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Is the Summer Slowdown Real? How to Plan Your Microbakery | Episode 84

  • May 22, 2025
  • 5 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts


Every year around the time the weather turns, bakers start talking about the summer slowdown, and for a lot of people it lands as a worry. Markets thin out. People head to the lake instead of the market on a hot Saturday. Pre-orders get unpredictable because half your list is traveling.


Here is the part that took me a while to see. Some of the summer slowdown belongs to your customers, and some of it belongs to you. Your own energy, your own bandwidth, your own calendar with the kids home all day. When we forget to account for our side of it, we look at the revenue in August and get scared by a dip we actually chose.


Last summer I planned my strategy on purpose, shifted a few of my products, and did not experience a slowdown at all. I gained momentum, and at one point I had to scale back because demand outran what I could physically produce.


So the summer slowdown is not a rule you have to accept. A good chunk of it comes down to decisions you make in May and June, and you get to make them on purpose. Here is how I make mine.


Decide what kind of summer you are having

Before you look at a single number, sit down and ask what actually makes sense for you this summer.


I did not start with my April sales or with what another baker was doing. I looked at my schedule, our travel plans, the heat here in South Texas, my longer term business goals, and my calendar. Then I asked what energizes me and what drains me.


This year I chose slow. I am heading into a genuinely busy season, so I want to build in some rest in the one stretch where I can control it.


That means fewer products on my pre-order menus, and a real possibility that I only do my markets on the second and fourth Saturdays with a very small porch pickup menu on the off weeks, just sandwich loaves and cookies. Two big bake days a month instead of four.


I have already told my bookkeeper that lower summer revenue is an intentional choice, so it does not read as a problem in the books later. That matters more than you would think.


Make your expectations match your reality

If your kids are home for the summer, be careful about assuming that means more time.


Ask yourself straight out whether you will have more bandwidth or less. Some of it depends on the ages, some on whether they will pitch in, and some on how many popsicle requests and games of Uno land in the middle of a bake day.


For some bakers, summer really is more flexible. No school drop-off, no pick-up line, older kids who can help you package. For others it is a fast road to burnout, because they are trying to hold the same output as spring under completely different circumstances.


Whichever one you are, name it now. Getting blindsided in July is what turns a scaled-back season into a discouraging one.


Let your own sales data pick your summer menu

This is the piece to go do this week.


Pull your recent orders and look for the shift. In my pre-orders I have seen a lot fewer rustic original sourdough loaves and a lot more sandwich bread. It happened last summer too, which is when I leaned into sandwich bread hard and bought a stack of loaf pans. At markets it is still closer to 50/50, so I bring both there and just weight my quantities toward the sandwich bread.


It makes sense when you think about how people eat in the heat. Nobody is reaching for a hearty rustic loaf to go with soup in August. They want easy sandwiches and picnic food.


Ask yourself:

  • What have people been ordering more of lately, and less of?

  • Which product has dropped off, and would summer be a good time to take it off the menu?

  • What are people asking you for that is not on the list yet?

You can always bring a favorite back in the fall. Taking something off your menu for a season is not a permanent goodbye.


Lean into the products that carry margin and freeze well

Two of my summer decisions come down to margin and hands-on time.


Focaccia is one of my all time favorites to sell. I have regulars who order it week after week, it is versatile, it is customizable, and for me it is high margin with relatively low effort. I am looking at buying more focaccia pans so I can offer more of it on both my pre-order menus and my market table.


Muffins are the other. They do not carry my highest profit margin, but they take almost no hands-on time. I mix a huge batch, scoop the batter into liners, freeze it, and bake straight from frozen on bake day. That takes the whole scooping step out of my market week.


Selling those individually at the market instead of by the half dozen lets me price them a little higher per unit, which pulls the margin back up.


I am also toying with a s'mores kit as a market add-on, with homemade sourdough graham crackers and maybe homemade marshmallows for a bonfire night. It is the kind of fun, seasonal item that gets picked up on impulse at the table.


Consider a workshop instead of a bake day

If you are a year or three into this and you want another income stream that does not require another bake day, summer is a great time to teach.


Warm kitchens speed up fermentation, so beginners see success faster and get hooked. I have noticed my summer workshop students stick with sourdough more than the ones who start in the winter.


You can host in your own home, rent a community space, or let someone else host you. An evening workshop once or twice a month can bring in real money without a pre-order menu, a market booth, or a 4am oven in August. If you live somewhere without air conditioning, that alone might make your summer.


Final thoughts

The slowdown does not have to be discouraging. It can be the thing that gives you room to see clearly what is working, what is not, and what is next.


You do not need to bake everything. You do not need to say yes to every order. If you would rather ramp up and build momentum through the summer, you can do that too, because you make the rules in your own business. Just go in with expectations that match your reality.


So here is your one question: what is one small shift you can make this summer to work smarter, protect your time, and stay excited about what you are building?


Come tell me on Instagram. I would truly love to hear your plan!


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If summer planning is on your mind, these three will help.


Links to things you might like!


 
 
 

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