Dear Cass and family,

I so enjoyed my visit to Woodburn Breads, and cannot stop thinking about those plum cardamom linzer cookies! They were truly epic—and I’ve tasted a lot of baked goods.

Cass, I know it might seem like we are at cross-purposes here: you run a family bakery, I run a national bakery chain. But the truth is, with someone like you on board, and with a location like the one your family owns and runs Woodburn Breads out of, we could create something incredibly special, something that would bring both Makewell’s and your family’s bakery to a whole new level.

I’d love to meet up and talk with you about the attached offer. Makewell’s would like to buy the Woodburn Breads building, as well as the rights to some of your recipes. As you can see from the attached, this is an incredibly lucrative deal. Some might even call it life-changing! I ask that you please consider it, with this in mind: you would still be a part of the bakery. I have included a clause to hire you as a consultant, which means you would be on salary to continue to help us develop recipes for the chain, which would be a part of our Signature Heritage line, all inspired by Woodburn Breads. This is a way for your bakery to live on in a changing world—rather than being shuttered when Makewell’s moves in and takes over 60 percent of the market share, which is what happens each time a Makewell’s moves into a neighborhood. (Attached are the numbers to support this.)

Please note that if you say no to this offer, we will still be creating our signature line, inspired by the baked goods I tried recently at Woodburn—they just won’t have your family bakery’s name attached to them. You can’t patent flavor combinations, and plum and cardamom is a winning one. :)

I’m looking forward to hearing from you! My cell phone number and direct line are below.

Best regards,

Sarah Rosen

President and CEO

Makewell’s Bakeries “Famous because we’re that good!”

P.S. Thanks for the Starlight loaf, but it didn’t quite work for me. A bit dry. The other stuff was bang on, though!

Cass stared at the screen. This is a way for your bakery to live on in a changing world. Seriously? And all those faux-friendly exclamation marks and smiley faces? At this point, Cass’s blood was near boiling. She had never felt so angry, or so betrayed. Without thinking, she hit reply on the e-mail, and typed a response, her fingers flying across the keys as she let the words flow.

Dear Sarah,

For your information, you are not welcome at Woodburn Breads, nor is anyone from Makewell’s, which has taken recipes from other bakeries around this country and turned them into tasteless, uninspired tripe. We may not have patented any of our recipes, but I have it in writing now that you plan to steal them, which is not a great PR look for Makewell’s. Rest assured you will not be hearing the last of me if you attempt to co-opt any of our recipes, which have been passed down through generations and is an authentic representation of quality baked goods which cannot be mass produced.

Also, while you may have found in other communities that Makewell’s moves in and takes over the lion’s share of the market, I am sure you will not find that in Starlight Peak.

You may think you know every single aspect of your market, but you don’t know my town, and you certainly don’t know my bakery.