Mecha's and Sarkozy Bakery

Hello Sarkozy People,

For the past 4 weeks we have had the pleasure of hosting Melissa Guerra, owner of Mecha’s, an alcohol and beverage producer in the town of Orange Walk, Belize. She is part of an international exchange fellowship between the Americas funded by the U.S. State Department and helped run by our city’s very own diplomacy organization; Global Ties Kalamazoo.

Believe it or not, I left out about 11 different acronyms and various government agencies that are involved in this program in an attempt to make this whole thing clearer. (Shout out to YLAI, IREX, FPOs, FPC…) The real important takeaway is that Melissa was selected from thousands of applicants and Kalamazoo was selected along with 18 other cities, such as New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, you know, the big dogs! So it was a priority for both us and Melissa to put our best selves forward and represent why were selected.

Working alongside Melissa has been wonderful. We had expected to teach her a lot of the behind the scenes nuts and bolts of what makes our business run (spreadsheets spreadsheets spreadsheets!). What we didn’t expect was how much we would learn ourselves about those same processes. And  beyond the trading and refining of entrepreneurial strategies, our bakery has found a new friend in Belize.

It feels kind of weird to be introducing Melissa to you all at the end of her stay with our bakery. But it’s only at the end of this program that we can confidently describe it’s importance and impact on us. Not to mention that there is no chance that this actually is the end of Sarkozy Bakery’s story with Melissa and Mecha’s.

Now, I’m going to pass off this email to Judy and Melissa.

- Alec

Working on the nuts and bolts.

It was all Alec's fault and maybe Melissa's as well. She needed a place to work, which meant I would have to clear part of my desk. Ask Alec, the organized one, what a mess it was. I thrive in chaos. Much to Alec’s relief, having Melissa share four square feet of it showed me that a more orderly desk: read a more orderly brain, may also be a more efficient way to work.

That result of hosting our wonderful Melissa was only the beginning. At first we didn't know what we had to offer to someone owning such a different kind of business. So an orderly day by day plan was constructed, which gave us a springboard. This quickly developed into something real once we were working face-to-face and having fun. We had so much information to share, and still have more avenues to explore.

For me there was unexpected joy in the chance to reflect on 45 years in business with a person who is just starting out. It gave me a chance to talk about what, in my opinion, are the most important parts of business. Yeah you gotta make the numbers, but that is only a start.

I got a refreshing new vision of Latin America as well. Look out Melissa, I just might come visit.

- Judy

Last day with the bread!

Melissa testing out a new process to improve her batch sizes!

Finding common ground: Mecha’s and Sarkozy Bakery

How is a small alcoholic beverage producer in Belize and a bakery in Kalamazoo similar? In so many ways; you just need to look.

From the beginning in our interactions via videocall, Alec and Judy were open in helping me address the challenges in my business. Alec sought to learn exactly what my business did and how it was run. In the first week at Sarkozy Bakery, I shadowed Alec’s daily interaction with employees and customers, learn their new inventory system, POS system, accounting system, and payroll, as my business has/had absolutely no type of organization. Judy sat with me to set up my profit and loss statement, and taught me exactly how she balances her daily accounts in her business.

What I didn’t expect to do was to develop an efficient production system and cost my products down to each gram to ensure proper costing. It was invaluable work that I had not realized that I needed prior to coming to Sarkozy Bakery. I shared the small batching method of my products with Alec. He shared that I could find a more efficient way of producing my products. We experimented on testing larger batching through this method that the bakery uses to batch their soups, and it was successful with my product. In order to adapt this new method in my business, all my recipes needed to be modified by weight and scaled in larger batches. I dedicated the time applying this to all my recipes. In turn, this provided the data that I needed to cost my products more precisely and accurately down to the cost per gram. Over the decades, Judy developed an incredible costing system which she was generous enough to teach and share with me. I adapted it to my products and used the costing system to analyze my product costs, and do the necessary adjustments.

I am grateful for the time and dedication that Sarkozy Bakery has generously provided to my business and myself. Alec’s daily interactions with employees is a model example I want to adapt. The close knit and harmonious relationship within the team is evident of strong daily leadership in Sarkozy Bakery. Judy’s story, her resilience over 45 years and her advise as an entrepreneur is invaluable lessons I will never forget. I could not have been placed in a better business than Sarkozy Bakery.

- Melissa Guerra