Publications
Publications
- February 2022 (Revised May 2022)
- HBS Case Collection
Buddy Valastro: Cake Boss
By: Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht and Katherine Connolly Baden
Abstract
Buddy Valastro, celebrity baker and business owner, inherited his father’s bakery—Carlo’s Bake Shop of Hoboken, New Jersey—at the age of seventeen. He had willed the shop to survive and gone on to fame through his television show, “Cake Boss”—the name most people now called him. Its popularity allowed Valastro to launch many additional ventures in the worlds of TV and food, including additional locations of Carlo’s Bake Shop. Valastro’s businesses had remained profitable throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and he and his team had learned a great deal while managing through the crisis. Valastro felt like he was at a turning point and could build upon the lessons of the pandemic to scale his business. Moving into the future, how could Buddy leverage data and digital offerings? Did he even need brick-and-mortar bakeries? Did he have the infrastructure and team necessary to operate his company now and realize his vision for the future? Was Valastro overextended? How important was Valastro to the brand and to the company? Could they outlast him in the long-run?
Keywords
Bakery; Entrepreneur; Scalability; Digital; Systems; Process Improvement; Team Effectiveness; Team Building; COVID-19 Pandemic; Food; Entrepreneurship; Family Business; Crisis Management; Change Management; Leadership; Creativity; Operations; Groups and Teams; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; United States
Citation
Groysberg, Boris, Evan M.S. Hecht, and Katherine Connolly Baden. "Buddy Valastro: Cake Boss." Harvard Business School Case 422-060, February 2022. (Revised May 2022.)