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Shepherd Keeps Holland Farms Ship-Shape

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As operations manager at Holland Farms, Carla Shepherd is constantly busy making sure the day-to-day operations of the bakery and deli run smoothly. For the past four years, Carla has served in this capacity at Holland Farms – a career choice that makes her look forward to coming to the office every day.

Carla has been at Holland Farms for 11 years, beginning her career as a part-time bookkeeper for the company. When the company realigned in 2007, she was asked to come on board full-time as the operations manager. “I oversee the day-to-day general operations of the business,” Carla said. “My job entails a lot of human resource work, including new hire orientations.” Carla added that additionally, she works with vendors and handles some aspects of customer service as well. “I try to help wherever I’m needed.”

Carla said that Holland Farms is a great place to work for a combination of reasons. “I enjoy the customers and the staff here at Holland Farms,” Carla said. “The behind-the-scenes people are amazing – I’m always in awe of the amount of product that we make here each and every day.” Carla also said that because Holland Farms produces high-quality goods, an unhappy customer is a rarity. “The consistency of the product we sell keeps customers happy – and coming back for more,” she said.

While most people might consider the sweet offerings at Holland Farms to be the most delectable, Carla simply cannot get enough of the coffee. “I just absolutely love our coffee,” Carla said. “On my days off, I find myself wanting to come in for some. I just can’t wait to get that first cup of coffee after a couple of days off.” Holland Farms co-owner Suzanne Harrington knows how much Carla loves Holland Farms coffee – “I was up north at our camp on a week’s vacation, and Suzanne showed up with some Holland Farms coffee for me – she knew how much I’d be missing it!”

When she isn’t at work, you’ll find Carla spending time with her husband of 23 years and her son, who is a senior in high school. A life-long resident of Oneida County, Carla also enjoys reading and travel, and has a special place in her heart for children and animals.

Holland FarmsShepherd Keeps Holland Farms Ship-Shape
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Holland Farms Pies are the Creme de la Creme!

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Are you a fan of cream pies? Then you won’t want to miss the tasty offerings at Holland Farms. We offer a wide array of cream pies, which are all topped with our incredible real whipped cream. No skimping! You’ll taste the difference when you try a cream pie, available in these delicious varieties:

  • Chocolate
  • Coconut
  • Banana
  • Strawberry
  • Lemon
  • Boston Cream
  • Pumpkin Cream
  • Lemon Meringue

But don’t just take our word for it that Holland Farms cream pies are the best around – just ask the 145 Holland Farm customers that served our chocolate cream pie this Thanksgiving… or the 85 customers who served up our pumpkin cream. They’ll tell you that our cream pies, are, well… the creme de la creme!

Holland FarmsHolland Farms Pies are the Creme de la Creme!
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It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas… at Holland Farms!

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If you’re not in the Christmas spirit yet, you should stop in at Holland Farms! Our bakers have been busy stocking our shelves with holiday delights. From our specialty treats like Dutch letters and sticks, stollen, and coffee cakes with fruit and cinnamon crunch, to our specially decorated items, you’re sure to find the perfect treat to satisfy your holiday sweet tooth at Holland Farms.

Right now, we’re busy making beautifully decorated Christmas cupcakes that are perfect for children’s parties at school, office get-togethers or special times with family and friends. We also offer holiday cakes whimsically shaped and decorated to look like Santa, elves, trees, and snowmen. They look too good to eat – but they taste great, because they’re made from Holland Farms’ signature cake batter and frosted with our amazing buttercream icing.

No time to bake this holiday season? We can help you there, too. We have a variety of decorated butter cookies that taste just like homemade – if you want to tell your family and friends you made them, go right ahead – we promise we won’t give your secret away! You’ll find all sorts of shapes and sizes, like trees, wreaths, snowmen and stockings – they’re just too tasty to eat just one, so bring home a batch!

And don’t forget, all of our other offerings are available during the holiday season as well. Have a friend or relative who has moved from the area and misses our half moons? Send them some for the holidays! (Just remember to place your order by Friday, December 16 if you want them to get there in time for Christmas.) And of course, giving the gift of Ramon’s famous New York style cheesecake is always in good taste!

What better way to show your appreciation at the holidays than with a delectable bakery item from Holland Farms? Stop in today to check out all of our delicious goodies!

Holland FarmsIt’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas… at Holland Farms!
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What IS Stollen, Anyway?

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Every year during the holiday season, Holland Farms Bakery & Deli offers customers our take on the traditional German bread-like cake, stollen. We think you’ll find that our delicious stollen is a far cry from the original recipe from the 1400s – which consisted of flour, oats, water and… turnip oil!

