by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Cookies, fruitcakes and other holiday treats are filling up trays and display cases at Edgewood Bakery on Jacksonville’s Westside as the holiday season swings into high gear. The 62-year-old business may be busy and continually recognized as one of the City’s best, but its owners are still worried about its future.
Gary and Sandy Polleta have owned the Edgewood Bakery for just over 20 years and have seen the industry and their business change.
“Where Gary and I grew up (Chicago and Michigan, respectively), going to a bakery was a weekly event because that’s where you went to pick up good baked goods,” said Sandy Polleta. “The face of the business has changed. It’s more about convenience. People can stop in a store, grab some groceries and a birthday cake all in one place. We have to make a concerted effort to make it worth the trip to come to our bakery. What we do can’t be purchased at any store or chain.”
Despite a rise in cost of commodities — including sugar, flour and dairy products — Edgewood remains a scratch bakery committed to a “quality product at a fair price.” Those ingredients are used to create the 500 wedding cakes and the 3,000-4,000 birthday cakes the bakery averages a year. These cakes range from simple, single layer birthday cakes to multilayer, ornate wedding cakes. The icing can be shaped to look like it was woven into a basket or a blue frosting waterfall can cascade down from the top of the cake to a base layer that resembles a river.
“That is one of the best parts of the job, being a part of a family’s history,” said Sandy. “We’ll make birthday cakes for a family and then they will come in for a wedding cake. We’ve even had some families come in that we’ve made birthday, wedding and 50th anniversary cakes for.”
As well known as the cakes are, the Polletas decided to take a look at their business as it related to the economy and prepare for the future.
“We looked at the economy and asked ourselves ‘What is going to be one of the first things people give up when they don’t have as much money,’” said Gary Polleta. “We figured they’d give up treats. So we decided to infuse some diversity into the business.”
The bakery has developed a breakfast and lunch business serving sandwiches, soups and salads. It also created Savory Catering Service and remodeled a building on the back corner of the property to use as a banquet hall.
“We had Santa in there on Saturday for kids and families,” said Sandy. “We had about 60 people attend.”
These ideas have helped the business be successful, but it appears that every stride it takes forward isn’t too far ahead of the bill collector.
“A lot of small businesses are very, very nervous about what the future may hold,” said Sandy. “Our property taxes more than doubled in 2008 and our JEA bill went from $2,200 a month to $3,700 a month. Flour, sugar and dairy have all seen a steady rise in price over the last five years. Then there are other costs — grease trap service, garbage pickup and pest control — that have gone up. It gets to a point where you have to ask how much cost customers will bear.”
Customers aren’t something that Edgewood Bakery is lacking. A steady stream of customers stepped into the store throughout Tuesday morning to peruse the pastries, donuts, elephant ears, turnovers, bear claws, cookies, pies and cakes.
“Customer counts are actually higher this year,” said Gary. “They just aren’t spending as much.”
The Edgewood Bakery is in the same situation a lot of small business find themselves in as they weather the current economic storm.
“This is the second year we haven’t been able to give raises, but people are just glad to have a job right now,” said Gary. “We work hard keeping employees informed about what is going on with the company, what’s going on on the outside and that there is hope.”
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