Cafe & Catering
2010 Relay for Life - A Grand Success
Let by Costeaux employee Linda Cook, employees walked and talked up "the cause" to raise an outstanding $1,693 which was matched by the generous management for a grand total of $3,040. It is a very happy day when we can send a check that size to the American Cancer Society.
Congrats to ALL who participated in the Cooking with Costeaux team this year and especially, kudos to Linda who is an inspiring, tireless and very organized leader.
2009 in Review - A Banner Year at Costeaux
A full year of French-inspired Costeaux Cafe renovations proved we're doing a lot of things right. The Cafe seemed to become the unofficial "hub" of our community for residents to meet and greet friends, as well as a draw for Wine Country visitors. As one Petaluma customer noted,
"Costeaux is well worth a drive to experience. Costeaux is the best kept 'secret' in Sonoma County."
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Many new business opportunities were realized this past year, along with the benchmarks, honors and awards.
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• 2009 National Retail Bakery of the Year Award from Modern
Baking Magazine
• Congratulations to Jason Neal, Sales and Route Supervisor, for
dramatic wholesale operations growth including the addition of a new
Sonoma County delivery route and new accounts with Oliver’s,
Molsberry’s and Whole Foods markets.
• General Manager Will Seppi strategically led Costeaux managers and supervisors to new
heights through challenging times, increasing our market share in
excess of 10%, maximizing awareness and exposure, and refining quality
and service companywide. Bakery owners Nancy and Karl Seppi continue to be a huge part of the bakery's success, too.
• Mairin Rossi, Chief Pastry Chef, created exquisite new
products - Chocolate Hazelnut Cake and Beurre Noisette Tarts to name
two - and introduced a new line of savory breakfast croissants. She
and her team of pastry chefs exceed even the most discerning
expectations which is a large part of our being named the Best Bakery
in Sonoma County in Heidi Hibbard’s November 2009 column.
• Mascot Maggie made her debut as the Dog Bone Diva, to rave
reviews. Follow Maggie’s almost daily posts on FaceBook. Rumor has
it she is also behind Costeaux’s profiles on Twitter and Linked In,
plus responses on Yelp!, ChowHound, and Plaxo.
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What else?
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• Ciabatta is King, no question about that. Best of Show Winner
- again - at the 2009 Sonoma County Harvest Fair. Ciabatta is
available in loaf or baguette forms. Try the new Seeded Sour Batard,
our ever-mega-popular Multigrain Batard...and, well, what ISN'T
scrumptious at the Costeaux Bakery Counter?
• Continued excellence in customer service was a goal
with noticeable results. A Bakery Counter customer recently commented
that she went to four bakeries in search of the perfect chocolate 30th
birthday cake. Costeaux received grand accolades for product options
as well as attentiveness.
• Our bread products were adorned and distributed in
distinctive, professionally-designed bags specifying nutritional and
weight information and re-heating guidance both on site and at
partnering markets such as Big John’s in Healdsburg.
• We became a “presence” at the Saturday Santa Rosa Farmers’
Market again, after an extended hiatus, to much acclaim.
• Costeaux won the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce’s Trade Event
Catering Award and the Healdsburg Tribune’s Commercial Holiday
Lighting awards.
• Recognized as the area’s premier wedding cake purveyor we did
a brisk business in this specialty area despite the economy, booked
rehearsal dinners, and delivered off site wedding brunch platters.
• Step Campaign results confirmed it – if you want to lose
weight even if you work in a bakery, join the pastry or bread baking
staff who log in over 10,000 steps each shift.
• Costeaux French Bakery worked hard to introduce new products
at reasonable prices including Cinnamon Walnut Bread and Cinnamon Bun
Coffee Cake in Christmas tree shapes for the holidays. Rave reviews
by regulars and new customers all around.
• A specially-commissioned Holiday Business After Hours Event
was held on December 16th to showcase the 2009 Retail Bakery of the
Year award for Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce members. It has been a
goal to host a Chamber After Hours event for several years – at least
we did it!
• The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Tasting Event at Fort Mason
featured Costeaux as the sole artisan bread bakery, providing a surge
of interest in our business to new constituents. Catch us on February
20th at the same event! We’re proud to be asked back and will again
distribute our world-class mini baguettes to event participants.
• Extensive Focus Group research with longtime, current and
brand new customers was conducted by our Marketing Manager, Abby
Whitenack, along with a thorough Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats analysis with Costeaux staff at all levels from
maintenance to ownership. These studies provided critical data for
short and long term business decisions and in many cases validated
on-going practices. We thank our Focus Group participants for a
WEALTH of information!
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Community Spirit - we've got it!
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The Bakery and Seppi Family is generous in both product donations for
community fundraisers, lending helping hands and servers at events,
and promoting Healdsburg causes - from the Relay to Life, to hot cocoa
on the Plaza for the Santa event, American Heart Association, HELP
HONZA Ripa Recovery Fund, as well as Redwood Empire Food Bank - to
the tune of $25,000+ annually.
It's all good.
Partnering with most area wineries at one time or another, this past
year Costeaux added Matanzas Creek's Wine Club on a regular basis for
staff on site, catering advice and product deliver. We were
involved in Zintopia, Winter Wineland, Barrel Tasting, Simi Winery's
Forage event, Topel's Dogtober Parade, and the newly presented upscale
Artisano event.
Off site we worked with caterers throughout the area and were a
"presence" at all types of events such as Charles Schwab Championship
Golf Cup, Destination Race's Half Marathon and Celebrate Wild
Steelhead. We were pleased to lend our esteemed Number One Baker Karl
Seppi to Relish Culinary Adventures and Andrea Mugnaini's Baking
Classes, to the delight of the community.
Back at the Shop on Healdsburg Avenue, there was no lack of on site
events. The 2nd Costeaux Presents Wine Country Bastille Day was a
huge success with the addition of even more Can-can dancers (pictured
above with GM Will) and a fencing demo, plus CLO the MOO-lin Rouge
star from Clover Stornetta - our longtime business partner (see photo
with Joshua Ankwandah from Ghana, in the middle.) Lastly, we even
tried a DANCE at the Bakery, can you believe it? We couldn't miss picturing Marie Antoinette again, second from
the right, with her coy proclamations of "Let them eat cake!"
Breakfast with Santa was changed up a bit and ever popular with The
Big Guy available to all, this year included some of his canine
admirers, see far right! Our Christmas Eve Day Open House was
especially well attended and festive, fun for all, especially with
Canoli King Karl and Nancy serving up her Incredible Egg Nog.
Our favorite contest and event of the year? Hands down, the Zucchini
Bread Baking Contest won by Geri Tapparo with her dynamite version of
the bread with cinnamon, white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
Geri's zucchini bread was put into production, available at our Bakery
Counter, and adored by all who tried it! Start baking now to perfect
YOUR recipe for next year's contest.
THANK YOU for all YOUR support of Costeaux throughout the year.
We love you!
