Hiring elderly employees for baking startup?

April 1, 2014 1:58 AM

I'm considering going into business as an artisanal confectioner. I've got a great cookie recipe, but I want to delegate baking so I can expand the biz beyond what I can produce by myself. For branding purposes I think it'd be great to hire elderly women to do the baking—give the whole thing a classic down-home "grandma" appeal—but I don't know if (a) there's any ethical issues there or (b) if I need to worry about them e.g. unionizing. Any advice? Because I feel like this idea could really click.
posted by Mr Cursor to Work & Money around (8 answers total)

IT'S A TRAP!!
posted by ApathyGirl at 10:23 PM on March 31, 2014

Be prepared - you may find this enterprise to be more time consuming that you first thought.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:40 PM on March 31, 2014 [5 favorites]

I'm with yah, bro. Baking is a pain in the neck and old ladies already have pain in their necks so what's a little more pain for them? Just let have a break to watch their stories in the afternoon and some epsom salts to soak their feet and they won't cause much trouble.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:14 AM on April 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

The idea seems solid, but I would warn you to double-check references. Those grannies seem sweet at first, but when there's enough of them around, they can turn strangely... sinister. Do your homework before you hire!
posted by Gordafarin at 1:47 AM on April 1, 2014

IANAL, IANYL, TINLA, but you really need to get a bulletproof contract with special clauses covering elderly workers. Time to lawyer up, even though it'll cost you a lot of dough.
posted by drlith at 6:11 AM on April 1, 2014

Maybe think about diversifying into some other kind of sweet treat? Maybe candy? Yeah, package some candy in a nice box and it'll sell like hotcakes.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:33 AM on April 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

I think your business has a lot of potential! As you expand further you might want to explore other means of production. There's this new technology that can turn otherwise useless metals and other materials into cookies. What also worked for me was getting cookies in from the past, before they were eaten. Oh! And importing from the cookie planet. But YCookiesMV.

Source: been there, clicked that.
posted by pianissimo at 7:49 AM on April 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

People complain about fat cats in management, but I bet if you got some kittens it would work out. No one complains about kittens.
posted by maryr at 9:20 AM on April 1, 2014