We Sell More Than Bread

Photo by Andrea Gallegos on Unsplash

On a road trip years ago, I came up to one of those little strip malls with a shop called ‘The Bread Store.’

It seemed simple enough.

It’s a bread store. I got it in one glance.

No confusion. No explanation required.

But then, as I slowed at the stoplight, I saw a second sign in the front window. It looked like it had been spray-painted, hung a little crooked, and boldly proclaimed: “WE SELL MORE THAN BREAD!”

I laughed out loud. (I am still chuckling about it years later! LOL)

You can picture exactly what happened at The Bread Store. Day after day, people walking in, looking for a loaf of rye or sourdough, completely missing everything else that the shop had to offer. And at some point, the owner must have thought: Well… I guess I need to say it more clearly.

So, they did.

And honestly? I hope it worked.

There’s a certain ease in having work that’s immediately understood.

If you own a pool company, you can say, “I own a pool company,” and people get it. They might ask a follow-up question or two—what brands do you carry, do you sell chlorine in bulk—but everyone pretty much gets it in one go. No translation required.

But not all of us have work like that.

Some of us do work that lives in the in-between.

Work that’s not as easily packaged. Not as immediately recognizable. Perhaps not as “reducible” to a single, familiar label.

And for a long time, that made it hard for me to say what I do, too.

I have circled around how to name my work in the world for years.

The closest fit I could find was coach. It’s a familiar word. Felt like an easy entry point. And it helped people orient.

But every time I used it, I could feel the gap.

It’s not inherently wrong…It’s just not the whole picture.

“Coach” sounds like support from the sidelines. Someone with a whistle, cheering you on.

And yes—there is absolutely some of that in what I do.

(I am incredibly supportive, and I do happen to own a whistle.)

But if that’s all someone hears or imagines about my work, then they’re missing a whole bunch.

They’re missing the part where we look at how the business actually runs.

How work moves—or doesn’t.

How decisions get made—or avoided.

How roles are defined—or blurred.

How communication supports the work—or steadily, stealthily undermines it.

They’re missing the operational side.

The systems thinking.

The way people and process and structure all interact.

Small businesses – though yes, small – most certainly are not simple.

They’re layered.

Like onions.

Or a parfait.

(Or ogres.)

And if all I did was shout encouraging words from the sidelines while our clients sweat it out on the field, well, they might feel better for a moment…but underneath it all, nothing would really change.

So here at Las Peregrinas, Steph and I go boldly into the layers.

We look at how the business is actually structured.

We pay close attention to the relationships – between the owners, their teams, and even within themselves.

We watch for the patterns that keep repeating.

The places where time – and tempers -- run short.

Where things get stuck, and what makes them move again…what needs to happen next, and what can wait…who needs to step in, and who needs to pull back…all while minding the nuances, the moods, and the energy of it all.

It’s not just coaching.

And it’s not just operations.

It’s more like a mash-up of both.

In other words:

WE SELL MORE THAN BREAD.