Walking into Puffin’s Pastry Shop, stacks of cookie sheets and cake pans are evidence of the work at hand.
Chefs are preparing pizza crusts and dinner foods after a long day of cookie-baking.
MSU bakeries are busy taking and filling orders for several hundred dozens of Valentine’s Day special offers.
The smell of sugar and flour filled the pastry shop, the campus bakery tucked behind the scenes in the Brody Hall cafeteria, Tuesday. More than 12,000 cookies already were prepared for delivery on campus.
This week, Joan Goheen, retail supervisor for the bakery, has been busy making sure thousands of orders about and beyond campus are delivered on time. For eight years, the bakery has organized a weeklong Valentine’s Day special.
After 12 years as a supervisor, Goheen said this week is one of the busiest in the year.
But it still can compete with off-campus bakeries, she said.
“With the prices we have, you just can’t beat it,” she said. “People have been ordering all week. The orders actually started last Friday.”
Goheen said the pastry shop staff includes more than 100 students, especially students with a background in fine art.
“We are always trying to get our name out there,” she said.
2001 MSU graduate Gen Hobart turned to the bakery for work after graduation. She specializes in cake decoration.
“I saw an ad to get a job here and I took a chance,” Hobart said. “I’ve been doing this as a hobby, so what a great opportunity.”
Preparation for this year’s Valentine’s Day rush began last month with advertising. Parents were sent offers to provide sweets for their college students for the holiday.
“This year is busier than last year, which is nice,” said Lauri Boger, a bakery employee. “We keep increasing our variety for the faculty and students. Hopefully, they will see that we’ve become more popular.”
No-preference freshman Lauren Azoni said the bakery provided a good job when she needed one. But this week, the job is keeping her busy.
“There has been a lot of phone-in orders, especially with this Valentine’s stuff,” she said. “I have had to help out a lot more packaging the Valentine’s cookies.”
Gerry Stoeker, manager of the pastry shop, said it will be his department’s job to keep up with what the students want - pies, cookies and cakes.
Work with food manufacturers, he said, allows the department to keep up with the rest of the industry.
Department officials said the bakery will be busy at next fall’s Homecoming when they attempt to reclaim the record for the heaviest Rice Krispie square in the world.
“Coffee shops and bagels are popular,” he said. “We try to keep up with what the students want.”
