Covid and Winter Storm Bakery Recovery Fund

Please help our bakery survive the elements and continue to provide hearty, healthful and sustainably-produced bread and goods. We are committed to our community and hope to continue to play a pivotal role in its food ecology.

 

Back story: This winter saw more weekend storms in Nova Scotia than any in recent memory. 7 out of the first 10 weekends of the new year were marked with winter storms, during an omicron wave– significantly reducing our market sales. We have 3 new upcoming wholesale contracts that are about to start and help stabilize the bakery cash flow. This is good news, considering we lost 2 wholesale contracts due to closures just before the new year.

 

Jess, the bakery owner and manager, is in the last 2 semesters of her Masters degree- working hard on grain sovereignty and food security issues. She is completing her degree out of province, and has been limited in how she can help the business generate new income amid the storm and covid-induced losses. The stress of the storms and continuing pandemic conditions also pushed the NS bakery staff members to their limits. Despite Jess committing to not paying herself for management work this year while she has research funding, the business has built up some bills that can’t be paid for with upcoming bakery revenues.

 

We are hopeful with our coming new contracts and the ways we know how to protect ourselves and others from covid, that things will stabilize. We have been seeing slow but consistent sales growth year after year as a business. As well, Jess will soon be done with school and have energy available to help permanently increase bakery revenues by 20%, which is what it will take in order to pay living wages and pay herself for management labour as well.

 

Here are some important facts about how we commit to our company values:
-In 2021 at least $33,600 of our $105,000 total revenue went to eastern canadian farms and secondary producers.
-We use a wood-fired oven so we can use local fuel that is not derived from fossil fuels.
-$1000 of fund-raised $ will be a health bursary to staff.
-Any excess amounts generated will go towards a heat pump which will increase our energy efficiency and baker's quality of life.

 

Thank you so much!