It’s been two weeks since we began selling bread, and I am beginning to get used to the change in daily operations. I met today with one of my advisers, and the key piece of information that I got out of the conversation was that I need to focus all of my energy on selling bread. I’ve heard that for a long time, from a lot of people, but I am finally ready to make that a reality.
Sour Flour started off as an idea for a business. Bread has been around for thousands of years, and is a product that virtually everyone consumes. It is also simple, as anyone can do it, but has the potential for infinite complexity, and can get very mathematical. As an initial Goal, I set out to give away 1000 Loaves of Bread. It took 6 months, and over the course of that time I started to see enormous value in giving away free bread. We partnered with Joyful Living, a non profit, started providing Bread Education, and got a few donations which allowed us to operate for the next few months. But to continue on as an organization, and to be able to support the philanthropic causes we believe in, we realized that we were not setup with enough funding to continue as a pure non profit.
So as we looked back at our identity, we created 3 Goals to serve as a guideline for where we were trying to go. And the most immediate Goal is the one of selling 1000 Loaves in 4 months. This is an important Goal for a few reasons. First of all, it is the basis for showing that there is indeed a need and demand for Sour Flour. I attempted to do that with our first Goal of giving away 1000 Loaves of Bread, but it wasn’t enough to convince any investors. Second of all, it will provide us with some much needed revenue to continue operations. And finally, it puts me in the role I have actually been looking to fill, as a Baker.
So although there is still much to learn, I am finally ready to dive into the aspect of this business that I have been holding off for 10 months. I know there is demand for the product, and it is now time to figure out how to best meet that demand. Just today I received a phone call from a new restaurant that wants to buy some bread, and while I was on the phone I got a text message from a neighbor saying she had a coworker who wanted to buy a loaf.
One of the issues so far has been that Sour Flour has expanded so rapidly, it has been hard to keep track of all the moving pieces. But given the need for focus, it comes down to making sure we put enough energy on the things that matter. Sour Flour is interested in building relationships with its customers, and providing for them as well as we can. And we do this through bread. I am a Baker, so feel free to order a Loaf of Bread whenever you’d like. You can always email danny@sourflour.org, or call me at (415) 509 – 3380.