the numbers will work themselves out.
After you key in the the number of packages on hand and hit ENTER. the number of items that it thinks you need to bake will be highlighted. This is where you need to think. If the number sounds reasonable, then hit F5 and go to the next item. On the other hand, the item may be too small or too large and you'll have to change it and then hit F5. If something just went off sale, then CAP is probably going to tell you to bake too much. You might have had a table of dinner rolls set up somewhere and were baking 15 packages a day. Normally you might only need 4 packages a day. The CAP software doesn't take this into account. It only goes by what you sold during the last 4 weeks. Of course the reverse is true if something is on sale. You'll need to bump up the numbers until CAP catches up. If you're unsure it's always better to err on the side of baking too much rather than too little. Don't fall into the trap of feast or famine though (heavy one day and then nothing the next and then back to heavy). Usually I will bake one package of something even if CAP says to bake none. That way you have it on hand in case everything sells out but you're not stuck with a lot of stuff that's going to be marked down in case the stuff doesn't sell. I like to have everything I bake go out that day so the bread is as fresh as possible when the customers buy it. Occasionally some of it might have to wait until the next morning but if that happens all the time, it means you're baking too much. If it doesn't go out by the time the markdowns are done, then you've definitely baked too much.
I have done the regular CAP report before. But yea, just never one for the slack out. I'm saving the notes you provided though for sure.
Although our store has been having shrink issues lately. So our back up manager created a slack out sheet to help us create more precise number of packages at the moment. That might change though, come Mother's Day perhaps. So I totally value your help in regards to explaining about figuring out the fluctuations in the number of packages that are needed to be made.
