Services - Training

Services - Bakery preparation

Services - Delivery & Assembling

Services - Following-up

Services - Extra

1. Could you give me more details about how the training takes place?

The length of the training depends on the background of the trainees themselves. On an average, one month is needed to train someone with a bakery background, and up to two months for somebody inexperienced in this field. But, in any case, the training can be extended beyond the planned ending date if you are not satisfied with the technical expertise gained by the trainees. This extension goes up to three months at NO extra cost.

Apprentices are supervised by different monitors. Once a trainee masters a specific recipe, he/she moves a step further to the learning of another recipe supposed to be more difficult to complete. For instance, a trainee learns how to make tartlets with Monitor X. When X sees that the apprentice can apply this recipe successfully on his/her own, the apprentice will start learning how to make apple turnovers with Monitor Y. And so on…

2. If I plan to produce a large volume, can I train more than one person in your Training Centre?

Yes, you can. According to the volume you plan to produce, we tell you whether a second or even a third person will have to be trained in order to optimize your production system. Those extra trainings are FREE! With LS, you pay for the French technology only once, no matter how many people will be trained afterwards.
Number of people to be trained according to the daily production levels:
- 1000 to 5000 units per day: 1 person
- 6000 to 10000 units per day: 2 people
- 11000 to 15000 units per day: 3 people

3. What is the average background of trainees who succeed in your training?

The only requirement is a good physical condition since the whole work has to be carried out in a standing position. But it is quite difficult to describe the ideal apprentice through other characteristics, as we trained, in the past, people from various backgrounds and ages: a schoolteacher, a translator, a dressmaker, a geologist, a sales manager, a builder, etc…

4. In the Training Centre, trainees learn with local raw materials. What if quality and properties of raw materials in my city are different?

LS specialists come to your city before your bakery opens in order to determine the most proper raw materials. Our specialists stay in your city as long as it is needed to find the right raw materials and adapt the French recipes if needed. This testing process usually takes a week.

5. If the training has to be extended, are all living expenses of the trainees still covered by LS?

Yes, they are. Such a point is clearly mentioned in our contract. This way trainees and investors respectively keep focusing on the training and the implementation process.

6. How can I be sure that my trainees are able to apply on their own all the techniques you taught them?

At the end of the training period, apprentices are given the opportunity to test all their knowledge in a real environment: each of them, individually, become in charge of LS production factory for a few days. It is a kind of dress rehearsal before your bakery effectively opens. You are invited to come personally and assess trainees' level of expertise. It is the best way to set your mind at rest on that point.

7. I would like to learn your technology. Can I myself attend the training to take part in the manufacturing process in my future bakery?

Of course, you can! No prior knowledge is required. But please keep in mind that this job requires an important physical commitment and it is likely that you will have to partly delegate the financial and sales management to somebody else.

8. You will train one baker. What about the rest of the production staff?

Except the main baker, the rest of your staff mainly consists of assistants only in charge of very simple tasks. It only takes a few hours to show and explain them their job. That's why no specific training is required for them.

9. If the training is over whereas the bakery is not completed yet, won't trainees forget all that they have just learnt?

In the event of unexpected delays, we propose you to keep apprentices in LS production factory where they will be temporarily employed. They will receive a monthly wage. If reasons for delays in the bakery implementation are not connected to LS work, we offer such a service for a period no longer than one month. If LS is responsible for delays, the employment period can be extended to three months.

10. Can the training take place in my city instead of your Training Centre?

Yes, it can. For different reasons, some clients definitely prefer to have the training take place directly in their new bakery. Needless to say, though, that the staff training can only start once the bakery implementation is completed. Indeed, LS monitors will use the imported bakery equipments to train the staff.

11. Where do you recommend carrying out the staff training: in your Training center or in my bakery?

Each client has his own personal reasons when making the decision.
It can only be reminded that arranging the staff training in your bakery will extend the global setup period by at least one month. But your staff has the opportunity to be taught directly with raw materials and equipments they will use daily later.
Training in the client's bakery requires an extra payment. In addition to that, the client should support living expenses (food & accommodation) of the French baker sent on the spot.

On the other hand, when completing the staff training in LS Centre, time is saved since the training and the bakery preparation are carried out at the same time. As a result, you start producing earlier (and therefore getting your money back faster).
Training costs are better controlled since they don't change, regardless of the length of the training.

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BAKERY PREPARATION

1. I know the electrical power of all equipments, but how can I calculate the remaining electrical consumption (lighting, heating, air-conditioning…)?

A fast way to get a rough idea of the needed electrical power (including the safety margin) is to double the total power of the oven line. You usually get a quite realistic figure.
For a more precise calculation:
- Air-conditioning: about 15 watts per cubic meter (look at the technical documentation for more precisions).
- Lighting: about 20 watts per square meter.
- Electrical consumptions of the heating system may strongly vary, depending on the building and the location of the ovens in your bakery (ovens are a very effective heating source!).
- For safety reasons (tension variations and/or short-term expansions of your business), you should add at least a power of 30-40% to the theoretical total of needed electrical power.

2. In the Bakery Preparation page, the needed area seems quite big to produce 1500 units a day (80 sq.m.), but pretty small to make 15000 (250 sq.m.). Can you explain such a fact?

The needed area doesn't only depend on the daily volume to be produced, but also on the number of production types. If, for instance, you produce 2000 or 4000 croissants, you will work on the same tables and with the same equipments. Therefore, the needed area doesn't necessarily increase proportionally to the production volume. It will only take you more time to complete the new quantity.

On the other hand, the more the diversification of the production, the more the need for new machines and rooms to set them up.

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DELIVERY AND ASSEMBLING

1. How will equipments be delivered?

Usually speaking, LS uses " Last Trip " containers. The latter are second-hand containers in very good condition that belong to you once the delivery is completed. You can then use them as warehouses or sell them. The retail price ranges from 500 to 1500 US dollars, depending on your location. You don't have to pay LS extra money for the container.

2. What are the average shipping times?

On an average, deliveries take two weeks. While your equipment is "on the road", we inform you daily of the geographical position of your container.

3. In order to prepare customs clearance properly, could you tell me the customs codes corresponding to the equipments to be imported?

The table below lists customs codes for bakery equipments usually exported from Europe.

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FOLLOWING-UP

1. Will the main baker be alone during the first day of activity?

During your first days of operation, you can ask for a LS specialist to be in your bakery in order to advice the main baker for a very reasonable cost.

2. What if the main baker gets sick? How can I keep working?

One of LS services you can decide to choose is a kind of insurance service according to which a French specialist comes to your bakery to substitute your main baker in case of accident or illness. This way, your production is not stopped. This substitution can last up to 6 weeks.

EXTRA SERVICES

1. I have never worked in the bakery field. I have a hard time to assess whether I am able to run such a business. Are there any bakeries set up by LS that I could visit?

We usually advise to visit the bakery set up in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We advise you to fly there for two days and see how the whole bakery works, taste French recipes made with local raw materials, visit retail shops and so on…

The very specific taste of the production has enabled the French bakery in Bishkek to produce and sell daily 5,000 units, in spite of a purchase power of the local population much lower than the purchase power of the population in your city.

2. Bishkek is quite far from the place where I live. What can you do for me?

We understand that the geographical location is quite far from places where other clients plan to open French bakeries. That's the reason why LS is ready to pay the air ticket and accommodation in Bishkek if you live at more than 200 kilometers from the Kyrgyz capital (some extra conditions apply).

Such a trip is the best way for you to realize and assess that starting a French bakery business is a great opportunity that LS is offering you today.

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