CELPIP Reading Part 1 Practice Test: Bakery Location Advice

Dear Tom,

Mrs. Donato, who owns the empty shop at 212 Wexford Avenue, phoned me last Tuesday to say another baker has asked about the unit and she wants my answer by the 30th. That leaves me about three weeks, and I keep going back and forth! You know that neighbourhood better than I do. The shop has sat empty since March, but it's the only one near the Riverside farmers' market that already has a service counter and a working cooler, and the rent is $2,400 a month. My other option is the shared kitchen behind the laundromat on Halliwell Road, which is only $950 a month, and I could take it month by month. But there's no counter, no window, and nobody walking past the door. Half of what I am building is customers who know my face, and I don't think I can give that up.

Money isn't really the problem, since I have enough savings to buy my own oven outright and Harbourside Credit Union has agreed to lend me more if I need it. I've sold at the market for two seasons now, and my table pays for itself. Last week it poured all morning and I still sold 40 loaves!

What worries me is the paperwork. The county health office says a shop has to be inspected and registered before it can open, but nobody there could tell me how long the approval takes, or whether I should send in the forms before I sign a lease. That's the part that keeps me up at night. I also don't know who sells flour and butter in bulk, or what an inspector looks at first, and I'm not sure I can handle the office side of a bakery and not just the baking. You ran Tom's Bread Box for nine years, so you know what it takes. What surprised you most when you started? Would you take the shop if you were me?

Say hi to Ellie for me, and tell her I still owe her a cinnamon loaf for helping me carry my tables all summer. Is she still working at the pool?

Thanks,

Maggie

Dear Maggie,

Good to hear from you, and what a choice to have! It's 7. Choose…a big reliefa real shamehard to believea bit worrying that the money side is covered, so that's one less thing to worry about. The approval is the part I'd deal with first. My own inspection took seven weeks instead of the two they promised, so I'd 8. Choose…give up your market tableorder your ovenhire a helperstart the paperwork before you sign anything.

What surprised me most when I started was 9. Choose…the price of flourhow easy the inspection washow little of my day was spent bakinghow many people came on the first day, so plan for that side of the work. For flour and butter, try Northfield Milling; they still deliver out your way. As for the shop, I'd take it. The Halliwell kitchen is cheaper, but you told me yourself your business depends on 10. Choose…a second shop downtowna loyal group of regularslow pricesa cheaper rent, and they won't find you behind a laundromat. Ellie quit the pool and is working at the library now, and she says she'll hold you to that cinnamon loaf. I hope this 11. Choose…arrives too late to helpgets you a lower rentchanges what the office told youhelps you make up your mind.

Tom