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Great Harvest Bread

Making a Difference

Parents and volunteers from the Burroughs Community School in Minneapolis, Minnesota donned aprons and baking caps one Sunday last March, and spent the day helping out at the neighborhood Great Harvest Bread store. Working in rotating three-hour shifts, several dozen volunteers kneaded bread, waited on customers and cleaned up in the bakery. What did their school get in return? Every single cent that the bakery brought in that day–a grand total of about $7000.

It’s all part of a fun–and lucrative–fundraiser sponsored by Sally Weismann and Tom Amundson, the couple that owns the Upton Avenue bread store. Each year, they hold a contest to choose the nonprofit group that gets to come in and serve as Baker for a Day.

This year, about 20 groups filled out an application hoping to be selected. How does the bakery decide on a winner? They leave it up to their customers. Each group that registers is put on a ballot. Then people come into the bakery over a three-week period to cast their votes for the group they prefer.

By turning it into a contest, the bakery has leveraged the fundraiser into an effective self-promotion tool as well as an opportunity to support a worthy local cause. The various "contenders" spread word through the community trying to rally as many votes for themselves as possible. And since supporters have to come into the bakery to vote ("we don’t take mail or call-in votes," Amundson said), the bakery reaps the benefit of the added traffic. "People don’t have to buy anything to vote, but they’re here anyway, so sometimes they do."

The bakery staff asks every customer who visits during the voting period if they’d like to vote. Many people don’t know what the contest is all about, which gives the bakery an extra opportunity to tell the public about the different groups on the ballot–and emphasize the bakery’s strong community support philosophy. "We try to be generous; we just believe it’s good business," Amundson said. "What goes around comes around. That’s not why we do it–but it does usually work out that way."

Once Burroughs Community School was selected, Amundson worked closely with a coordinator from the school to help them promote the event to get a big turnout on fundraiser day. Volunteers announced the fundraiser repeatedly at school, and posted parents in the parking lot to pass out information on the event as people came and went.

"They did a great job with promotion," Amundson said. "This year’s event was the most successful one our store has sponsored so far." The bakery also helped get the word out by allowing the school to piggyback on one of its neighborhood newspaper ads to announce the event. The bakery also handed out flyers to customers for a week before the fundraiser.

It’s up to the nonprofit group to round up 25 to 30 people to come work the bakery on fundraiser day, and Burroughs did a great job of making sure there were always 7 to 9 volunteers there to lend a hand. Although the bakery staff still handled production, there was plenty for the "amateurs" to do, with a little guidance from Amundson and his team. "They really worked hard," he said, acknowledging that pulling off the event each year is a lot of work on his part, too.

"We really enjoy doing it, though. It’s so rewarding. We make sure we have enough volunteers participating so it doesn’t get to be too big of a job for any individual. It becomes very social, and it’s fun–for us and for the volunteers. Plus, it gives us a chance to volunteer our time. As business owners, it’s not always easy to find the time to volunteer. This event gives us a chance to not just give away money–but give our time, too."

When Weissman and Amundson opened their bakery 20 years ago, it was the first Great Harvest Bread franchise in Minneapolis. Today they’re partners in three Twin Cities stores. Each store sponsors its own "Baker of the Day" event on the same day, but they all hold individual contests to support charities from their own neighborhoods.