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The Cupboards were bare
The Cupboards Were Bare
Late into the night of December 23rd, I went to the bakery looking for some holiday pastries. This would be the first Christmas my husband and I would not be home for Christmas. My son and his new wife, who usually came in from Chicago, were heading to South America to celebrate their postponed honeymoon and Karl and I would be heading out with my sister Maureen, to celebrate the holiday with her daughter’s family in Colorado. I wanted to bring Erin something special from the bakery. Change is good I told myself. Colorado sounded wonderful.
When I walked into the darkened bakery, I searched through all the rolling racks, looked into the walk-in refrigerators and even looked in the place that pastries that had not been picked up were stored. I was shocked. Our cupboards were completely bare. There wasn’t a cookie, pastry or cake to be had. I had stayed home that day getting ready for our trip and Tracy, our general manager had sent me pictures of the day, including pictures of a line to get into the bakery that queued all the way out to Madison Road. A picture like that never fails to shock me. How does a simple idea that Mary Pat and I had 40 years ago translate into a line around the corner and a bare cupboard?
I know how fortunate we are, and that for every endeavor there are certain attributes that are essential for success, including those we foster at the BonBonerie like:
Vision,
Staying true to a philosophy,
Passion,
Kindness,
Consistency,
Luck,
True Grit,
Artistry,
And the discipline it takes to make everything beautiful and delicious every day.
Those are the attributes of our brilliant staff.
No matter how many influencers are out there trying to bend our minds with a thumbs up or down, in the end, each of us knows what matters. I could see it each day as you came into the bakery loading up your arms with gifts for friends and families. I saw it when some of you so generously gave gifts to our staff of pizza for all or gently nudged a thank you gift to your favorite counter staff. I saw it as varied employees made their favorite family recipes to share with their co-workers. I saw it as our general manager stayed late after many very long days to make her homemade lasagna recipe lunch for everyone.
Being cared about matters. Community matters. What Christmas is about matters.
Is there a better compliment to any baker or cook in the world than to have every heartfelt thing they have cooked, eaten and enjoyed by someone they love? I have to admit that instead of being upset when there was nothing left to be had, I smiled a BIG “Oh, too bad for me.” smile. What a perfect holiday season! Thank you to our loyal and new customers for appreciating what every member of our staff did to show up the grueling hours it took to hand make the pastries, cookies and cakes for your families and friends.
I’d like to share a few pictures of the past month so you can see some of what it takes to do what we do. Happy New Year and this year I’d also like to drink a toast to change, wherever unexpected and delightful places it may take us in 2024.
Sharon Butler
Co_Founder
