Webinar: Recruiting and Hiring Strategies for Your Bakery
September 13, 2023
By Bakers Journal
A good baker is hard to find! Finding and hiring great people is a challenge for bakeries of all sizes amid the current labour shortage.
Join the Baking Association of Canada for a webinar that will provide perspective and an approach to hiring that will put your bakery in a position to attract, hire and ultimately keep good employees.
Our expert panellists will tackle these questions:
- What is the current state of the labour market in Canada for bakeries, restaurants and other food service, and what is the future outlook?
- What should I consider before hiring a team member?
- Which strategies will help me make a successful, long-term hire?
- How is one successful Canadian bakery navigating the labour shortage and which recruiting and hiring strategies are working best?
Meet our speakers:
Laure-Anna Bomal, Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses
Laure-Anna Bomal is an economist in Montreal for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). Since joining CFIB in 2021, she has worked on a range of surveys and research reports on issues affecting small business, including business logistics and labour shortages. Laure-Anna holds a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics from the Université de Montréal.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every industry and region.
Karen Bornarth
Karen Bornarth is executive director of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, a non-profit membership association dedicated to supporting the sustainable growth of the artisan baking industry through education, training and community. She developed an initiative at Hot Bread Kitchen to improve job quality and business performance in small food businesses, and oversaw a team to design and deliver a dynamic workforce development program in New York City.
In her current work with the Bread Bakers Guild of America, she supports bakery owners and professional bakers to achieve success in their baking practices and businesses through classes and events in baking techniques and the business of baking, and opportunities to connect with and learn from their peers.
During her seven-plus years with Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit workforce and small business development agency in NYC, she developed an initiative to improve job quality and business performance in small food businesses, and oversaw a team to design and deliver a dynamic workforce development program in New York City.
Tabitha Langel
Tabitha Langel is owner and one of five founding partners in Tall Grass Prairie Bakery, a respected bakery with locations at the heart of two Winnipeg neighbourhoods and a recently opened fresh food retail shop adjacent to their location inside The Forks market. The thriving business, established in 1990, attracts talented staff who share its values of hard work, integrity, sourcing local ingredients and positivity. Find out which strategies are working well to attract and hire talented staff at Tall Grass!
Martin Barnett, Executive Director of the Baking Association of Canada, will welcome the speakers and give a quick update of BAC activities. This live interactive webinar is sponsored by the Baking Association of Canada. Become a member today!
Helpful links:
Labour Market Development Agreements – Canada.ca
Community Workforce Development Program – Canada.ca
Workforce Development Agreements – Canada.ca
You won’t want to miss these other exciting webinars brought to you by the BAC this fall:
Telling the Story of Your Bakery
Tuesday, Oct. 17 , 3 p.m. EST
Presenter: Mark Dyck
Mark Dyck is the creator and host of the Rise Up! The Baker Podcast featuring conversations with professional bakers and bakery owners from around the world. He is the founder of Bakers4Bakers.org, a global community of bakery owners working together to build successful, sustainable bakeries.
Mark specializes in helping people tell better stories and leaders make meaningful change. After a successful corporate career, Mark took a big leap with his wife Cindy and opened Orange Boot Bakery in Regina, Sask. Their small, traditional bread bakery was known as much for its generosity, humanity and devoted customers as for its delicious bread and pastries. Thiswebinar session is aimed directly at small and independent bakeries and baking professionals.
In this session, you will learn key techniques that will help you tell better stories about your bakery and more. You will learn a simple framework for finding the best stories to tell and the best place to tell them, without worrying about The Algorithm of social media.
Selling Your Baked Products at Retail
Monday, Nov. 6, 2 p.m. (EST)
Presenter: Peter Chapman, SKUFood, is an expert lead facilitator who has decades of experience on the buyers’ side of the table including 19 years with Loblaw Companies, and will share invaluable insider tips and tools.
After 30 years in the food industry, I have a passion for seeing others succeed in this business, I relish the opportunity to share my in-depth knowledge of the retail landscape and consumers with food producers and food processors, who want to grow their sales.
Peter has experience in product development, building relationships throughout the supply chain and retail merchandising. He has worked in merchandising for produce, deli, home meal replacement, seafood, bakery, floral, marketing, advertising and real estate.
Since 2007 he has worked independently as a consultant with producers and processors across Canada and in the U.S. to help them understand their customers and consumers better while growing their sales.
In 2014 he published a la cart, a supplier’s guide to retailers’ priorities. The book was written for suppliers, to help them better understand where their customers are focusing their efforts. There is a chapter devoted to each of the retailer’s priorities and suggestions for how suppliers can develop products and programs to support these initiatives.
Says Peter, “It is so exciting for me to see producers and processors navigate the marketplace more effectively and get your items in to the shopping cart of the consumer more often. It has become very clear to me that success in this industry is not about making great products to sell; it is about selling the great products you make.”
Peter will break down the steps involved in selling your baked goods at retail, as covered at more length during his free workshop in collaboration with the Government of Canada and the Baking Association of Canada.
Check our webinars page regularly to view educational content tailored for and relevant to bakeries in Canada.
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