Why We Called a CFO Before Adding the Bakery
Scaling a bakery inside a coffee shop is romantic right up until you price a croissant. Flour is cheap. Butter is not. Labor is definitely not. We knew our craft, but we needed a cleaner financial picture before we added equipment and promised the world more pastry. Otherwise you are just baking stress in laminated layers.
A good CFO turns “I think” into “I know.” We broke down every item: ingredient cost, yield, waste, labor minutes per batch, packaging, and the very real cost of rework when a batch misses the mark. Once you see it, you stop pretending that your cutest pastry is always your best seller.
Forecasting is simply planning for reality. Butter prices move. Coffee prices move. Your oven will eventually need attention. The question is whether you planned for it or whether it finds you on a Saturday. We built a simple model, and suddenly expansion felt like a series of choices instead of a leap.
The best part is that good numbers protect good craft. When margins are clear, you can keep fermentation slow, buy better flour, and pay people fairly. That is what scaling should feel like: more stability, not more chaos.
Helpful Links
- Nexera Consulting — Fractional finance support for scaling without chaos.
- U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) — Planning, funding, and growth checklists.
- SCORE — Mentors who will ask the right questions.
- IRS Small Business and Self-Employed — Tax basics that keep you out of trouble.