The reason original stollen had to be made with turnip oil was because in medieval Saxony, bakers were not allowed to use butter during the Advent season. It was not until 1490 that the ban on butter during Advent was lifted (for the royal family only).

Stollen certainly has changed over the years, and while most people are used to the traditional German Christstollen, other cultures feature a similar cake, such as the Dutch Kerststol or the Italian panettone. Holland Farms’ stollen is a sweet delight, filled with fruits and spices, and drizzled with icing. So stop into Holland Farms today and enjoy a traditional taste of the holidays.

Holland FarmsWhat IS Stollen, Anyway?
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Holland Farms Goes “Dutch Treat” for the Holidays

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If you’re looking for a delicious, traditional treat this holiday season, then look no further than Holland Farms Bakery & Deli. On top of our numerous other holiday baked goods, we offer Dutch almond sticks and Dutch almond letters – a family favorite from our table to yours.

While we’re keeping our recipe a secret, we can tell you that our Dutch treats feature a puffy, flaky pastry crust wrapped around a sweet almond paste filling. Our Dutch letters are the equivalent of three of our Dutch sticks, and can be shaped into any letter you wish.

And, people keep coming back for our Dutch treats year after year – we have at least 10 customers from all around the country who call us each year to get their orders in early. And what’s more, we ship! Yes, Dutch sticks and Dutch letters are perfectly shippable, and make for a delectable delivery to the friends and family on your list who have everything. Just be sure to get your orders in by December 16, so that we can ship your Dutch treats in time for Christmas!

Holland FarmsHolland Farms Goes “Dutch Treat” for the Holidays
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Too Many Holiday Treats? Have a Holland Farms Salad!

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If you’re worried about eating less-than-healthy this holiday season, Holland Farms can help you get some of those veggies that you need every day, with our variety of green salads. When you stop into the Holland Farms deli, we’ll be more than happy to serve you one of our nutritious, tasty salads, prepared fresh daily.

Choose from our great salad selections:

  • Tossed Salad
  • Chicken Caesar
  • Southwestern
  • Greek
  • Spinach and Grapes
  • Apple, Walnut and Raisin
  • Tomato and Mozzarella

Our salads are a temptation you won’t have to resist – stop into Holland Farms and enjoy a healthy dose of deliciousness today!

Holland FarmsToo Many Holiday Treats? Have a Holland Farms Salad!
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Pie Time at Holland Farms!

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At Holland Farms Bakery & Deli, all of our baked goods including pies are baked fresh every day. So while it might be easier for us to pop a commercially prepared frozen pie in our oven, that will never happen at Holland Farms. That’s because we pride ourselves in providing you baked goods like you remember your grandma making – and our pies are no exception.

Make sure you place your orders for holidays pies today – give us a call at 736-6044 and one of our friendly staff will be more than happy to assist you!

During the holiday season, we offer a wide variety of both fruit and cream pies, and we always use real fruit filling and real whipped cream – no skimping. So you’ll be able to serve your family and guests a pie that tastes just like homemade.

Our fruit pies for the holidays come in the following varieties:

  • Apple
  • Dutch Apple
  • Blueberry
  • Cherry
  • Raspberry
  • Pumpkin
  • Mince

Prefer cream pies? We’re sure to have your favorite kind for Thanksgiving:

  • Chocolate
  • Coconut
  • Banana
  • Strawberry
  • Lemon
  • Lemon Meringue
  • Pumpkin Cream
  • Boston Cream
Holland FarmsPie Time at Holland Farms!
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Fantastic Feasts This Thanksgiving – Get Yours at Holland Farms

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At Holland Farms, we take pride in helping you simplify your life. So whether you need some help with the fixings or with baked goods this Thanksgiving, or you’d like a complete meal, we can assist you in serving up the tastiest holiday feast ever.

Our “Thanksgiving Trimmings” menu includes:

  • Turkey Gravy: $2.50 pt. or $5.00 qt.
  • Stuffing: $2.50
  • Mashed Potatoes: $2.59
  • Broth: $2.29
  • Turkey Pot Pies: White meat and veggie – $4.55 or White meat and gravy – $4.95

Or, take it easy this year and serve up a complete turkey or ham dinner from Holland Farms.

