Hi, I’m Lewis, a student working on my own business on the Placement Enterprise Pathway in place of a traditional work placement. I have been documenting my placement since July, and you can see my progression in my previous blogs and vlogs.
My business is called Pastry Puffs, a vegan desert events catering company looking to serve people an exciting new take on puff pastry.
The focus of the last month has been consistency, trying to better the result of the previous while improving the product and service we provide our customers. To reflect this, this blog will take you through a typical week with Pastry Puffs.
Monday Brainstorm
We start the week with a brainstorm on new product ideas, typically what will work for the next season, followed by cooking trialling these latest ideas on ourselves and our housemates. The afternoon tends to involve us searching for and contacting market organisers.
Tuesday Stock check
On Tuesdays we check the stock, then write up a shopping list and go to the wholesalers to buy the week’s inventory. Once we get back, we store our purchases safely, fill out paperwork and catch up on the bookkeeping, entering all our invoices and sales.
Wednesday Preparation
The day is spent preparing: We get all our equipment together and load it into the car, this is a surprisingly arduous task with lots of heavy lifting up and down stairs. Once the car is loaded it’s time start defrosting the pastry and freezing down the cool boxes for the next day.
Thursday Market
Thursday is the big day, we wake early and cut the pastry, get all our sugar mixes together and load the last few items in the car. Once we get to the market it’s time to set up, we put up the gazebo and fire up the deep fat fryer to start heating up the oil. In the meantime I grab myself a coffee and some breakfast from Starbucks.
Once the oil is heated it’s time to start serving customers. Typically, the morning is relatively quiet giving me time to catch up on paperwork.
Around 12:30 our main rush begins, and we serve most of our customers. This is my favourite part of the week where we see our work pay off. As 3:30pm comes by it is time to start packing down. We cool down our oil and begin putting all our equipment back into boxes then it is home time.
Friday Tidy
Fridays are spent cleaning and tidying everything away from the previous day. The morning is normally spent in a meeting either with my mentor or other members of staff involved in the programme. The rest of day is spent unloading the car and cleaning down all our equipment ready for the next week.
Saturday Catch up
Saturdays are more laid back – just catching up on admin, sending emails and catching on general housework I’ve neglected throughout the week. I also get to spend time with friends.
Sunday Reflection and Planning
Sundays are spent meal planning and writing up any written work that needs to be done, such as my reflective report on the placement and these blogs.
I hope this blog gives good insight into a week of my life on this placement, I look forward to updating you in my next vlog. Follow us @pastry_puffs for more regular updates.
