Built for bakeries

Hire bakers who'll show up at 4 AM.
In 2 days.

HeyHire fills baker, decorator, and counter staff roles with local, pre-screened candidates who can handle early mornings. You just pick who to interview.

≤2 days
Avg. time-to-hire
85%
SMS response rate
200+
Bakeries using HeyHire
The problem

Bakery hiring is broken.

The ovens heat up at 3 AM. Your head baker just gave notice. Finding someone who can work those hours and actually knows dough? Nearly impossible.

65%
Annual Turnover Rate

Two out of three bakery employees leave within a year. The early hours and physical demands drive people out fast.

$5,200
Cost Per Lost Employee

Skilled bakers take weeks to train. Every departure means lost recipes, inconsistent product, and disappointed regulars.

20–28
Days to Hire (Industry Avg)

Nearly a month to find a baker willing to work early mornings. That's a month of exhausted owners pulling double shifts.

We built HeyHire because bakery owners are in the shop at 4am. They can't also be on the computer posting job ads at 2pm.

How it works

Here’s exactly
how it works.

You do the easy part. We do everything else.

Step 1

Post in 60 seconds.

  • Publish your opening and we push it to local candidates automatically.
  • SMS blasts, job map, social network. All handled for you.
Step 2

We screen. You review.

  • AI filters every applicant by experience, availability, and proximity.
  • You only see candidates who are actually worth your time.
Step 3

Text, interview, hire.

  • Message candidates directly and they self-schedule interviews.
  • Go from first message to hired in 2 days.
The HeyHire difference

What happens when you stop relying on job boards

85%
Pre-dawn text reach
When the bake starts before the sun, SMS is the only channel bakers can peek at without walking away from the proofing table for long.
≤2 days
Dough-rack to “you’re in”
Empty racks do not care about a two-week hiring calendar—HeyHire keeps the clock aligned with the bake, not a corporate ATS cadence.
3x
Baker retention boost
Early-shift workers are notoriously hard to retain. Local bakers who can walk or bike in stick because the hard part is the hours, not the drive.
The platform

Hiring tools built for how bakeries actually operate

Post a Role in 60 Seconds

Baker, cake decorator, counter staff, prep cook, pastry chef. Select the role, set your early-morning requirements, and your opening is live across HeyHire's local network.

  • Pre-built templates for every bakery position
  • Set shift patterns: pre-dawn, morning, afternoon
  • Unlimited posts across all locations

Create New Position

Reach Candidates Who Live Nearby

Bakeries start before dawn. You need people who can get there at 4 AM without a long commute. HeyHire targets candidates within a short distance of your shop.

  • Hyper-local targeting within commuting distance
  • SMS outreach to candidates in food production
  • Your opening reaches phones, not buried inboxes

AI Screening for Bakery Skills

Every applicant is scored on baking experience, specialty skills (bread, pastry, cake decorating), early morning availability, and proximity.

  • Filters by baking specialty and experience
  • Pre-dawn availability matching
  • Proximity ranking so you hire locals who stay
Maria Santos

Maria Santos

1.4 mi away
95%
AI Match ScoreStrong Match
5+ yrs artisan baking
Sourdough & lamination
Open to 4 AM starts
ServSafe certified
Availability
Mon
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M
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M
A
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E
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N
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Past Positions
Lead BakerHeritage Bread Co.
Feb 2021 - Present

Text Candidates Directly

Bakers are in the shop by 4am. Email doesn't reach them until their shift is half over.

  • Two-way SMS chat from your dashboard
  • 85% response rate within 15 minutes
  • No app download required for candidates
HeyHireAuto message sent instantly
Hey Maria, this is Isabella from Romano's. Saw your application for artisan baker. Can you come by for a chat?
3 min ago
Hi Isabella! I'd love to. I'm free after 1pm most days.
2 min ago
Wednesday at 2? I'll have some of our sourdough for you to try.
1 min ago
That sounds wonderful. See you then!
Just now

Interviews That Book Themselves

Interview after the morning rush ends at 11am.

  • One-tap self-scheduling via SMS link
  • Syncs with Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud
  • Automated reminders reduce no-shows by 60%
New Interview Invite

Interview Invitation

Select a time that works for you

HH

Romano's Artisan Bakery

Artisan Baker

View their availability
Full platform

Everything else under the hood

Video screening, payroll sync, analytics, and more. Tools built for bakery operations.

