Who in NWA has not experienced Rick’s Bakery, founded by Rick Boone? Learn how Rick, an electrical engineer by trade, fell into the bakery business as he tells his story to educators at the Empowering Entrepreneurship Education conference in Fayetteville at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Excellence at the University of Arkansas. We were honored to meet Rick and learn from his challenges and successes what it means to be successful and to stay relevant from 1980 to 2018. He shares his plans to expand to a new location in Rogers, opening in October 2018.
Rick decided to study engineering because his test scores said he should be an engineer. He thought that sounded good. Though when reflecting back over his life, he might have been destined to be an entrepreneur. At age twelve he started a lawn mowing business that hired friends from the neighborhood. He later worked in a grocery store. He didn’t study business though so he learned his business skills by making mistakes and solving problems as they occurred. The bakery began as a donut shop and has morphed over the years. Today, a stop at Rick’s Bakery is an experience! He now specializes in very artistic cakes and cookies, sells party supplies, has a restaurant on site, and a catering and special events division. While munching on a donut and coffee, a customer can sit at a bar and watch the cakes being decorated behind glass panes. You can hire Rick’s to cater your special event or have your event on site. Wedding cakes are spectacular art as are all the licensed Razorback cakes and cookies. Want a fun company outing or fun kids event, consider attending Rick’s cake, cookie or donut decorating classes.
Besides the artistic creations, Rick does a phenomenal job training his employees. He hires art students to give them experience but decorator training can take up to 18 months. Rick is very complementary of his amazing staff. He has worked over time to help on board new employees and help them to understand how he wants customers to be treated. He currently uses a training passport to cross-train new hires. They go from station to station and work with mentors who teach them how to greet customers, box donuts, take cake orders, etc.
Rick noted that 2020 would be their 40th anniversary. The years were filled with problem solving. He, like so many entrepreneurs says he learns from mistakes. Today they have 67 full-time employees; are ranked in top 3% of restaurants in Fayetteville without selling alcohol; sell branded product in Walmart and other venues; and are opening in Rogers. He shared that if he had worked in a ‘real job’ he could have retired by now! The entire video is linked to the E3 conference above.
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