Tier 2 Example — “Cathy’s Bread Week: Two Bakes, One Delivery Day” – The Q

Tier 2 Example (19 hours / $350) — “Cathy’s Bread Week: Two Bakes, One Delivery Day”

Cathy Lane is a bread-focused operator—small batch, consistent customers, steady growth. She doesn’t need a daily kitchen. What she needs is one dependable production day each week in a permitted facility: enough time to mix, ferment, bake, cool, package, and reset—without rushing or cutting corners.

Tier 2 fits her because it provides 19 booked hours per month, which she uses as a realistic rhythm of about 4–5 hours per week.

What she produces (monthly bread menu at a Tier 2 scale):

Sourdough country loaves (32 loaves/month)
Sand Mountain honey wheat (24 loaves/month)
Cinnamon swirl bread (16 loaves/month)
Dinner rolls (8 dozen/month)
Weekly special (rotating): jalapeño-cheddar or rosemary-olive (8 loaves/month)

This is not a “full wholesale bakery.” It’s a controlled, repeatable schedule that supports farmers market sales, small retail relationships, and pre-orders.

A typical month might look like this (19 hours total)

Week 1: Monday 1:00–5:30 (4.5 hrs) — mix + bulk ferment + shape + cleanup
Week 2: Tuesday 1:00–5:30 (4.5 hrs) — bake + cool + package + cleanup
Week 3: Thursday 7:00–11:00 (4 hrs) — smaller bake cycle + packaging
Week 4: Friday 8:00–2:00 (6 hrs) — heavier bake/rolls + final pack + reset
Total: 19 hours

(Operators can schedule differently; the point is that Tier 2 supports roughly one production block per week.)

What Cathy’s time at The Q feels like

Week 1 (4.5 hours) — Mix and shape (foundation session)
Cathy arrives with ingredients pre-measured and labeled. She signs in, sanitizes her area, and gets straight to the dough. She mixes two batches—one sourdough, one honey wheat—then manages bulk fermentation with folds at the right intervals. She shapes loaves, loads proofing containers, and uses the last half hour to reset: wipe-down, sanitize, wash what she used, and leave the area ready for the next operator.

Week 2 (4.5 hours) — Bake and package (sellable product day)
This is where time disappears if you don’t stay focused. Cathy loads the oven, bakes in waves, and cools loaves properly. She doesn’t bag hot bread—steam ruins texture and creates moisture problems. As loaves cool, she labels bags and boxes so packaging moves fast. She finishes by staging orders and completing a full reset.

Week 3 (4 hours) — Small bake + weekly special
This session is her “keep inventory healthy” block: a smaller run of cinnamon swirl and the weekly special. It’s a tight session, so she keeps it simple: bake, cool, package, reset.

Week 4 (6 hours) — Rolls + heavier finish
This is her longer month-end session. Rolls require mixing, shaping, baking, and cooling, and she may also use this block to finish any larger pre-orders. At the end, she leaves the kitchen clean and set up for the next month’s rhythm.

Why Tier 2 works (and when to move up)

Tier 2 works because it supports a consistent weekly cadence—enough time to produce and package professionally without needing daily access. It’s ideal for the operator who is building a customer base and wants repeatable quality and predictable scheduling.

Cathy moves up to Tier 3 when:

she needs two production days per week, or
she adds wholesale accounts that require larger batch sizes, or
packaging/labeling and staging begin to consume an extra session each month.

Tier 2 is the “steady growth” tier: enough time to operate professionally, still small enough to keep overhead controlled.