Founded in 1914 in Virginia

The Craft of Bread Making

Posted by Bob Powell 
 

Speaker John McCormick (right) is pictured with Joe Massey and Lois Kercher

 

“All The News That’s Fit to Print and Some That Isn’t”© 
 
Did you know that there are 28 million small businesses in the U.S., that every large corporation in the U.S. started off as a small business, that 70% of small businesses are owned by a single individual, that small businesses employ 57% of the private workforce and pay 44% of the U.S. payroll, that it takes just 6 days to start a business in the US, compared to a whopping 38 days in China, that it costs 6 times as much to start a business in India than in the U.S., that only 50% of businesses survive five years -- though most (70%) hit the two-year mark, that immigrants make up 12.5% of small business owners nationwide, that small businesses create 13x more patents per employee than large patenting companies, and that in 2009 a small business went bankrupt every 8 minutes. With this knowledge our Vice President in Charge of Programs was confident that many Rotarians would want to start their own small business so what better way to get started than to have John McCormick, owner, The Bakehouse at Chelsea, talk to the Club on “Starting a Small Business.”
 
John was introduced by “Here Come De Judge” Joe Massey who explained that John had a varied career before opening The Bakehouse. Starting as an employee of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, he rose to manage the Chesapeake franchise. From there be moved to Trader Publishing, part of Dominion Enterprises, a joint venture between Landmark Communications and Cox.  Traveling up to 50 weeks a year was apparently more than he could withstand (apparently he made good use of his time at home because he had 5 children during this portion of his career), so despite a great salary he left autotrader.com and went to William & Mary to pursue an MBA.  (He said an MBA was like concrete – you should not walk on it immediately after it has been poured.)
 
Nevertheless, he bought Rowena’s, a local bakery. He soon realized that generating most of your revenue in the last six weeks of the year selling cakes was not a desirable situation. Having a passion for bread, he decided to see if the equipment at Rowena’s might not be used for bread making.  He hired Jonathan Highfield, an expert from The Culinary Institute, as a consultant and started baking bread at Rowena’s.  After a short time selling artisan bread on Saturdays, he found lines of people waiting before the doors opened to get bread.This sparked another idea, starting a business making artisan bread.
 
John fell in love with wood-fired ovens so after selling Rowena’s he ordered a custom-made bread oven from a small Vermont firm. He saw pictures of a wood fired pizza oven and decided to get one of those, too. Nineteen months ago The Bakehouse at Chelsea opened in a formerly industrial part of Norfolk that is becoming one of the city's most vibrant commercial districts. One surprise has been that bread is not the Bakehouse's best seller. Instead, the pizza and pastry business have been the main revenue generators. 
 
If John had to do it over he would enlarge the facility to accommodate more eat-in business and might have gotten a liquor license. It has been a real eye-opener as to what people want. The company has a commitment to high quality and only uses organic materials.  It even grows its own yeast. All his employees are culinary school graduates. John said mistakes will be made but they must stay behind the counter and not go over the counter.
 
Future plans include continuing to look for expansion opportunities, searching for more interesting grains, and continuing to look for ways to utilize more locally grown products.  His expectations for the business have been exceeded.  He now has 11 employees.  The program was very well received.
 
The Meeting Captain Pam Tubbs, the singing sailor, with the aid of Frank “Tickle the Ivories” Whitman on the piano, led us in song. An invocation by Lindsay “No Tax on the Tracks” Russell was followed by an announcement by Preident Sally that Coleman Place Elementary was the school of the week.
 
A visitation report by Scoops Powell led to the revelations that Bob “The Clock Man” Latimer was doing better and even present; that Walt “I’m Older Than Dirt” Grandy was in good shape for the shape he was in and was appreciative of Dr. Jerry Adamson’s offer to supply him a prescription for the little blue pill; and that Eleanor “Wipe Out Malaria” Schoonover was recovering well from her second hip replacement yesterday – Jiffy Hip #2.
 
Susan “I’ll Decorate the Real Estate I Sell You” Donn introduced guests:  Edna Baehre-Kolovani introduced her guest, Matt Baumgarten who recently joined Tidewater Community College as head of the Real Estate Foundation. Another guest was Nancy Whitman, wife of our pianist.
 
Announcements and Club Business
 
  1. We had about 120 Rotarians and guests attend the Holiday Party at Norfolk Yacht. Thanks go to Linwood Beckner and team. 
  2. Foodbank Volunteer Day report. Thanks go to Jim Kitz for organizing us. 2,400 pounds of food sorted; 415 backpacks packed which leads to nearly 2,500 weekend meals for hungry kids who get food in special backpacks.
  3. Board Meeting is this Monday, Dec. 14 at Hampton Roads Community Foundation at 4:30 pm.
  4. Michelle Nettles earned her Blue Badge
  5. Look for membership survey and please complete. It is focused on member engagement.
  6. Applications are available now for Rotary grants.
  7. Election of officers  is next week.
  8. Please submit your form to Barbara Lipskis to create our club’s expertise guide.
  9. All Months have 3 lunch meetings and 1 makeup event for perfect attendance (months with 5 Tuesdays do not change that)
  10. Submit November Make up reports to Jane Dembert by Monday.
Congratulations and Fines
  1. Linwood Beckner paid happy bucks for being selected to Norfolk Forum Board.
  2. Cy Grandy paid for his son Wiley having been named by Virginia Business as one of the “Legal Elite” under age 40.
  3. Joe Massey offered $20 and made a plea for anyone who could help Ashley, his daughter get a job in “religious farce” – her thesis on the subject was just accepted at Oxford where she’s working on her doctorate.
  4. Bernie Cohen celebrated his and Lois’s 30th anniversary.
  5. David Brandt gave thanks for his daughter’s graduation from Sweet Briar College and her employment with Ben Miles at Monarch Bank.
  6. Edna Baehre-Kolovani is happy her daughter is the new executive director of the Sandler Center Foundation
  7. Roger Flagg offered celebrated his and his wife's 61st wedding anniversary on Thursday.
  8. Major Stephen Long paid a fine in anticipation of the Salvation Army’s grand celebration on April 28 when Frank Beamer, retiring Hokie football coach, will speak at a gala.
  9. Dean Rogis graciously offered happy bucks as a thank you to Linwood Beckner for the enjoyable Rotary Holiday party recently held at NYCC.
  10. Michelle Nettles offered happy bucks in celebration of a trip to New York City to celebrate her 26th wedding anniversary with her husband, Bill.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Harry McCoy won the raffle's daily pot but failed to find the queen of spades that Bill McInnis had cleverly hidden in his pocket!!
 
That’s all the news that’s fit to print.
 
  “Scoops” Powell