Pride Month and Little Loaf Bakeshop

Quality ingredients are essential when you bake. They’re also critical for building a business. 

Colleen Orlando and Rian Finnegan are the perfect mix at Little Loaf Bakeshop, a queer and trans owned vegan bakery, founded in 2021 in Poughkeepsie, New York. Little Loaf reflects Colleen and Rian’s values. It’s accessible, welcoming, sustainable, locally sourced, and committed to fair pricing and employment. 

To celebrate Pride Month, we’re diving into Little Loaf’s story. Colleen and Rian have created a safe and welcoming space for the queer community, especially teens, at a shared commercial kitchen at the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory (PUF), which is operated by Hudson River Housing. And they’ve developed a real following. Customers can buy the goods at the Cafe at PUF and at Hudson Valley farmers markets. 

With their vision, Little Loaf is growing and thriving. But they needed some extra help with their financials. TAP consultants Susan Newman and Kathryn Koessel stepped in and gave Colleen and Rian a crash course in Finance/Accounting 101. Colleen and Rian now believe they can “forecast how we grow in a profitable way” with a “financial model that we can use for years to come.” They appreciated how hands-on Susan and Kathryn were, both in their meetings and in their work outside of the meetings. 

The TAP team focused on three key areas: 

• QuickBooks and basic accounting principles: How does Quickbooks help a small business owner properly categorize and keep track of financial information? 
• ​Cost and pricing models: What is a costing model and how do you use it to reflect/keep track of product costs?
• Financial projections: How do you use a financial projection model to test assumptions and understand profitability and cash flow? 

The TAP team also helped Little Loaf understand their product costs and margins in order to become more profitable. As a result, they eliminated low-margin products which weren't big sellers; and they increased the price on other products which were big sellers, but were priced too low.  

In addition, Susan and Kathryn also took Colleen and Rian through a TAP-created Food Finance Webinar, providing some sector-specific context for the financial discussions. At the end of their sessions, Colleen and Rian had a comprehensive costing model that allows them to calculate the product cost of each item, as well as a financial projections model that allows them to project profitability and cash flow based on changing assumptions.

The end result of all this hard work? Perfectly delicious treats. As for the rest of us? We can simply enjoy.  

​#pride #pridemonth #LGBTQ+ #clientstory
​Photo credits: Jen Evans (Lead Baker!)