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Year Two in a Microbakery: Stronger Systems, Clearer Numbers | Episode 83

  • May 15, 2025
  • 6 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube


Year one of my bakery was a lot of guessing. I mixed cookies on a Monday because it occurred to me on Monday, I re-did the multiplication math by hand every single time I opened my recipe binder, and I said yes to almost everything because I did not yet know which things were worth it.


Year two has not been easier. I still have hard weeks, and I threw away three pans of burnt muffins last week. What changed is the clarity. My decisions stopped coming out of scramble and panic, because I finally built some structure underneath them.


I started this business in September of 2023, so I am on the downhill slope of year two with one of every season behind me. Here is what shifted, what I refused to change, and what to expect if year two is coming for you. If you want the year one numbers first, I broke those down in my first year in business.


The moment I started running this like a CEO

The biggest shift in year two happened inside my own head. In January I was on a call with my business coach and she said, you are the CEO and the visionary. She was not hyping me up. She was describing something already true, and it clicked.


Up until then the word CEO felt like a kid putting on her mom's high heels. Then I realized I am steering this ship and I am responsible for where it goes, and that started feeling like my actual job.


In practice that meant asking better questions, taking real ownership of every part of the business, and especially owning my numbers. I stopped making so many reactive decisions, and I gave myself permission to pause when things felt heavy instead of pushing harder.


Here is a related thing I noticed, and it will land more with my female readers. About once a month I have a day where I consider burning the whole thing down. Then I check the calendar, see that it is day 27 of my cycle, and realize I do not need to quit, I need sleep. Laughing at that pattern instead of panicking has been one of the most useful things I learned all year. Now I group my heavy work into the weeks when I have energy for it.


Give your week a shape

In year one I did a little bit of everything every single day. In year two I built a weekly rhythm, and it has served me better than almost anything else.


Mondays are for coaching, both the clients I coach and the coaching I receive. Tuesdays are for podcast content. Wednesday and Thursday are dough prep and bake days. My market falls on the second and fourth Saturday, so the Friday before a market is a bake day and the opposite Fridays are CEO days. Sometimes a CEO day includes a pedicure and the errands I keep putting off.


The point is not my exact schedule. It is grouping like tasks together so your brain is not scrambling. On Thursday I am not thinking about the email I need to write, because that email happens on Monday.


The systems that took the most off my plate

These four changes gave me back the most time.

  • A recipe index spreadsheet. Every recipe now lives in one Google Sheet that does the multiplying for me. When I made a twenty times batch of muffins last week, I typed in 20 and it scaled every ingredient, so I knew what to buy and how much starter to feed the day before. You can grab the same one I use at https://www.carolinebower.com/recipeindex.

  • Pre-measuring my dry ingredients. I measure flour into labeled bins before dough day, so there are no dead gaps between batches while I stand at the scale. It makes such a difference! If you do one thing off this list, make it this one.

  • Simplifying my packaging. I use the same large bags for mini loaves, English muffins and dozen cookies, the same boxes for muffins, scones and variety boxes, and the same small boxes for single cinnamon rolls and cookies. I store fewer sizes and reorder from a short list.

  • Bringing on an assistant. For a few months I had help about ten hours a week doing dishes, labeling, packaging, shaping cookie dough balls and shredding butter and cheese. Teaching someone else my process also showed me where my systems were sloppy. I am solo again now, and it will not be long before I hire again.


Doing less on purpose, and earning more

Through the end of year one I ran a porch pickup every single Thursday, plus my market on the second and fourth Saturday. Those overlap weeks were chaos, and the market always got my leftover energy.


In January I dropped the weekly porch pickup and started alternating it with the market instead, which took me down to four bake days a month. I was nervous about the revenue and I should not have been. My market gross went from somewhere between one thousand and twelve hundred dollars to somewhere between eighteen hundred and two thousand, because I finally had time to prep more product and bring a better variety.


Scaling back in one place let me scale up in another. If you are doing too much, look for the offer that is stealing prep time from your best one.


Marketing got simpler, not louder

In year one I was everywhere. Social media, local Facebook groups, trying a lot of things, and that was right for the season because I was establishing myself.


In year two my primary marketing channel is my text list. I send one text every Sunday at 3:30 PM with my pre-order menu. It is the most consistent thing I do, and my people know to expect it.


The rest of my marketing is paying attention. I listen at markets for what customers ask for, and if I hear a request more than once I rotate that item back onto the menu. English muffins and pizza crusts are big right now, so I bring as many as my capacity allows. When you show up consistently and treat your people well, word of mouth does the heavy lifting.


That will shift when I open my brick and mortar, because a physical space means outreach again: the Nextdoor app, the Chamber of Commerce and local Facebook groups.


What I did not change

Some things earned their place in year one and did not move.

  • Family dinner every night, even when there is dough bench resting on the table.

  • Consistent high ratio starter feeds, because a balanced starter is the backbone of a consistent product.

  • My sleep. I need at least five nights a week with eight hours, and I go to bed early before a three in the morning start.

  • My business coach, who I hired in June of 2024 and would not have followed through without.

  • My customers. Hearing someone say your bread is the only bread I can eat does not get old.


If you are one to three years in, start here

If you already have real revenue coming in, two audits are worth doing this month.


First, your numbers. I have never been a natural math person and I still built systems until my numbers were clear. You cannot manage what you do not measure, and fuzzy numbers do not scale. Calculate the cost of your ingredients for every product, know your margins, and decide what you are paying yourself before the leftover money disappears at Target. That is why I built the Profit and Pricing Calculator.


Second, your standards. Year two is when you get clear on what you stand for. For me that meant committing to 100% organic flour, staying ahead on inventory instead of reordering in a panic, and carving out thirty minutes in the sauna a few times a week. You run better when you feel better.


Final thoughts

Year two feels clearer. Not finished, not figured out, just more intentional. I feel confident about what I say yes and no to, and I finally see the role my bakery plays in my community as something concrete.


That clarity did not come from thinking harder. It came from taking action even when the action was imperfect. Done really is better than perfect, and momentum is what got me here.


One last thing. This work is lonely, and I have craved connection with other women building something similar all year. Get around other bakers who are learning what you are learning. It makes the hard seasons lighter.


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If this one landed, these three will meet you right where you are.


Links to things you might like!


 
 
 
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