Contributed by Cindy Arora
KANSAS CITY, MO — For retail bakeries, busy seasons aren’t just about selling products; they’re also about having the right people to help get through it. Holidays, summer tourism and farmers market side hustles are all part of the seasonal calendar bakery owners must consider when planning labor for the year.
To stay profitable without burning out staff, many bakers are rethinking what smart labor planning looks like and what will work best for their businesses.
Working ahead
At Three Brothers Bakery, the dog days of summer are when business slows down, and the high-production team can catch its breath.
Janice Jucker, who co-owns the 76-year-old Houston bakery with her husband, takes advantage of this downtime by keeping the bakers busy with inventory buffering for the holidays.
“Summer for us means making pie shells,” Janice said. “We make doughs and pie shells and freeze them. We try to make as many as we can because our pie season during the holidays is robust. We make 10,000 to 15,000 pies. In November and December, we make 30 percent of our revenue.”
While other bakeries may see an uptick in customer count thanks to summer tourism, for Janice and her team, ’tis the season to prep for the holidays and deep clean the kitchen. This has been an ideal way for the bakery to provide steady labor hours — even during slower times — for a crew that’s been part of the team for years.
Karen Bornarth, executive director of The Bread Bakers Guild of America, works with retail bakery owners on what it takes to set up a business. Guild members come in with creativity and recipes, and Karen helps with the logistics.
One challenge retail bakeries face is labor and operational organization during busy seasons, and some options can often be found in a bakery’s own kitchen.
“Cross-training your staff is a great way to handle the ups and downs of seasonality,” Karen said. “But you have to start it as soon as possible, make it attractive to your staff and pay as much as your bottom line allows. Some bakeries will spend so much on overtime that they lose all the money they make, so understanding additional labor doesn’t always mean profit is important.”
She added that cross-training can be a creative way to work with labor. This could mean training front-of-house staff to also work at a farmers market stall, or how to frost cakes, scoop cookies, make scone dough or crimp pie crust.
Summer rush
At Orchard Hill Breadworks in Alstead, NH, spring and summer aren’t just busy; they turn the bakery into a travel destination. Great weather, weekly farmers market stands, communal pizza nights and bike rides that bring everyone together are just a few of the reasons why this country bakery has two very different seasons: summer and every other month after the warm season ends.
For Noah Elbers, owner of Orchard Hill, the bakery isn’t just a place people go for a summer job. It can also be a career. He treats employees with this understanding.
“As much as I love high school students, I can’t hire a bunch of them just for the summer because then they all go back to school before Labor Day, which is our busiest time of the year,” Noah said. “I can’t do that to my full-time staff who are here all year long. So, I offer a career. And through the winter, we know we will be OK, and I don’t restrict hours. I find creative ways for the staff to fill their time. I have built a system to make the most of downtime, knowing we will come roaring back in the spring, and I need everyone ready.”
Along with keeping his full-time staff busy during the summer months, Noah is continually in search of new employees who are interested in the art of bread making. He offers an apprenticeship program, which trains people for highly skilled positions.
“I am always putting out feelers and looking ahead at what gaps exist in my labor plans and what critical spots still need to be filled,” he said. “I know we aren’t the same business in the summer that we are in the winter, but we make adaptations, and we are ready for it.”
Seasons mean different things to different bakeries, depending on geography, time of year and even the labor pool. It’s never a one-size-fits-all scenario, but with strategic foresight, bakeries can have a team for all seasons.
This story has been adapted from the January | Q1 2026 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
