In the early days at Dancing Deer Baking Co., president and CEO Trish Karter and her partners would tell employees, "Don't bake angry, it'll ruin the cake!" The founders also discovered the inverse to be true: When people were happy it showed in the food. This observation has inspired an operating philosophy that has served the company well. Dancing Deer now has 35 full-time employees plus additional part-time and seasonal hires, and the bakery has grown into an award-winning $4 million business.
Karter and her partners founded Dancing Deer in 1994 in a small retail space in the West Roxbury section of Boston. They produced baked goods that were sold at local gourmet coffee shops. The company has since relocated to a rehabilitated brick factory building in Roxbury, and its products are now available across the country through mail orders, online purchases and specialty food retailers. Dancing Deer uses all natural ingredients, minimal packaging and environmentally-friendly materials.
Karter attributes the success to the culture she and her team have created. "There's something about this place," she says. "People are happy here, they're treated well and fairly, and they're proud of their association with the products we make." Many of the bakery's employees are first generation immigrants from countries such as Albania, Brazil and Colombia. Some have worked at Dancing Deer since their first days in the United States. They bring in referrals from their communities in and around Boston, strengthening the bonds between families, employees and the company.
Every employee is a stakeholder at Dancing Deer, from the dishwashers to production workers to managers. "We rise and fall together," Karter says. She distributes 15 percent of the company's after tax net income to all employees on a pro rata basis. "Sooner or later everyone here has internalized the philosophy. If they're more productive and efficient, they see it at the end of the year in the profits and in their salary," she says.
Open communication is what drives the Dancing Deer team. "Just 10 percent of open communication relates to the big picture," Karter says, "but the other 90 percent is the every day stuff, knowing how to get information that's useful, making sure it gets disseminated and is accessible to the widest number of people."
To that end, the six managers have a team leader meeting every Tuesday to discuss issues such as sales, margins and productivity. The company keeps open books, and the managers periodically present a detailed financial review to all employees. Dancing Deer wants its workers to understand why the company does well, or what can be improved, and managers are continually figuring out ways to share information with employees.
The company maintains an Intranet, which contains a constantly updated store of information for everyone to access. "In addition to talking to each other, we train people to be responsible about sharing information," Karter says. "There's a flip side to open communication, which is an overload of information that may not be relevant or may be shared in a way that's not as efficient as it could be. For a small company, part of our job is to make the information available, but to do so in a way that makes sense in terms of collecting and disseminating it." Whether it's product specifications, marketing or sales updates, the company ensures that the information is available to all. Karter finds that it's the best way to keep everyone aware of how their work affects the company's bottom line.
Celebrations are also an important part of the Dancing Deer culture. The company recognizes everything from anniversaries to citizenships to new births. There's a tradition of sending up whoever is celebrating a special occasion with a certain amount of comedy. The recognized employee dresses up in a funny costume, and everyone sings and celebrates. The event provides a nice break in the middle of the day, and then it's back to work.
The company also encourages and supports employees seeking to improve their work and life skills. Whether it's learning English or developing computer skills, Dancing Deer provides up to $500 per employee towards any work-related classes. "It doesn't have to be too closely related," Karter says. "It can be something an employee would like to learn for another position within Dancing Deer or for another job outside the company." But resignations are rare at the bakery. Last year only two workers left voluntarily to explore other options. Dancing Deer has had no layoffs in the past five years and sales grew by 33 percent last year, an impressive performance in this economy.
In the meantime, the bakery's commitment to workforce training is extending beyond its own employees. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Workforce Development Council and the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership, the company is developing programs to teach supervisory skills and provide manufacturing training to workers in the foodservice industry. Both programs will open up new possibilities for workers with limited experience and may be sources for hiring new Dancing Deer employees.
Adelina Bano is one employee who has benefited greatly from her experience at the bakery. Bano was a government economist in her native Albania before coming to the United States nearly seven years ago. She needed a job but spoke little English. Her brother mentioned that Dancing Deer might be hiring, so Bano went to the bakery with a friend to translate for her. She started work that afternoon, packing boxes of cookies. Today Bano is the packing supervisor. She has learned English thanks to her colleagues and an English class. Her husband also joined the bakery and managed the night shift for four years. Two years ago he left to open his own pizza parlor. "Throughout my years here, I've never been afraid to ask for an explanation or tell someone I don't understand," Bano says. "There are many people here from different countries, and we're always free to ask questions to make sure we understand our job."
Karter thinks this is another way of giving employees a sense of ownership. She emphasizes that this isn't charity, it's good business. "If your heart is in the right place and you have a good set of core values, everything flows through," she says. "We have no fair weather values here. Everything we believe in has to translate into our everyday business."
Company: Dancing Deer Baking Co.
Web site: www.dancingdeer.com
Industry: Food
Location: Boston, Mass.
Number of Employees: 35 full-time
Sales: $4 million in 2003
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