Instead of hiring just any high school and community college students, you should try to hire SkillsUSA members. SkillsUSA is an Career and Technical Education organization that focuses on preparing our future workforce. The programs they offer develop character, foster teamwork, citizenship and build and reinforces self-confidence and a strong work ethic.
SkillsUSA includes culinary workers that could help your business with maintaining standards on your products. Also because of the programs SkillsUSA focuses on you could get great employees and managers.
You can get more information about SkillsUSA and how to contact a local chapter you can go to SkillsUSA.org

This is Ari Babaei, a business consultant based in Los Angeles. Here is what I recommend:

1) Go to the local schools and post job opportunities and start recruiting students. We have experienced good results with students. Make sure not to hire seniors, as soon as they finish school they will be gone. You want students that will stay with you for at least a couple of years.

2) In the food business, role playing is a great training method. Role play with your managers, once your managers improve their customer service skills, have them do the same things with the rest of your staff.

3) For the time being, do not pay too much attention to your competitor. You have so many internal issues, concentrate on what you can control: your product and service. Once you achieve greatness internally you may than start looking at competition. Your are not in the position to go heads up with your competitors.

4) Hire mystery shoppers and use their feed back to train individual staff members. I don’t give too many chances to employees that do not offer good service. So if you have to fire someone because they just do not understand or care about service than do it, and do it now!

5) Hold service work shops. Teach the principle of customer service. In other words do not train by just giving examples. Teach principles: customer service is important because you appreciate your customers and you appreciate their royalty and the fact that they wait in line to give you business. You respect your employees and in return you want your employees to respect the customers.

My thoughts:

Before even considering the 3 questions you raise

1. Avalon has 2 very capable women owners. One should run the retail business and the other the wholesale business.

2. They should get it through their heads that if they want to continue to provide jobs etc in their community, and benefit themselves at the same time, they must make sure they have a successful business. The errors and mishaps mentioned can ruin them. They do no one a service by allowing their employees to get away with shoddy work. They apparently set a great example and then screw it up.

3. The expansion they have in the works is in jeopardy. With each one running a division, they should be successful and in a few years be able to pay a few good executives.

To Jackie Victor and Ann Perrault

Reviving a city or neighborhood or both takes more than a mere name.
Zingerman’s is one of the replaceable ones - Avalon is NOT.

If your business is growing, then why nip the buds? You wouldn’t do that to your children… An unpersonal business performance plan that includes a potentially careless elimination of the very core elements of this business - its people, its passion, its individuality will create only uncertainty and confusion.

Consider potential NOW, consider character, and strength of the people you have built along with your success. The people that share your vision NOW - that MAKE your vision a very real thing. Right NOW. People that bake with pride don’t compare. To WHO? And WHO’s profit?
Zingerman’s cannot and won’t ever be anywhere near an example or competitor to Avalon.

You have to make up your mind - stay true to your unique vision or be like any ole stale bakersman’s product (in which case, Avalon would have been in vain).

So FORGET ZINGERMAN! Forget mass products.
Forget your passion? Never! Forget love for what you do and who you’re doing it for? Never ever!

How to train your employees? TAKE THEM TO AVALON!
Brainstorm instead of firing those who don’t smile. Find out from them what will make them smile. Uncertain expansion plans and business suits?
Not likely!

Consider yourselves the parents of each and every employee. Take them in, nurture their individuality, and help them grow responsibly into what they are meant to be. You started it. Keep going. As a whole.

If someone has their heart on fashion, food, anything design, freeclimbing, shark teasing, dolphin swimming - Jackie? Go for it. Give incentives. Make dreams come true. Expand, but with your own minds and not with a mind that doesn’t belong to your vision and truth.

Revive!

With deep respect,

Anja Cheatham

As a lifelong (35+ yrs) Detroiter, I love Avalon! Your quality is the best! I think you should offer some breakfast/brunch assortments for people who are holding meetings or to order for the weekend or the holidays. You should display these available packages clearly on a menu and offer a carry-out order menu. At first I thought moving into a bigger location might not be such a great idea in this economy, but when I thought about it, it is a bigger incentive to get people to stay and dine in and come back for lunch. I often wanted to do that myself, but there is not enough room. Also you should make something kid-shaped or kid-friendly, for parents like me who come early in the morning before school starts with my son. Maybe even a kid combo with milk. Good luck!!

I adore Avalon, I do. Customer service-wise, they could take a page from Zingerman’s, however. I lived in Ann Arbor for almost 8 years, and can tell you that feeling welcome in a store, even with their prices!, heeps you spending and coming back.

A number of issues at hand here. Why expand if the existing location isn’t running smoothly? Realtionship stresses will escalate, customers will be dissastified, and ultimatley, this will kill the business. The owners should really agree and get Clarity on their goals, then work on their Effectiveness. Growth is then possible, and profitable. For now, leadership should remain with the financially minded owner and employee morale and training be headed up by the ideas person. If they get their team humming, the business will follow. A lot of work here; clashing ego’s, and a wonderful desire to help the neighbourhood - but they can be the most help if they’re still open….

Avalon should concentrate on quality of the product and maximum customer satisfaction. Retaining the old customers and achieving new customers is not so easy, but for the growth of the company and ofcourse for the existence of the company, quality and customer satisfaction is must.