STORY: New RBC online event for SME bakery decision makers

The Real Bread Campaign has announced a new event for SME bakery decision makers. 

At the online event on 2 Februrary, Real Bread bakery professionals will share their experiences of running successful, profitable businesses in ways that better support their team members physically, psychologically and financially. This peer-to-peer event will also include opportunities for participants to share information and advice. 

It will focus on topics including production scheduling and staff hours; involving team members in decision making; pay and benefits; and building mental wellbeing into a bakery’s opps and culture. 

The panellists 

Four speakers will each spend ten minutes outlining one aspect of their business-boosting, employee-focussed activity: 

Laura Bullock, owner, Seven Hills Bakery, Sheffield: Being a Living Wage employer.
Mel Darbyshire, head baker, Grand Central Bakery, Seattle and Portland: Fighting the employees’ corner in business decisions.
Ryan Morgan, owner and head baker, Sixteen Bricks, Cincinnati: Investing in bakery equipment as an investment in your team
Cindy Zurias, baker: How I abolished the night shift. 

This will be followed by a Q&A with the panellists for all participants, and then time to make comments and general chat about baking a better career. 

Booking 

Advance booking is essential. Tickets are FREE but a donation (suggested £10) to help the Real Bread Campaign continue its work would be very much welcomed. Click here to book. 

The Zoom link will be sent to participants closer to the date of the event. 

Who’s this for? 

Thisevent is designed for people who make HR, operational and other decisions that affect people in an SME bakery. Other team members are also welcome to participate, and some elements might be of interest to sole trader microbakers, though the focus is on small, Real Bread bakeries with employees. 

The event is being run by the Real Bread Campaign in collaboration with baker Cindy Zurias and Roots to Work – the charity Sustain’s good food jobs site.

It is intended to be the start of a longer, wider conversation about businesses going beyond current employment law and common practice in the sector to make Real Bread baking a more inclusive, sustainable and rewarding career. 

For more information visit www.sustainweb.org