CASE STUDIES

Crystal runs Bearfoot Bakery in Kodiak, Alaska. Four months into the engagement, she had built strong confidence in the harder leadership conversations: holding people to a higher level of accountability, naming standards, and redirecting the team when it drifted. The shift was not personality. It was the result of installing a leadership rhythm and accountability system that holds whether or not the owner is watching. Average ticket value moved from around $14.79 into the $18 to $22.74 range during this stretch.

“My confidence has grown a lot in the last four months. I’ve been able to have more of the hard conversations with staff.”

Marina co-leads The Baking Institute, a family-run bakery and education space in Chicago. Family businesses carry a particular load: the people closest to the operation are also the people who cannot easily provide neutral counsel. The engagement holds steady at a long-term advisory cadence focused on sales architecture, leadership clarity, and the broader business shape underneath the bakery.

“Working with you and getting some fundamental business support from a person that’s not a family member has been really helpful.”

Kristen owns Sweethearts Patisserie in Annapolis. Strong product, established kitchen, growing custom-cake program, and a team that needed clearer standards to match the premium positioning. The work has been about raising the bar across the case and the team: planograms, written standards, leadership rhythm, cake program rebuild, premium hospitality playbook.

“We’re building all these higher-level standards. There’s a sense of, this is what we do. We are really good at it. This is what you come in here for. Let me guide you.”

Reggie is opening Halcyon, a Midtown Memphis bakery and cafe built around a daily-repeat model rather than dinner-heavy economics. The work has spanned investor deck construction, capital raise pipeline, lease and team finalization, and the operating systems that go in before the doors open.

“I really appreciate you guiding me through this process. Your support means a lot to me, and I will follow you through the fire on that.”

Bryan is co-founder of ANTHEM Coffee, a multi-unit Pacific Northwest coffee operator that has run for over twenty years on the cafe side and is now scaling the bakery program. The retail side runs on systems. The bakery side is finally getting the same treatment. The work is calibration, not installation: production planning, evergreen hiring for the kitchen lead, and the operating rhythm that lets the bakery grow without breaking the cafe-side discipline.

“For the first time, I’m finally leaning in and deciding I have to know this business, because it complements the coffee business and I can’t just know half of the equation.”

Poya runs Artsy Cakery, a family-built bakery in Coppell, Texas. Strong creative, growing demand, and no clear path forward without burning out the family. The engagement focused on pricing recalibration, expansion planning, and serving customers better without burning out the people running the bakery.

“Before working with Jimmy, we were turning away orders we couldn’t fulfill and weren’t sure how to grow. He doesn’t just give advice. He pushes us to think bigger.”