Japan’s influence enters the bakery

When Emiko arrived at our place in February 2022, we started small, with her helping the pastry chefs. Then we quickly realized that she had another type of potential. So we immediately started making ready-to-eat meals, which at that time were sandwiches, especially because we saw ready-to-eat meals as quick sandwiches for people who came in. We had sandwiches and fried chicken coated in panko breadcrumbs that she made herself. Really different shapes, really different ingredients. Then things really took off in 2023 with Valentine’s Day, which marked the start of sushi.  At first, it was just making sandwiches, so it went very quickly because Emiko is someone who is very logical and methodical, and she quickly developed a lot of things. Then she became responsible for marketing, pricing, and orders, so she really took charge of an entire department. It didn’t take long for her to move beyond just making sandwiches. She really took the ready-to-eat category into her own hands and brought it to what it is today. The ready-to-eat department has quadrupled since Emiko started working there, because people are interested when we launch something new. They’re happy, they follow us on social media, they make reservations via social media, so it’s really changed the bakery’s image.

It has brought us new customers that we didn’t have before. We had an aging clientele, and now with the young people, the cakes, and all the sushi, well, that has brought us a new clientele. Often, our front-line employees say to us, “These are people we’ve never seen before.” So it has brought in new customers and allowed us to increase our sales, so it’s really a plus for our company. Her desire is above all to please customers. Basically, when Emiko cooks, it’s not just to make food, it’s really to make the people who eat her dishes happy, to see them smile, to see the smiles on their face when they come to pick up their food. That’s really taking care of everything. It’s a real source of pride for her.