Tis the season?

This week marks the first week of our holiday planning.  I know it seems a bit absurd but we have until the end of the month to come up with a detailed plan as to how to tackle the holiday production of everything from cookies to cannoli.  Over the next few months we will be keeping you updated on what each step is and how the plan is progressing.  Each week you will have an in depth look into what needs to take place in the shop, the store, and the mail order house to make the holiday season a success. 

:Today, the first executive meeting took place to identify the key issues that must be confronted. Just like what seems to be every year, our first and most pressing issue is what to do about the skyrocketing food costs. Vinny, who handles all the ingredient ordering, received some projected costs from our suppliers and it does not look good. Almost all of our ingredients have gone up 20% over the past year, but the most notable increases are the following:

• The price of our Kernel and Almond paste has increased 30% over the last couple of months and is projected to go up a least another 10% before November.
• Our Pignoli nuts, currently at $650.00 per case (30 Lbs) will be crossing the $700.00 mark by October. 
• Finally all of our cashews, almonds, and filberts will see a at least a 25% mark up by October 1st.   

It seems as though the nut market has gone haywire and this is bad news for us and our mail order business as all of our cookies contain these ingredients.  A price adjustment with our cookie tins and trays must be considered.

 

 The next topic that needs to be worked out is when the actual production would begin.  This is Joey's responsibility and it requires a detailed plan and daily production schedule that begins in August and ends in January.  Many people do not realize that we make 90% of our product from scratch and that the production of things such as pie shells and fig filling ground from whole figs needs to be made months prior to the holidays.  Joey said he was half way through the schedule and it would be completed by the end of next week. 








The final issue discussed was the mail order planning process.  Everything from the actual tin can to the imported chocolates and candy need to be ordered.  The brochure must be laid out along with the post card and printed.  The finalized menu needs to be determined, costed out, and priced.  Lastly, the staffing plan for our call center and assembly stations must be worked out and implemented.





From this point forward we are focused on Christmas.  We set a high bar last year and we intend to exceed it.  Now through this blog, you can be a part of it.

The countdown begins for the big day.

We breathed a huge sigh of relief today once the last of the cupcakes were being worked on.  The cake is filled and iced, and the final preparations for delivery are now being worked out.  Our plan is to arrive at the Visitors Center around 8:00a.m. to begin the layout of cupcakes.  John and Nick are very excited to get started the cake details beginning sometime around 9:00a.m.  It's all coming together.

Joey and Vinny stood over the 2500 cupcakes laid out on benches in the shop.  You can see the sense of pride on their faces.  I asked Vinny what he was thinking, he said "I can't help but to think of how proud my grandfather would be if he were here to see all of this."  Vince Sr. replied, "He Is seeing all of this, and he is Very proud." 

I then asked Joey what he was thinking.  "It's really amazing when you think about it," he said "91 years ago two brothers came here with nothing more than a strong back and a dream."  He continued, "Now here we are, the third generation of these strong men creating a birthday cake for the nation that gave them the opportunity to succeed.  It's just such a beautiful story."



The last of the cupcakes should be finished around 4:00p.m., and the cake preparations will be completed soon after.  Next stop, the Visitors Center at 8:00a.m.  We want to invite all to come and see our salute to our country by saying "Happy Birthday America!"

And eat some cupcakes too.

Tick,tick,tick, time is running out.

There is no turning back now.  The Visitors Center has sent out the press release, our 10,000 handouts have been ordered, and all of our ingredients are in.  From this point forward it's full speed ahead.


We have found a solution to the cupcake mold issue.  We initially thought our standard cupcake molds would be too big for our special 4th of July cupcakes, but we were delighted to see that they worked just fine.  So with that issue put to bed, we can focus on putting together a production schedule for not only the event, but also the most busy week of the month for the business.  This will not be an easy task considering that we are down two of our longest standing bakers Robert, and Charlie due to their vacation schedules.

There is a quote that the guys have in the shop hanging above the doorway.  It reads "Whatever It Takes."  This is a philosophy that is embraced by the shop as a whole.  It seems as though the more stressful the situation, the more focused and determined the guys in the shop become. 

So here is the plan, please keep in mind this schedule does not include our regular holiday production....

Monday - The tiered cake and all three runs of cupcakes will be baked.

