Sunday, September 14, 2008

Logistics, Shmogistics

Madison Sourdough will sell us partially-baked loaves for slightly more than it would cost us to hire one full-time baker. We don't need to quantify ingredient costs, energy costs, staff scheduling and owner inexperience to realize the decision is a no-brainer. Randy George, you were right! I hadn't even thought of partially-baked loaves: freezing them until we need them will reduce waste and allow us to customize a delivery schedule, and the pub will still be filled with delicious bakery smells.

I spent all day yesterday at the Master Brewers Association of the Americas' Midwest Technical Conference. The event was very informative, relatively affordable (I don't have enough time right now to rant about the American Society of Brewing Chemists) and a lot of fun. As usual, I drank a healthy amount of beer and met a lot of cool people. The price of admission included a tour of New Glarus's amazing new brewery and dinner at J.T. Whitney's. I'm glad that I spent the day learning things instead of watching Michigan lose to Notre Dame. It's not gonna be my year for football.

I'm back in business plan mode. By the end of next week, I want to have the plan ready to show potential investors. Jane and I will need to do other things before we actually can, such as write a formal investment offering and make sure that we won't be breaking any laws, but we'll try to not climb those mountains before our gear is packed.

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