I walked in to our cookie factory in The Sashmill around 10:00 on Tuesday the 9th of December to bring my husband Larry, my husband and co-founder his cell phone. He often forgets it at home.
I was dressed in black pants, a button-down shirt and a black sweater, a little dressy from my usual attire. Larry was to be honored that day by the Santa Cruz City Council for a Citizenship award.
Our employees were scuttling about in their hairnets and aprons, assembling shipping boxes, filling gift boxes with two dozen of our delicious cookies and tying each box with one of our beautiful holiday ribbons. I hear Larry say, “Hey Shell, can you help tie bows?” “O.K.”, I said, quickly donning a white apron. I forgot to put on a hairnet and someone commented, “I guess as she is the Vice- Pres., she’s allowed to get her hair in the cookies.” So I put on one of our lovely hairnets that do so much for your sense of style, and started in.
Oh My! Working alongside with our packaging crew who are experts at tying bows and have been working here for years and years was a challenge. My bow-tying skills are rusty and I could hardly keep-up the pace. But I was really enjoying working “on the floor” with my wonderful employees instead of saying a quick “hello” on my way to the office up stairs.
The production crew had arrived early that morning to mix the different varieties of dough, hand-scoop the dough drops on cookie trays and bake the many cookies we produce each day. People ask all the time how many cookies we bake. Our answer is, “A lot!”
The packaging crew were assembling 250 boxes each filled with two dozen cookies in a white box tied with a candy cane striped ribbon to be shipped for a corporate account order. One of the many orders we receive each day.
The office staff organizes each web-site order to be baked, packaged and shipped by late afternoon when the FedEx truck arrives for pick-up. They make everything run so smoothly and efficiently. Everyone works very hard and sometimes during a rush to meet time demands they are all in aprons and hairnets because it’s “All hands on Deck!”
So it was time for Larry and I to take off our aprons and try to brush off all the glitter from the bow tying and get to City Hall for Larry to accept his award.
All in all a great day! I want to thank all of our wonderful employees for the hard work they do, not just during the holidays but all year long. I really appreciate your work ethic and dedication.
Thank you all. Shelly
Co-founder and Vice-President of The Pacific Cookie Company