Cupcake run #1 will start mixing around 6am and will be coming out of the oven sometime around 10am.  By then the cake tiers will be going in the oven, and cupcake run #2 will begin mixing.  At around 12pm the last of the tiered cake will come out of the oven and cupcake run #2 will then go in.  During this time, two batches of buttercream icing will be mixed to fill the cakes.  By 2pm, cupcake run #3 will begin.  At 6pm the end of the cupcakes should be coming from the oven to be dumped and cooled. 

Tuesday - The cake will be filled and iced, and all 2500 cupcakes will be decorated.

Nick and John will start the cake filling, while Miguel starts to ice the cake.  A standard 5 tier cake takes about 2 hours to fill and 2 hours to ice.  This process will begin around 11am and finish at 1pm.  Once the cake is iced, John and Nick will start to sketch out the design on the cake.  We are not sure how long this will take but it has to be less than a few hours because the decorating room already has a ton of customer orders for the holiday.  As far as the cupcakes are concerned, it takes two bakers approximately one hour to decorate 200 cupcakes.  The process will begin at 8am and end at 8pm.

Wednesday - Cake and cupcakes to be completed and laid out by 12:00 noon.

We will be arriving at the Visitors Center 8am SHARP!  We have 4 hours to hand decorate 5 tiers, and lay out 2500 cupcakes.  Wish us luck.

 

 

 

             





Reality sinks in... "DID WE SAY 2500 CUPCAKES?"

The excitement is starting to build in the shop around the creation of America's birthday cake.  John and Nick brought their design ideas and Joey and Vinny did the same.  The result was that everyone was on the same page with the exception of the decorating room wanting to use fondant while Joey and Vinny wanting to use buttercream icing.  It was discussed for a short while, but once Joey said that we should stay true to who we are, it was agreed by all.  Buttercream icing it is.





Now that the design has been established, a plan needs to be formulated to bake, fill, transport, and decorate the cake.  We are leaning toward constructing the cake in the shop and transporting a fully iced multi tiered cake to the Visitors Center.  At that point Nick and John will begin the decorating process together in clear view of all.  The only concern is the time it may take to finish the cake.  The decorating room will be practicing the different designs and timing themselves to get an idea of how long it may take.  We will know by Friday. 

Just as we started to pat ourselves on the back about our brilliant cake plan, Alyssa chimed in.  "Okay, so how do you want to handle the cupcakes?"  You could have heard a pin drop.  "2500 individually decorated cupcakes need to be delivered with the cake right?"  This may be a bigger challenge than the cake, especially when we only have 400 cupcake molds and Robert, our main baker is on vacation.  It sounds like it's going to be a long night in the shop on July 3rd.   Vinny looked over at Joey and said, "Whatever it takes."  Joey and John laughed and nodded, "Just like the good old days." 

A master cupcake plan needs to be formulated to bake and decorate 2500 cupcakes with only 400 cupcake molds.  Check back in on Friday to see how long of a night it is going to be.......



The Plan-America's Birthday Cake

When we left you off last, we decided to take on the responsibility of creating America's birthday cake.  Yesterday, Joey and Vinny took a ride over to the Philadelphia Visitors Center to share with Tiffany and Jen their vision and inspiration for the cake and display.  The response from the planners at the Visitors center was tremendous. 

Third generation bakers of an Italian immigrant, creating a birthday cake for America in honor of their grandfather's love of his country.........

Joseph Termini's certificate of naturalization

"This is an opportunity for us to do our part in honoring our grandfather's love and appreciation for his country," said Vinny.  "I remember being a child no older than 10 or 11, and hearing God Bless America every day at 12:00.  It seemed like he planned on being next to the radio at 11:59 everyday to ramp up the volume so everyone can hear the song,"  Joey added.

As Joey and Vinny walked into the store from their brief tour you could see a plan had already been formed.  I asked the guys for some insight into potential ideas, Vinny said, "All I can tell you is that my grandfather will be proud."  I guess we will have to wait until Tuesday (the planning meeting) to see what the guys have in mind.  I did get this from them.  There will be at least 2,000 people to serve, and there could be up to 15,000 visitors to the Visitors Center on July 4th.  We obviously do not have a cake to serve that many people, so a creative plan must be in mind.

