Revitalizing the South Side of Chicago - An Artisan Bake Shop with a Social Mission

How I Serve

I search for emerging companies, technologies, disruptive technologies, 

innovations, start-ups and up-starts. I’ll look to match potential problems… 

e.g. “plastic pollution” to solutions… e.g. 3D Printer for recycled plastic waste…

for potential venture capitalists, angel investors, and online funders. 

I’ll also highlight a variety of topics including funding success stories, 

the environment, housing, medical, artificial intelligence, science, 

aging populations, disabled populations, social entrepreneurs, philanthropy, 

and topical news. I’m always searching for great people innovating, 

inventing, and doing, great things.

The 411: Investment Opportunity - Focus on Good Food and the Neighborhood Community
Found on: https://wefunder.com/lainesbakeshop?auto_login_token=W4Xt3LDreMX1VaBs

INVEST IN 'LAINE'S BAKE SHOP

An artisan baking manufacturing company with a social mission.

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Seventy percent of our business is wholesale to companies like Whole Foods and Starbucks. To meet existing surplus demand and take advantage of larger opportunities, we're moving into a production space that's three times larger, with an estimated maximum output of $4M.

Our mission is to bring people together through authentic, good food as a way to revitalize urban communities, starting with the south side of Chicago. We specialize in scratch made, all-natural baked goods with unique flavors. 

Rachel E. Bernier-Green

OWNER, 'LAINE'S BAKE SHOP

OUR AMBITION

Our vision is to become a Chicago-centric, national consumer brand, similar to Giordano's or Garrett's Popcorn. We plan to scale nationally with Whole Foods, Starbucks, and other national retailers. We will have food service contracts to supply our products through channels such as Bon Appetit Food Service. On the retail side, we will work to make our Chicago locations community institutions during this time. We will catalyze positive change in our communities by executing our social mission. 

KEY FACTS

• Carried in all 54 Whole Foods in the Midwest Region, stores can select from 6 SKUs.
• Carried in 10 local Starbucks. 
• Retail bakery cafe location in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood to open September 2018. Monthly on site  pop up events leading up to grand opening. 
• Lease secured for new production facility in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood, opens fall 2018.
• Alumni of the Good Food Business Accelerator at 1871 Tech Incubator in Chicago.
• Accepted into the Fall 2018 Cohort of the Inner City Capital Connections program. 

Artisan Bake Shop with a Social Mission

We exist to bring people together through authentic, good food as a way to catalyze urban revitalization, starting with the south side of Chicago.

revitalization, starting with the south side of Chicag

As a full-service bakery, we make everything from breads to cakes, cookies, and pies. We specialize in unique flavors like our red velvet cheesecake brownie and our bourbon caramel thumbprint cookie. 

'Laine is a family name. My grandfather is named Lane. He grew up on the south side of Chicago and often told me stories about how the region was a thriving epicenter of black culture and commerce.

My mom, Elaine, is named after him. She homeschooled me and taught me how to bake. She taught me fractions with a brownie recipe. People always joke that those lessons stuck because I grew up to be a baking accountant.

Then there's me (left), Rachel Elaine. I'm the third 'Laine in the family. The bake shop's name is an homage to my family.

'Laines Bake Shop has two nonprofit partners who help individuals who were previously homeless, incarcerated, or had substance abuse problems learn job skills. We often hire from the program after graduation. We also have a revenue sharing program set up with local nonprofits working to address the underlying issues of crime and violence in Chicago.

WF: What is ‘Laine’s Bake Shop? 

BERNIER-GREEN: ‘Laine’s Bake Shop is an artisan baking company with a social mission. Right now about 70% of our business is wholesale. We supply companies like Starbucks and Whole Foods with artisan, baked-from-scratch goods. We exist to connect people through authentic, good food as a way to revitalize urban communities, starting with the south side of Chicago.

We have a three-pronged approach to achieving that mission, and we believe adhering to our mission will make us more profitable in the long term. There’s a common misconception that making an impact and making a profit are mutually exclusive, thankfully the data shows that the converse is true. We are part of a movement of socially conscious companies seeking to make money while changing the world.

WF: How did the business get started? 

BERNIER-GREEN: My degrees are in finance and accounting.  Most recently, I worked in the financial services group for a Big 4 accounting firm doing tax compliance for private equity companies. While I was there, I baked as a form of stress relief. I would bake and decorate things, and I'd bring them into the office just so my husband and I wouldn't eat them all. I thought maybe when I retired I’d start a bakery. My colleagues would often ask why I didn’t launch a business crafting baked goods, and I’d brush them off saying that’s probably the worst reason to start a business, just because you have a craft that you enjoy.

I decided to launch the company to test the marketplace. The first event that I participated in was a community revitalization effort in my neighborhood where a vacant storefront was turned into a shopping center for a weekend with booths from a variety of small businesses. At this pop-up event, someone who tasted our product said Whole Foods was looking for local vendors and they wanted to connect me to their team. Whole Foods partnered with a local community development non-profit to offer a three-month training series for small businesses that were interested in working with them. I followed through on this suggestion and participated in the entire series. At the end of the event, I got a meeting with the bakery buyer hoping to get into a store they were working on opening in a year. The buyer loved our products and said they were ready to bring us on board immediately. We started off with one store in September of 2015. Several months later, Whole Foods helped introduce us to Starbucks when they were looking for a local pastry provider. After a few months of onboarding, we started to supply our first Starbucks store in September of 2016. At this point, we were in all of the Whole Foods stores in Illinois.

Throughout this time, we continued to hold pop-up events which helped develop our base throughout Chicago. We also received some organic press partly because of the work we were doing with Whole Foods and Starbucks and partly because our social mission resonates with a lot of people. As a result, we developed a base of people that aren't just customers but are also ambassadors for our brand.

Meet the Founders  

Rachel E. Bernier-Green

Owner

7 years Big 4 accounting experience. M.S, in Taxation, B.A.s in Finance & Accounting.

 

Jaryd Bernier-Green

Co-Founder, Senior Business Development Manager

Experienced business operations manager. History in sales, training facilitation, & market research.