SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — When you think of a bakery you probably think of sugar and spice, but for those that work the job of baker, it’s grueling, back-breaking work that frays the body and the mind. Long and early hours are spent in flour-coated, hot and loud work spaces.
Around the holidays, the pressure is ramped up another level. Easter is the last window for bakeries to maximize profit, and everything gets faster and harder. So just what does it take to do this job? As costs for small businesses increase in the New York, the pressure is only getting worse.
Your 7:30 a.m doughnut or muffin starts four hours earlier. In North Syracuse, Peter Papas and his motley crew shuffles in and fires up the Geddes Bakery for business. They have just started the clock in their race against the sun.
They will pump out thousands of pies, pastries and of course bread. Lots of bread. But it’s no cake walk.
“I don’t think people understand how much stress comes with this job,” Papas said, his hands moving at lighting pace. “You know, you got to get a lot of stuff done in a short amount of time.”
In this business, wasted movement is wasted money. A trip to the freezer means coming back out with something.
“You don’t want an oven that’s empty. If an oven’s empty you’re losing money,” Papas said.
A mechanical breakdown can be the end. Counterintuitively, that means all of the mixers and ovens date back to the mid-20th century. Newer equipment is digital, which means there’s more that can go wrong.
“We had a mixer from the ’30s, it was awesome. No one had the parts to fix it anymore though,” Papas said.
Losing money is never good for a business, but for a bakery, losing money this time of year simply isn’t an option. Holidays are prime business days: pies on Thanksgiving, cookies on Easter, yule logs on Christmas.
“Easter for us is the last major holiday, so you need the revenue from Easter to get you through the slow summer months,” Papa’s said
The high costs of running a business in New York make these windows stressful. The overheads are increasing as electricity, ingredients and permits are becoming more expensive. The bakers all agree that the grind can be horrific, mentally and physically.
“Let’s say our regular work week or work day here, we’re making, let’s say, 20 different items each. Thanksgiving Day, and the weeks leading up to it, we’re probably doing four times as much within the same time period,” said John Rojas, one of the bakers at Geddes.
“Holidays’ll get to ya. You get arguments, we have family members here, we get into arguments, we’ve been in fights,” Papas chuckled.
Still, despite the early hours, and the fast-paced work environment, there’s still something that gets Papas to work.
“We’re actually part of someone’s holiday, we’re part of someone’s happy occasion, and that makes me happy,” Papas said
As Easter falls this weekend, the pressure will be all the way up for Papas and company. So when you grab your morning muffin this week, just remember the stakes in the back.