Check back in on Tuesday to see what the brothers have in mind.  Based on the excited look on their faces I think this plan could be very interesting.



The Invitation to America's Birthday Party- July 4th

Earlier this week we were approached by The Philadelphia Visitor's Center to create America's birthday cake for the event they are having on July 4th- America's Birthday. This is an honor that we did not want to pass up, being the second and third generation of an Italian immigrant, who loved this country. Our grandfather would be so proud, but the question is could we fulfill this daunting task? Because the event is hosting at least 1000 people, would we be able to make enough cake and make it special? These are the questions we had to answer before we could say yes because our bakers and decorators would have to sacrifice their time to make this possible.

After careful thought and consideration we decided to be apart of the celebration! We especially agreed to make the cake because our grandfather came to this country with nothing and found great opportunity to thrive and succeed. He used to play "God Bless America" everyday at 12pm, because of his love for America. He would want us to take part and share in the celebration of America's birthday. 

So now that we have decided to be apart of this great day, how will we accomplish the tasks of presenting something that will not only be beautiful but also feed over a 1000 people? Come back on Wednesday to find out the plan...

Childhood Memories

A long time customer, Dan Piscitelli, answered our blog asking to get to know you and to share your memories and experiences with us at Termini's. Termini Bros Bakery has been apart of his life since he was a child coming here with his father and now his kids bring there children. Dan lives in North Carolina now, but his kids still live in the area and as he will tell you in the following story, he has trained them to stop by Termini's before they come to see him to pick up his "Termini's Care Box"...here are Dan's memories of the bakery.

Childhood Memories                                       
Dan Piscitelli

I grew up in the small Southern New Jersey town of Winslow, which is about 40 miles from Philadelphia. I'm well over 60 years old, but I still have many fond memories of the bakery. My dad and I frequently went to Philadelphia to shop on 9th Street for the special items we couldn't easily find around our town. I was about 8 years old, but I can remember this well. The cheese shop and the butcher were usually at the top of the list. My favorite part of the trip was after the shopping was done... We would stop by the bakery. I haven't been to the shop in several years, but I can vividly remember the layout: The cash register was at the back right of the shop, and that's where you started... a very friendly girl would pull out a tray and the fun would begin. The cannoli were in the back refrigerated case, the cookies were on the left side, and in the center were the baba rum (in small white cupcake cups dripping with rum), sfogliatelle, and other magnificent treats. We would fill the tray and end up with several boxes of cannoli (my sister's favorite), sfogliatelle (my mother's favorite), baba rum, cookies and other treats for the family at home. You didn't use tape on the boxes at that time... the boxes were secured with white string, which was fed from a large spool mounted on the back wall. Since it was just my father and I making the trip, our tradition was to have a small box just for the trip home. The box always contained the same thing...a few bite size cream puffs, which barely made it across the Walt Whitman Bridge. I do remember coming to the shop before the Walt Whitman was built, but the trip seemed to take much longer. 

I introduced my two daughters to the bakery when they were about 4 years old. Don't tell them I told you, but they are both over 40 now and they both still live in the area and frequent the shop every chance they get. They have happily introduced my grandchildren to the finest bakery in the world. I even have them trained well enough to know that when they are coming to visit me in North Carolina, they must stop by to pick up a "Termini's Care Box" just for me.
The pastries that you make are the finest traditional Italian pastries that I have ever had...
Please don't ever change your methods, recipes or ingredients...and hopefully your vintage showcases will withstand the test of time for another 100 years.

Termini Bros Experience

Termini Bros Bakery is about family, from the day we opened our door in 1921 to today, it's your continued dedication and loyalty which makes Termini's such a special place. When we send a new customer an email, which says "welcome to the family", there is no truer statement. We want you to feel special because you make us feel that way. When a child leaves smiling with her first Cannoli to when she comes back for her wedding cake, it pulls our heart strings. Many customers have been coming here since childhood and now they are bringing their children. We get to be apart of your lives from weddings to birthdays and holidays; this is what drives us. It makes us feel good to be apart of your tradition. But, the best way to depict that is through your stories, we want to know and share your experiences. Every week we are going to highlight one of your stories along with pictures which embodies what we are about and post it on our blog. You can send your story to Customerservice@Termini.com with the subject line "My Termini Bros Experience". If your story is featured on our blog we will send you a $25 Termini Bros Gift Certificate. So start writing, we look forward to all of your stories!