Baker's Reel

90-second video intros. See a candidate's technique and passion before they step into your kitchen.

Learn more

Early Bird Screen

Auto-filter for candidates who can genuinely work pre-dawn shifts. No more 4 AM no-shows.

Learn more

Shop Analytics

Track time-to-fill by location and role. Spot staffing gaps before your product quality suffers.

Learn more

Payroll Sync

ADP, Gusto, Paychex. New hires flow into your payroll automatically.

Learn more

Multi-Shop Dashboard

One login for your bakery group. Bulk post across locations, or share great bakers between shops.

Counter QR Posters

Custom QR posters for each location. Customers picking up their morning pastry can see you're hiring.

Custom-Order & Catering CTAs

A hiring strip beside wedding-cake and wholesale forms so the same clients who already trust you with tiered buttercream can refer pastry friends for weekend shifts.

Proof-Window Intake Slots

Automatic holds after the wholesale pull when racks cool but the retail line has not surged again—so staging interviews never cancels a VIP cake.

Learn more

Croissant Lab Storytelling

Bakery career pages with lamination stats, local grain partners, and allergen focus without sounding like a corporate franchise listing.

4am Headlight Map

Prioritize applicants who are truly within a safe pre-dawn commute, because a sourdough handoff cannot wait for someone stuck on a highway in fog.

Dock-to-Shop Texts

One thread for the receiving crew and the pastry lead so seasonal cherry rush hires don’t get lost in three separate iMessage chains.

Learn more

Head Bakers v. Wholesale Ops

Access toggles for retail, production, and owners so invoice-sensitive info stays out of a counter person’s view.

Finding someone willing to start at 4 AM who actually knows their way around a proof box? That used to take us months. We posted on HeyHire and had three experienced bakers reach out within 48 hours. Hired one who's been with us for eight months now. She's incredible.

Isabella Romano
Owner — Romano's Artisan Bakery, Chicago, IL
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Treat bread and pastry as their own funnels inside the same location if that matches how you train. We recommend duplicate roles—Head Lamination, viennoiserie lead, and celebration cake finisher, for example—each with different portfolio prompts and non-negotiables. The AI pass then scores artisan bread for hydration IQ, long ferment comfort, and oven loadouts, while pastry leans on décor speed, color matching, and delicate finishing under clock pressure. Candidates can tag portfolios by Instagram or PDF, and the SMS follow-up nudges them to describe their favorite fail and recovery story, which tells you a lot in five minutes. Because HeyHire lives on the phone, you are not waiting for a laptop upload when someone is still covered in flour. Multi-shop groups can also route applicants to a commissary-only track versus retail-facing roles so people who only want the quiet kitchen stay there. The net effect is fewer "two-week tryouts" where someone is brilliant on laminated dough but miserable with customer-facing case work, or the reverse, which is how artisan rooms stay sane and cake deadlines stay on schedule during wedding season, even when a lead is out on jury duty.

All bakery roles: artisan bakers, pastry chefs, cake decorators, counter staff, prep cooks, packaging and delivery staff, and shift leads. If the role keeps your bakery running, HeyHire can fill it.

Early morning availability is the #1 challenge for bakery hiring, and it's exactly where HeyHire excels. We filter candidates specifically by their willingness to work pre-dawn shifts. Plus, our proximity targeting means you're reaching people who live close enough that a 4 AM start is actually feasible.

Yes. HeyHire's AI screening lets you set skill requirements for each role. Specify sourdough experience, lamination technique, fondant skills, or any specialty, and we'll only surface candidates who match.

Indeed relies on email, which bakery workers rarely check — especially at 4 AM. HeyHire uses SMS — 98% open rate vs. email's 20%. We pre-screen every applicant by experience, specialty, and availability so you never waste time on unqualified applications.

For salaried leadership roles, we recommend our sister company MenuTalent. They specialize in executive hospitality search. Visit menutalent.com to learn more.

Absolutely. Bakeries see massive demand spikes around holidays. HeyHire's speed is built for exactly this. Bulk post roles, get a wave of local applicants via SMS, and staff up in days.

Yes. HeyHire integrates with ADP, Gusto, Paychex, and 50+ other payroll and scheduling tools. New hires sync automatically.

Ready when you are

Fully staffed by this weekend.

15 minutes is all it takes. We'll walk through your bakery, your roles, and show you exactly how HeyHire fills them faster than anything you've tried.

Flat monthly rate per locationNo per-post feesNo surprises