New owners of the neighborhood bakery

Formerly known as the 45th Street Bakery, Angel and Amalia became the new owners in November and changed the name to Amalia’s Bakery & Catering. Seeing an opportunity to get to know the neighborhood better, Angel approached one of his new neighbors, Dave of Smitty’s Old Fashion Butcher Shop, to see if he would advertise that he would cook turkeys on Thanksgiving morning for his customers. Customers have been asking Dave for years if he’d cook their turkeys, and he continually says no. So, when Angelo offered the service, Dave jumped at the opportunity. Dave is a client, and I just happened to stop by the same day. 

“Hey, I think I might have a new client for you.” 

“Who?”

“The new owners of the bakery. He’s a nice guy and wants to cook turkeys on Thanksgiving morning for my customers. Why don’t you make a sign for both of us?”

“Sure, that’ll give me a great way to introduce myself.”

The first time I walked into his bakery and restaurant, I handed Angel the sign, and said, “Dave asked me to create this for you, we want to help the neighborhood discover you, and he has one for his store also.” While thanking me, he asked if he could pay for it. I said no, and he thanked me again.

Angel and his wife are the third owners’ of the bakery in the last three years. I had approached the other two owners regarding a website, and both told me, “We have a Facebook page, we don’t need a website.” I hesitantly asked, “Do you have a website?” He asked, “Is that what you do?” 

 “Yes, and I design Dave’s website.”

“Wow!” I wish I would have met you sooner. I’ve got someone building one for me. “All that’s left to do is the menu. Maybe if I need some changes, I can hire you.”

“I’d be happy to help you out.” 

In mid-January, I received a postcard in the mail advertising their open house, “Stop by and try our specialties!” with a website address at the bottom. Landing on their website, I gasped when all I saw was a Shopify “Coming Soon” page.

I stopped in at the open house and asked, “What’s up with the website?”

“It’s a mess. Friends who are IT people offered to do it for free if they could put their name on it. They are trying to get into the business, but the guy moved back to up north, and the lady is too busy. I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s too confusing for me. It’s in Shopify, and it’s only going to cost me $29.00 a month.” How much would you charge me to fix it?”

I explained I don’t design Shopify websites, but would be willing to redesign it in WordPress. We agreed on a price and to take it out of Shopify. I know there is a Shopify plugin, but what Angel wanted and, more importantly, needed, I didn’t see the need for Shopify with its costs.

Why you don’t use a Shopify website

I’ve written before on why you don’t use Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, etc., and here is a great example of why.

Angel had spent days uploading about 50 images. When he told me this, I said, “Great! I can download them and import them into your new website.”

Wrong!

Not finding a way to export or even see the full-size images, I did an extensive Google search and found:

…once you upload an image(s) to your Shopify account, our software removes it from the server you uploaded it to and places your image(s) on a different server and you don’t have access to that server.

I needed a menu plugin and found a great one

Angel wanted to be able to offer online ordering and delivery if the customer so chose. I stumbled on the WordPress Plugin, “Food Online for WooCommerce.” The company offers a free and premium version of the plugin. The free version is excellent, but if you want the option to select “Pickup or Delivery” and a few other options, you will need the premium version. The cost of the plugin is $49.00 a year. The only part of this plugin that I don’t care for is you can only place one menu on a page.

We have nine different menu categories, i.e., Breakfast, Soups, Salads, etc., by using just one menu on a page, every category would have been in the menu heading. Messy and confusing. An easy solution, individual, and grouped categories on separate pages.

Has someone started a website for you and then disappeared?

In the end, Angel’s Shopify’s website would have cost him $80.00 a month, not the $29.00 first quoted with all of the functions I built into his WordPress website.

Has someone talked you into a Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, etc. website because it was “cheap,” but you are spending way more than you ever expected? Or, it’s still not finished?

Check out Ready.Set.Launch.! and Let’s chat.