When Things Go Wrong · 🌾 From Oven to Market

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When Things Go Wrong

Here's something I don't see taught enough, so I built a whole lesson around it. Module 6.5, The Bad Loaf, the Missed Order, the Lost Customer.

If you sell bread long enough, you're going to have a bad day. A loaf comes out underbaked and you don't catch it in time. Somebody drives out for a preorder you forgot to bag. A regular tries something new, doesn't love it, and you can see it on their face. It happens to every baker who's ever set up a table. It's happened to me.

Here's the part most folks get wrong. They think the goal is to never make the mistake. It isn't. You will make the mistake. The goal is what you do in the ninety seconds after.

Because a mistake handled well doesn't cost you a customer. It's the thing that turns them into a regular. People don't remember the perfect transactions. They remember the time something went sideways and you made it right without making them feel bad about it.

A few things I've learned the hard way:

Own it fast and plain. "You're right, that one's on me." No excuses, no long story about your oven. The apology stays short, the fix gets bigger.

Make it right generously. Replace it, refund it, hand them the next one on the house. Whatever it costs you is cheaper than the customer you lose and the ten people they tell.

Don't grovel. Owning a mistake and drowning in it are two different things. Fix it, mean it, move on. Confidence reassures people. A puddle of apology just makes them uncomfortable.

That's the heart of it. The full lesson has the actual word-for-word recovery scripts for all three situations, the ones you can practically read off your phone in the moment your stomach drops and your mind goes blank.

Every baker needs these before they need them. Not the day it happens.

Want to see how the whole system works, no pressure and nothing to buy to look? Here's the walk-through: https://skoo.ly/walkthrough

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When Things Go Wrong