The origin of the croissant is one of the great food legends of all time.

Many people have heard that the croissant was created in 1686 in Budapest, Hungary by a courageous and watchful baker, at a time when the city was being attacked by the Turks. Working late one night, he heard odd rumbling noises and alerted the city’s military leaders. They found that the Turks were trying to get into the city by tunnelling under the city’s walls. The tunnel was destroyed and the baker was a hero, but a humble hero — all he wanted in reward was the sole right to bake a special pastry commemorating the fight. The pastry was shaped like a crescent, the symbol of Islam, and presumably meant that the Hungarians had eaten the Turks for lunch.

The problem with this story is that it’s all made up.

The story first showed up in the first version of the great French food reference Larousse Gastronmique, in 1938. Later on, the story switched locations to Vienna, during the Turkish siege there in 1863, but that was also a fabrication

The truth about croissant

The sad thing is, the truth of croissant in this case is not nearly as interesting as the myth. No one knows when or where the first croissant was baked, but it was definitely in France and certainly not before 1850.

The word was first used in the great Littre dictionary (1863). The first croissant recipe was published in 1891, but it wasn’t the same kind of croissant we are familiar with today, described as an oriental pastry made of pounded almonds and sugar. The first recipe that would produce what we consider to be a croissant wasn’t published until 1905 in, Colombie’s Nouvelle Encyclopedie Culinaire, and again, it was in France.

The development croissant into a national symbol of France, is a 20th-century history

Croissant, Definitions

Croissant is French for crescent or crescent-shaped.  Croissants are composed of a light buttery rich yeast dough that can have either a sweet (jam, marzipan, chocolate) or savoury (cheese, ham, chicken, mushrooms) filling.  Traditionally enjoyed in France for breakfast with coffee and milk.

Croissants that are made with butter are called “croissant au beurre” and any croissant containing other types of fat (usually margarine) must be called “croissants

Pain au Chocolat

Although the phrase translates literally as ‘bread with chocolate’, it is fundamentally a croissant variation and is commonly sold alongside croissants in French bakeries and supermarkets. Like croissants, they are also typically eaten for breakfast, despite the chocolate content.

See the Wickipedia page for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croissant

La parisienne have Specialised in Croissant production for over 25 years now, producing  a premium quality butter product. We sell and deliver on all stages of croissant process from the pastry roll, blank triangle  and the raw un-baked items to bakeries and those who are a little game to bake there own product.  The we offer the fully finished croissant in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Peter Reed, an Associate of the Institute for Independent Business, has agreed to chat with any of our customers on a totally Confidential and Complimentary basis for 2 hours. He can offer guidance in many aspects of business to help you to the next level. E-mail customers@caksandbread.com.au  so we can put you in contact with Peter and watch your business grow to its full potential.

The rule has  many applications, both in personal and business life. Whilst the percentages may not be perfect, the rule seems to work in nearly all situations.

How is it applicable to a café and Bakery situation, I hear you ask? Here are some examples:

Staffing

If 80% of your turnover happens in 20% of your opening hours, use this incredibly useful piece of information when you draw up rosters. Get the staff numbers up during these peak times to make sure everything runs smoothly. Make sure your ‘guns’ are around when they are needed most and allow junior staff to look after things when you are quieter.

Regulars

If 80% of your turnover comes from just 20% of your customers, you need to make sure you show these guys a lot of love. Make sure your staff learn these customers’ names and their preferences. These are the guys you need to keep loyal to keep the money coming into the till.

Storage areas

If you know that 20% of your ingredients comprise 80% of your total offering, put the stuff you use most frequently in the most prominent and accessible positions. These are the also the ingredients that you should be buying in bulk and getting the best pricing for.

Sales Best Sellers

If 20% of your menu items contribute 80% of your sales, e.g. bread tins for sandwiches, or Cakes for your coffee & cake special’s, it pay’s too make sure you have ample stock of those items(as you know if you run out of these item’s you may upset customers).  Secondary sales items could be rotated in and out of stock to keep customers guessing. Cup cakes Monday, Canoli Tuesday.

Costings of best sellers

If 20% of your menu items contribute 80% of your turnover, it’s critical that you know the exact costings on all of these items. If you are selling many items of a particular line and your costings aren’t correct it will have a big effect on your gross profit.

Mistakes

Mistakes create bottlenecks and result in unhappy customers. If you start a log of mistakes, you will find that they are primarily caused by a small percentage of situations, eg an ordering system that is unclear or, more often, a less than diligent staff member. Engineer the mistake out of the system or re-educate the staff member to get things running more smoothly.

You will be surprised how often you can use this principle once you understand the concept. At the end of the day, we’re all looking for better results with less effort to our life a little bit easier!

WASEAGE TIP,

Have a healthy stock of items with a medium to long term shelf life;

• La Parisienne Slices,                           Up to 3 Weeks
• La Parisienne Brekky Bars,               Up to  3 Weeks
• La Parisienne Individual Tarts         Up to 5 Days
• La Parisienne Friands,                       Up to 4 Days

As we know refrigerators are great assets to any food business. Whilst they are running well I might add. Over all, they preserve the life of most products, and always give you that cool drink when needed.

What most people don’t realise is that they can also damage products, mostly through drying them out. There are some occasions however, where odours from other items send their smells around throughout the cabinet or room. These smells are a dead giveaway, so by keeping onions for example, in an air tight container and away from your cakes may help bring that customer back.

The one factor we can’t see or smell is the humidity level in your refrigerator. Most run on a low humidity because they are extracting the moisture out of the air, and release it out via a tube which some have running into a bucket. They work in much the same way as an air conditioner. Your skin gets dry if you are in an air conditioned environment for days on end, just like the products which you place in the fridge to keep cool.

For customers easy viewing we have no choice. The cakes must go out on display for approximately 8 to 10 hours. However, if you have excess of the same product, try storing it an air tight container in the bottom of the same unit, or on a shelf in the cool room. This could almost double the life of most products.

For the remaining 14 -16 hours the product stays in the same air drying conditions, which will deteriorate the quality. In some cases this will be beyond the point of being good for sale. If you were to cover them or place them in containers, you would be saving them from at least 14 hours of harsh conditions. For example place some glad wrap over the Lemon Tart could save its life. This will slow down the tops becoming leathery, and will have a great effect on cracking.

Just keep in mind, not all refrigerators are the same when it comes to humidity levels

Cheers.