Iggy's

Northeastern University

ENTR 6210 March 12,

2012


History• Founded in Watertown, MA in 1994 by Igor

and Ludmilla Ivanovic. – No prior business experience

– Passion for better tasting bread

– Natural healthy ingredient

– Commitment for better standards

• A “nurturing and respectful environment at Iggy’s that fosters cooperation, communication and a sense of accomplishment for all employees”

• Iggy’s moved to a larger location in Cambridge, MA in 2000 and had a staff of 116 for baking, deliveries and orders


Unique Culture

Three Parts Success:

1. Product: Quality Artisan Bread

2. Employees:A healthy business = happy employees = happy with the company and their positions.

3. Community:Treat the customer right – “How to make a difference by NOT treating them like a number!”


Unique Management

• Family Environment

– Be an integral Part of the Organization

– “Get pleasure out of what they do”

– Welcome unskilled labor and then invest in training

– Encourage people to work in different departments to understand the flow of the business

– Think like owners

• Iggy’s employees were attached to, cared about and felt valuable to the business– English classes, Birthday Parties, Soccer Games, acupuncture & massage

benefits, food and entertainment for pre-holiday production rush


Company Credo

THE CLEAN & HAPPY HANDS

• Reminded employees of the importance of sanitary issues in a restaurant business.

• Prevented personal problems from spilling over into the product.


Business Model & Methods

• Right Market: Boston’s open market opportunity

• No Advertising– Sell and promote purely by the taste of the Product

– Word of mouth

– Heavy Manual labor to control quality

– Great quality product

– Consult with Experts


Success & Challenges

• Within 6 month, revenue grown to 1.57 million annualized

• Multiple Prestigious accounts in Boston:

• Four Season

• Harvard Faculty Club

• Formaggio Kitchen

• Bread and Circus

• In merely 1 year, Iggy’s overgrown its capacity in production

• The no debt financial structure was limiting business opportunities


Growing Pain

• By 1997- expand the company physically and financially

– New Warehouse, New debt structure

• Overwhelmed by work

– desperate need of administrative and business financial management help

• New Management in place

– Experienced business people unfamiliar of Iggy’s culture

– New organizational structure, faced resistant from employees and owners

– Change of dynamics and moral


Management’s Influence Styles

Igor Ludmilla McRae

• Passion for bread and is excellent at training new bakers.

• More focused on the outcome of the bread than managing the employees.

• Wants Iggy’s to be a nurturing environment and positive experience for each employee (open door policy, birthday cake, company wide soccer games, etc.).

• Goal is the expansion of the company.

• Tried to run Iggy’s like a large business instead of the small start up bakery the rest of the employees still felt it was.


Recommendation• Keep McRae’s

– Reason: will face similar obstacle with new COO– Opportunities: offer equity in the company instead of bonus on

profit – keep the core model of think like an owner

• Set realistic sustainable long and short term goals– Set business plans and strategies base on the goals

• Analyze and reexamine its core importance and the new expanded business identity– Understand its new business structure and limitation

• Set performance measurements• Set hiring measurements


Action tasks

• Improved communicated between management

• The Ivanovics have to relinquish some control so that the company can expand

• McRae needs to realize that Iggy’s is not a large corporation

• Each person’s responsibilities should be clearly mapped out

• Igor, Ludmilla and McRae should have weekly update meetings


Documents

Iggy's