Breadness Buzz - Spreading the Word, Frequent Flour Rewards Revue...

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"This was the best sourdough bread I've every had!" — C. & K. C. (received a Breadness Box as a gift)

NOTE: If this is your first Breadness Buzz, or if you've been part of our tribe but missed earlier posts, visit the Breadness Buzz Archive here and catch up on this content written especially for you. It's a great way to meet like-minded artisan sourdough aficionados and be part of this journey I started back in 2016. And now for this week's Buzz...

It was June of 2021. I'd been working on setting up our micro-bakery since March and it was time to announce our Sneak Preview to the area within a couple of blocks of our location. I created a "talking sourdough bread" invitation card and Cyndie and I walked from house to house placing a card at each front door. We did this for a few days. Soon, there was a buzz on nextdoor.com and the Burbank Restaurant Support Group on Facebook about this new bread shop opening. People were excited...

Before our official grand opening in August, we continued to pass out the cards. Then we hired our friends to pass out the cards. Then I discovered EDDM. EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) is a service of the Post Office whereby the mail carrier passes out a promo piece to every home and business in that carrier's route. They do this more economically than we could ever do it ourselves. So starting in January of 2022, I designed and had our EDDM promo cards printed (6000 at a time; about 7 cents apiece) and I learned how to use this EDDM system. I found a great YouTube video with a guy showing how to count and bundle the promo cards, and fill out the paperwork (see photo above). Then I took the mailing to the post office for those zip codes and paid the fee (about 20 cents per card).

BTW, this is Beatriz who works at the Hollywood Way Post Office in Burbank. I always try to get Beatriz as my teller when dropping off our EDDM cards because she is such a joy to work with!

Every Monday afternoon (including Christmas and New Year's Day), I'm at the bakery doing the EDDM mailing for the week. We send anywhere between 1400 and 1900 cards out every week to carrier routes in Burbank. I've also done campaigns for Toluca Lake, Glendale, Studio City, Sherman Oaks and La Cañada-Flintridge. It is so much fun to see new customers walking through our doors, promo card in hand saying, "We got your card in the mail!"

So that's how hundreds of our customers first found out about us. We also get lots of referrals from existing customers. When someone walks in, the first thing we ask after welcoming them is, "Have you been here before?" If it's their first time, we ask how they found out about us. That's when we learn if they heard about us from a friend or relative, they got a card in the mail that they've kept on their refrigerator for ___ months and they finally made it in person, they were at Tansy (this awesome plant paradise a few steps east of our door) and saw our promo card on the wall, they've been to Geeky Teas and Games (a board game store a couple doors west of us), they received one of our Gift Cards and came to spend it, or they just happened to be strolling down Magnolia Boulevard and were captivated by the smell of fresh artisan bread wafting out the door via the Free Sniff Preview!

There's also those who found us on line via searching for "fresh bread" or finding us on yelp, following our posts on instagram and/or Facebook. And we get a few new customers a month from DoorDash.

With all that promotion, you'd think we've got it all covered. We are doing well and growing organically every year. But we just opened on Thursdays, so we could use more customers, either walk-ins or those who live out of the area and would like to have Breadness shipped to them.

Thanks for your continued support, tastimonials, reviews and referrals. The more the word gets around, the sooner we can open yet another day...

Random Acts of Breadness was founded on giving so we're more than happy to keep that tradition alive by giving away loaves to our awesome customers who complete their Frequent Flour Rewards Cards. Here's some of our latest Breadness Beneficiaries...

> Artisan Sourdough Breadness Crisps (Naked, Tuscan Herb, Smoked, Cinnamon Raisin Maple Pecan)

Order the above (and any of our other artisan products) at breadness.com/#shop. If a product is visible in the online shop, it's in stock. If you don't see a product in the online shop, it's sold out.

Random Acts of Breadness is located at 2214 West Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank (2-1/2 blocks east of Buena Vista on the south side of the street). Come to the bakery and sample our artisan wares, or order on line for bakery pickup, or have Breadness delivered or shipped to your door. You may also order by phone at 818-562-7303 and pay when you come pick it up. We're open Thursday, Friday & Saturday 12 to 6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Reminder: If you (or someone you wish to gift) live within 120 miles of Los Angeles, we can ship on Wednesday or Thursday (via UPS Ground) and in most cases your Breadness Box will arrive on Thursday or Friday. Place your order before Wednesday morning here.

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