ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
They don't produce communications equipment, software or anything else within the high-tech industry.
But using technology to keep track of the cakes, scones and fresh bread they whip up has given Blacksburg bakery Our Daily Bread national attention.
The bakery will be included in a new television documentary series that focuses on technology's impact on small businesses.
Monday morning, a Seattle film crew took over owner Karen Iannaccone's office to tape a segment on Our Daily Bread's transition from paper, pencils and a calculator in 1992 to a computer that helps organize the business.
The program, which will focus on how businesses can start using technology, is one of six, the first of which will be aired on March 15. The programs will be shown on public access cable stations and downlinked to 450 Small Business Development Centers throughout the country, said Alan Bixby, the independent film maker who was taping the segment Monday.
The series is funded by Microsoft Corp. and the Small Business Administration
"It's a resource for other small businesses to show how others are succeeding," Bixby said.
He is filming small businesses in Los Angeles, New York and the Midwest.
But on Monday, he and his small film crew crammed into Iannaccone's office with bright lights and boom microphones to interview her about the benefits and challenges of using a computer to keep track of expenses, invoices and other accounting needs.
"It's an interesting experience," Iannaccone said during a brief break from filming.
Bixby, for his part, practically gushed over Iannaccone and used the words "perfect example" more than once.
"Karen is a perfect example of someone who two years ago had no experience in computing," he said.
Since opening her bakery in 1980, Iannaccone has moved to increasingly larger locations in Blacksburg three times. Our Daily Bread now is ensconced on Main Street across the street from the Gable's Shopping Center with 23 employees, one computer (with another to be added soon) and the ability to do more wholesale work now that Iannaccone no longer keeps track of accounts on paper.
"We'd reached a point where I couldn't keep up with more paperwork," she said.
Microsoft first approached Iannaccone last year when it was filming an infomercial for its Windows 95 program. A California film crew, drawn to Blacksburg because of attention surrounding the electronic village, wanted to include a bakery because people could relate to the business.
The filming took 10 hours for a three-minute segment, said Jennee Tu, Our Daily Bread manager.
This time, the film crew is staying in Blacksburg for two days.
And, though Tu could not get to her desk in the bakery office all morning, she said the attention is a positive for Blacksburg, bakeries in general and of course, Our Daily Bread.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALan Kim. Our Daily Bread owner Karen Iannaccone goesby CNBthrough the preliminaries with director Alan Bixby, while cameraman
Eric Browne and boom operator Tony Jenzano pick up the action.
color.