Allana Bykes

Serving customers from Thunder Bay, ON west and north.

Direct to consumer sales, drawing in new customers, as well as educating on how best to work with the products. Fast paced and high stakes work environment with a narrow (seasonal 6-8 weeks) window for 80% of annual sales of that product category Seasonal job, worked annually 2016 to present.

Developing strategies to streamline and simplify the "what's for dinner" question of a busy household. Teaching in-home lessons, collaborating with busy, active people to solve their barriers to healthy eating. Consulting in local restaurants, creating standardized recipes, developing operational procedures and systems to increase efficiency and consistency. Working with owners to open new locations; sourcing equipment and supplies, creating new systems for operation, hiring and onboarding the new team, ensuring the successful completion of inspections and collaborating with municipal, provincial and federal inspection agencies, working beyond the opening to adjust systems, streamline practices and set the team up the operate independently.

Radio communication with ground crews, aircraft and observation towers. Data entry using FIRES, Dispatch and WebAir.

Established Golf Course, with a brand new clubhouse. Worked with the Chef to open the doors, changing from a concession style to a full-service restaurant with banquet services. Collaborated with the Chef on standardized recipes, SOP's, ordering, inventory, shopping, sourcing products. Troubleshooting, problem-solving and fixing equipment, including outside of the box thinking to source supplies in a small community. Hiring, onboarding, training, supervising and terminating kitchen staff. Working with FOH to adjust menu items to address customers dietary issues.

Retail sales of residential specialty kitchen equipment and hard to find ingredients. Problem-solving the customer's needs, including deciphering those needs, and often redirecting them to the correct item. The large volume of SKU's that each required detailed working knowledge of the equipment. Staying up to date on trends (food network, the Tomato, Bon Appetite, Gastronomica, etc.) Community awareness including answering the question; 'if we don't carry an item, who else locally does?' Understanding of most common dietary issues and what ingredients or dishes can be served, how to adapt recipes to accommodate dietary issues, and what ingredients to substitute.

Working at trade shows in western Canada selling a broad collection of footwear and apparel to independent retailers. Brands include; Sketchers, Rocky Outdoor, Cote Reco, and more. Traveled to head office for the seasonal meetings to learn about the next collection, and learn about forthcoming trends.