The Van Gogh Inspired Wedding Cake Revealed

The Van Gogh Inspired Wedding Cake Revealed

When we left off yesterday, we had some final details which, Joey and Vinny were not happy with concerning the cake design. Although the general design concept of the cake was approved, some of the details, in particular, the color and size of the flowers created some debate. The cake did not have the feel of the muse- The Van Gogh Cherry Blossom painting. When looking at the painting, shades of blue and white were intermingled with different sized flowers. The decision was made to have different size cherry blossoms and have the additional colors of blue and white as well as the yellow.

White and blue flowers were rushed delivered this morning just in time for Nick to start the decorating process.The branches are created by piping icing onto the cake, which has a great look against the pale blue background. The cherry blossoms are then placed on the cake. It took the decorating room two hours to finish the cake for Joey and Vinny's final approval.



Van Gogh Cherry Blossoms

The final verdict...Joey and Vinny were not happy with the bottom of the cake. Joey pulled up the Van Gogh painting and it was agreed more needed to be done. The cake was brought back to the decorating table. They are now on a time crunch to get this cake right! With two hours left until the cake had to be on the truck, the decorators got to work and added more flowers to the bottom of the cake. There was no room for error. An hour and a half later the final product was rolled into the refrigerator to chill before transport. Everyone was happy, even the customers that came through the bakery on a tour could not believe how beautiful the cake was. What do you think?

Congratulations to Grace and Kristian, the bride and groom... We hope they have a wonderful life together and a beautiful day! 

A Termini Bros Wedding Day Two...

Miguel filling the Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

     The big question yesterday was will the decorator's vision of the wedding cake be approved?  The answer is, YES! Everyone from Joey to Vinny, and most importantly the bride and groom agree that a lighter background is the best way for the branches and cherry blossoms to really pop.  So, what happened next? The baker's sprang into action!  The cake will have three tiers and each tier is a different flavor cake.  Robert, who bakes the cakes, got started.  He had to bake an 8" chocolate chip pound cake, a 12" red velvet cake and finally, a 16" chocolate layer cake.  When he finished, in came Miguel to fill and ice the cake with our buttercream icing. 

The smoothing process

     Where many bakers use Fondant to create cake design, Termini's does not because we want the best tasting cake possible.  This part of the process takes just as long as the decorating.  The reason for this is that the cake must be stabilized with wooden dowels to stop from any shifting and the buttercream icing must be as smooth as possible, along with all of the edges being sharp.  This can take Miguel a few times over to get it perfect.  All of this must be completed before the decorating team can get started on the cake design in the morning. 

     The wedding starts at 7:00 pm and the decorating will take at least two hours.  Since we prefer our wedding cakes to arrive three hours in advance, incase of any damages or issues, this means that they will need to begin decorating at noon.  Nick and John started preparation for the decorating today by laying out all of the yellow cherry blossom flowers that the bride and groom requested to match the Van Gogh painting.  This is when another issue arose, Joey and Vinny were not happy with the fact that all of the flowers were the same size and color.  After and hour of debate a decision was made.  Check in tomorrow to find out what decision was reached.

A Termini Bros Wedding...

The wedding season is here and no matter how small or big the wedding we all celebrate with cake!!  The idea then bloomed in our heads at Termini Bros; why not show our customers a wedding cake from start to finish?  So in this weeks blog we have a special treat for you, our bride, Grace and groom, Kristian have a special wedding cake in mind and the journey began with the first consultation back in January.  The couple met with Alyssa, our wedding consultant, about their ideas and vision for their wedding cake.  The next month, Alyssa met with our decorators Nick and John and explained the concept- a Van Gogh painting of cherry blossoms.  They talked about the idea and what the bakers need to bring this idea to fruition.  The decorating team first needs a picture of the painting, a swatch of the background color and the color of the cherry blossoms.  All of this is discussed months before the wedding and now that the week of the wedding is here, it's time for action and confirmation of the details.  Nick looked at the swatch the bride has provided for the background and believes it's too dark.  John came up with the idea to lighten the background so the branches and the cherry blossoms are highlighted.  Will the bride and groom agree with the decorator's vision of their special cake? Will they agree to the changes in the background color? This question needs to be brought to Joey and Vinny. Check back tomorrow to find out if the vision is approved...

