The Collin Street Bakery does 90 percent of its business from October to December. The 104-year-old bakery is the bricks and mortar (and oven) behind www.fruitcake.com.
The Collin Street Bakery does 90 percent of its business from October to December. The 104-year-old bakery is the bricks and mortar (and oven) behind www.fruitcake.com. The e-commerce portion of the site went live just two years back. Last year it accounted for 20,000 orders, and Bob McNutt expects that to double this season. McNutt and company sell some 4 million pounds of fruitcake each year—up to 100,000 orders per day during the holidays. How do they do it?
Each year they bring in 600 temp workers to bake and pack. Their background in mail-order sales prepared them for launching the Lotus Domino—powered Web site. The site relays orders to the mainframe for processing and fulfillment. At holiday season, they outsource big chunks of customer service and order-entry duties.
McNutt says, "We've been in business a very long time, so we know what we're doing." They seem to have the recipe down.