Bakeries Adjust to Changing Times
With COVID-19 changing the way social gatherings are held, some area bakeries are feeling the impact.
NORTHLAND – With COVID-19 changing the way social gatherings are held, some area bakeries are feeling the impact.
Bakeries throughout the region are having to be flexible in the way they distribute their treats with the pandemic changing the way they do business.
At Johnson’s Bakery on west 3rd street in Duluth, business has changed drastically mainly because its catering to both the DEC and to restaurants has been halted due to the pandemic.
“Everybody is working less hours,” said Scott Johnson, the owner of Johnson’s Bakery. “We’re trying to just be able to kind of cut some hours back and stuff. It’s going to be kind of real interesting to see how it’s going to be one we hit the new year.”
Pre-COVID, Jonson’s would cater for many events like birthday parties, weddings, and funerals. However, most of these events have either been canceled or now involved smaller groups, changing the way bakeries are making these goodies.
“Everything is so up in the air,” said Johnson. “It’s nothing that we can, once the vaccine can be out and can be distributed. We don’t know how that might open things up a little bit more again or not.”
Johnson’s owners are thankful for their customers and hope to be a bit stronger during this upcoming new year.
“So we’re really just trying to keep plugging away,” said Johnson. “We do have a strong customer base so we hope to ride it out as best we can.”
However, on the other side of the bridge, A Dozen Excuses bakery in Superior is not experiencing the same types of hardships.
“What we are seeing is that people are very concerned about how they’re receiving their goods, and they should be,” said Melissa Kindgren, the owner of A Dozen Excuses bakery. “We have had a number of weeks when the numbers start going up when people decide, hey, we’re gonna stay home and so those numbers go down for us periodically.”
Large cakes are not being purchased very often but smaller items like cheesecakes are still being made quite a bit for gatherings of three to four.
They are grateful for the continued support of the community during these times.
“And we want to thank the public because without them, we wouldn’t be here,” said Kindgren. “But we have really really seen people supporting local business and that is just tremendous.”
Unlike Minnesota bakeries, A Dozen Excuses is still able to distribute to restaurants in Wisconsin because they are stll open.
“I think that we just have to be aware of the fact that people are going to be ordering differently because they’re staying home more,” said Kindgren. “And they’re doing a lot of baking at home. So we have to adjust our numbers and that’s fine.”
Both Johnson’s Bakery and A Dozen Excuses are still offering delivery.