Van Gogh Cherry Blossoms

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, so we decided to focus on the ubiquitous American favorite as the topic of today’s blog post.  Chocolate Chip Cookies are a relatively recent invention, coming about in 1930 when Ruth Wakefield supposedly accidentally invented the cookie.  According to Nestlé, who purchased Wakefield’s recipe in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate, Wakefield was mixing up a batch of chocolate cookies when she realized that the baking chocolate she was used to using wasn’t stocked in her kitchen so she substituted chocolate bars that she cut into pieces.  Instead of melting into the batter like she expected, the chocolate chunks held their shape and a national favorite was born.

Ruth Wakefield, Inventor of the Chocolate Chip Cookie

George Boucher, a former employee of the Toll House Inn where Wakefield was a proprietor, claims a different story.  He insisted that Wakefield, an accomplished cook and baker must have known the melting properties of chocolate, so the Nestlé story had to be a fabrication.  He said that he saw the enormous stand mixer that Wakefield used to mix her dough cause massive vibrations in the shop on multiple occasions.  He theorized that the chocolate bars must’ve been on a shelf above the mixer, and the vibrations knocked them into the dough, where the mixer broke them into chunks that were mixed throughout.  He claims that Wakefield returned to the kitchen and saw the chocolate chip cookie dough and wanted to throw it out because of the chunks, but he persuaded her to try baking them anyway as a kitchen experiment.  The result was the first batch of Nestlé Tollhouse Cookies.

Eventually, due to some legal issues, Nestlé lost the rights to the “Tollhouse” trademark, but many still refer to the cookies as such.  Even today, if you pick up a bag of Nestlé chocolate chips, every single one will have some kind of variation of Wakefield’s “Toll House Cookie” recipe on the back.

From a 1940s era Nestle Bag

When Wakefield sold the rights of her recipe to Nestlé and the common person had access, Chocolate Chip Cookies became nearly synonymous with “American.”  People have become so fond of these cookies over the years that Massachusetts decided to instate Chocolate Chip Cookies as the Official State Cookie!  

Pennsylvania attempted to follow suit with two bills (Senate Bill 320 and House Bill 2479), but the Nazareth Sugar Cookie has been in the argument since the first bill was introduced in 1997.  It is still a matter of legal debate to this day!  

We can’t really judge people for getting so excited about these cookies, as they are one of our favorites to bake AND to eat.  In fact, ours are consistently a best-seller in the shop.  We have a hard time keeping up, but we love to make what you crave! 

From our family to yours,

Cheers!  (With a glass of milk and cookie in hand, of course)

Festa Della Mamma

Did you know that on La Festa Della Mamma (Mother’s Day, which is celebrated on the same day in Italy and the US) Italian phone companies record their highest volumes of the year?  Or that Mother’s Day falls third on the list of holidays for spending, right behind Christmas and Valentine’s Day?  Our Mom is one of the most important women in our lives, so we understand what all the fuss is about!

And yet with all of this hype, Mother’s Day is actually a relatively new holiday.  It wasn’t officially adopted in the US until 1914 and it wasn’t officially adopted in Italy until 1958.  We’re glad people finally got their acts together to celebrate Mom!!! 

Some trace the idea of Mother’s Day back to ancient Rome where the goddess Juno was celebrated yearly as the Goddess of Fertility.  She also had a month named after her (June) and to this day, many Italians believe that getting married in the month of June is good luck for a healthy marriage and for fertility.

Others trace the idea of Mother’s Day back to the Christian “Mothering Sunday” tradition whereby people would go and visit their “Mother” church— meaning the church where they were baptized—and decorate it with flowers and gifts.

The new iteration of Mother’s Day is special because of the apostrophe.  “Mother’s” is possessive.  All of a sudden we, as a society, were encouraged to celebrate our own Mother, not the Mother of mankind or the Church (although attending mass on Mother’s Day is still a very important tradition in Italy).  On this day, all around the world, children, fathers and husbands all get the opportunity to take care of the mothers in their lives.  They get the chance to tell the women in their lives who nurture and take care of the family “Thank you!”

However you celebrate this year, be sure to take a moment to call the special women in your life to remind them how important they are!!

From our family to yours,

Buona Festa Della Mamma!