With our turkey dinner, you’ll get:

  • 3 lbs. Turkey Breast
  • 5 lbs. Real Mashed Potatoes
  • 5 lbs. Homemade Dressing
  • 1 qt. Homemade Gravy
  • 3 lbs. Vegetable
  • 1 can Cranberry Sauce
  • 1 doz. Fresh Baked Rolls
  • 1 Apple or Pumpkin Pie

This feast feeds six to eight people, and costs $69.99.

If you prefer ham, we also offer a complete ham dinner. With this feast, you’ll get:

  • 4 lbs. Ham
  • 5 lbs. Yams
  • 3 lbs. Coleslaw
  • 3 lbs. Peas
  • 1 can Cranberry Sauce
  • 1 doz. Fresh Baked Rolls
  • 1 8″ Cake

The ham dinner serves six to eight people, and costs $66.00.

To place an order for all things Thanksgiving, contact Holland Farms at 736-6044 today!

Holland FarmsFantastic Feasts This Thanksgiving – Get Yours at Holland Farms
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Ramon Zayas – Our Master Baker

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You might not realized that behind-the-scenes at Holland Farms Bakery & Deli, a world-famous baker is busy preparing the delicious pastries, donuts, breads and cakes for the day. But every day Ramon Zayas, production manager at Holland Farms does just that. Ramon has garnered fame for being in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest jelly donut – baked on January 21, 1993 and weighing 1.7 tons – but his top priority is serving the people of the Mohawk Valley the very best in baked goods.

Ramon, who formerly owned Donato’s Bakery in Utica, has worked at Holland Farms for the last 17 years. He has been a baker for 37 years, and lends this experience to his role at Holland Farms. “I do pretty much everything in the bakery here,” Ramon said, adding that he oversees the entire bakery, buys supplies, maintains inventory, and trains and cross-trains new employees.

Ramon is also active on a national level, serving as past president for the New York Bakers Association, as a board member for the Retail Bakers of America, and serving as current president for the New York Bakers’ Association.

But it is at Holland Farms that Ramon is most at home. “I absolutely love the people here,” Ramon said. “The staff is hard-working and conscientious, and the volume of baked goods we produce every day is phenomenal,” he said. “It’s a good feeling to be able to serve people.”

Ramon said that even after all these years; he still loves to eat sweets every day. And although he’s world-renowned for his famous jelly buns, he is especially proud of his cheesecake recipe. “It’s a real New York cheesecake. I went to Queens to learn the recipe – pure cream cheese from top to bottom. It’s delicious!”

A native of the Utica area, Ramon and his wife of 34 years have five children and five grandchildren.

Holland FarmsRamon Zayas – Our Master Baker
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Holland Farms Spotlight: Dorothy Holmes

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If you’ve ever stopped into Holland Farms in the afternoon, chances are you’ve met Dorothy Holmes. Dorothy has been serving up delicious Holland Farms coffee for more than eight years – always with a smile.

Dorothy worked in an office for 36 years before coming to Holland Farms – a departure for which she was both apprehensive and excited. “I had worked in corporate America all my life, and when I decided to look for a part-time job, I figured I’d be working in an office,” Dorothy said. She found herself applying for a position at Holland Farms, and was quickly won over by the personalities of the owners. “Marolyn and Suzanne were so friendly and nice when I applied, they won me over,” she said.

At first, working at Holland Farms was very different for Dorothy, who had limited customer contact in her previous employment. “I spoke with people mainly over the phone and by computer,” she said. Dorothy soon realized that she enjoyed the daily personal contact with the Holland Farms patrons. “We get a lot of repeat customers in the afternoon. I’ve gotten to know them and look forward to seeing them every day.”

When faced with revealing her favorite menu item from Holland Farms, Dorothy said she has too many to choose just one. “I’m a dessert person. I love chocolate, so I love the cream puffs, the brownies, the half moons… it’s a long, long list.”

Even sweeter than the baked goods, though, is the working environment, according to Dorothy. “The employers are great to work for, and I enjoy our customers. It’s very friendly here.” As an example, Dorothy mentioned the very special birthday she was surprised with last December. “When I showed up at work, Marolyn and Suzanne had a tiara and a cake for my 80th birthday, as well as signs in all the windows. It was such a surprise, and so thoughtful.”

Dorothy, who is a widow with four children and three grandsons, said that her secret for a happy life is keeping active. In her spare time, she loves travel, especially by bus. She also enjoys theater, and has seen The Phantom of the Opera three times. She is looking forward to an upcoming bus trip to NYC, where she will see Sister Act on Broadway and will visit the 9/11 Memorial.

Holland FarmsHolland Farms Spotlight: Dorothy Holmes
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