Dear friends,
Happy May to you and I hope this message finds you well! With Mother's Day as well as the First Friday of the month coming up on us this same weekend, we had to really think about how we would possibly make our usual Pizza Night happen on Friday night as well have enough time & energy to pull off a big Mother's Day bake right afterwards on that early Saturday morning. And after all things considered, we've decided to change up the schedule a bit so that we can better dedicate ourselves to both events.
We will be moving our monthly Pizza Night to the second Friday of this month (May 13th) and we will be canceling our late hours this coming Friday so that we can use the extra time to prep for our big Saturday bake. Just like we did for Easter, we are opening up online preordering for Saturday pickup of Mother's Day baked goods in lieu of the event night.
On the menu you'll find a couple different options for whole quiches (Ham & Caramelized Onion w/ Rosemary and Asparagus, Mushroom & Leek); a variety of pastries such as butter croissants, ham & Swiss croissants, pain au chocolats, cinnamon rolls, morning buns, and cruffins; a variety of scones, delicious Chocolate Strawberry tarts as well as Key Lime tarts, and a trio of cupcakes. Cheesecake Cupcakes w/ Fresh Berries, my favorite Tres Leches Cupcakes, as well as Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes are the choices. If your mom likes pie, then she'll love our mini-galettes which are made with our all-butter-pie crust - we'll have Peach & Blueberry as well as Cherry & Almond mini-galettes on the menu! The menu is live on our website shop now so you can head over there to reserve your goodies - deadline to place orders by is Friday morning!
We are planning on baking a ton on Saturday for the shop as well if you don't get a chance to preorder online but it will be on a first come, first served basis as we can only produce so much and we won't be accepting any phone-in orders for that day.
As I go through my days in this 8th month of pregnancy, I can definitely feel myself starting to slow down and at times lacking the physical stamina & energy needed to work as a baker and a small business owner. I am so thankful for my work family, the team at C&C, who have stepped up in so many ways to ensure that the bakeshop is running as smoothly as possibly...but I've gotta be honest with you - we have not been immune to the labor shortage issues that many businesses out in the community are facing.
While we are getting very close to rebuilding our team to what it was prior to losing some crew members to moves and other family changes, it has taken longer than expected. We are committed to excellence at C&C and the artisanal baking skills that make up who we are take quite a bit of training/practice. Unfortunately, some of this training will have to take place when I return from maternity leave. As a result, we have had to make some decisions so that we can continue giving you all the best service that we can during the upcoming busy summer months.
We will be cancelling all special events at the shop for the remainder of the summer with plans to pick it back up again in September. After this weekend's Mother's Day preorder pickup and next Friday's Pizza Night, we will not be having our specials on the 1st and 3rd Fridays through the end of August. We will also have some limitations in being able to take on large orders for private events as we've done before. But saying "no" to some things allows us to say "yes" to others! Unless something completely unexpected happens, we are indeed planning to participate in a couple of farmer's markets this summer - Friday night's Rockford City Market starting May 20th and Saturday morning's Beloit Farmers' Market starting June 3rd.
After becoming a mother to my sweet daughter, Sayana, many moons ago (pictured above), I have not felt such a strong need to care for and protect something until C&C came into existence. In many ways, the bakeshop has been my baby for a long while now...and just like with all babies, it took a village to raise it. An amazing village consisting of all our loyal customer and all our dedicated staff, past and present! I hope you continue to support the bakery and my team through these coming changes as well as through my absence, and I can't wait to be back and introduce you all to our new baby
Take care and talk to you soon,
Jojo