I build brands that redefine how we experience food.

As Founder & CEO of Three Mills Bakery, I’ve spent over a decade turning a small Canberra bakery into one of Australia’s most respected challenger food brands known for its world-class sourdough, pastries, and bake-at-home range that’s changing how people eat at home.

After nearly two decades in the food business, my obsession is with what happens behind the scenes: the systems, supply chains, and storytelling that separate lasting food brands from the ones that fade. I believe the future of food will be built by founders who master all three: craft, tech, and culture.

Through Fix Before You Scale (my weekly newsletter), I share what I’ve learned with operators trying to grow without losing their soul. 

And through upcoming ventures, I’m building an ecosystem designed to back the next generation of challenger food brands.

My mission is simple:

To help ambitious founders build better food businesses. Ones that nourish people, reward craft, and respect the planet.

As for LinkedIn, I share the behind-the-scenes journey along the way. 

Thanks for reading.

Jarrod Deaton

Yesterday I got asked how we grew to 130 people. Here's the quick answer: 
 
The food industry is known for being challenging to find people. 
 
The good ones rarely stay in the industry long enough to coach the next generation. 
 
We knew we had our work cut out for us if we were going to attract all the talent and keep growing. 
 
So we built a magnet. 
 
A business that attracted people to it instead of always chasing. 
 
It all starts with a big problem. 
 
In our case, no one wanted to service our area with good bread and pastries. Certainly not in the wholesale space. 
 
So we focused on: 
 
𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 
 
Something world class that people couldn't help but talk about and share with others. 
 
When you nail it, it becomes your best marketing weapon for finding clients and employees to join the cause. 
 
 
𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗 
 
Wrap a good product nicely and it's like giving it a superpower. 
 
I'm not just talking physically wrap them. 
 
I'm saying: 
 
- How you make people feel 
- Your online customer experience 
- The time you take to solve problems 
- Your outreach strategies to gain clients 
 
Everything customers see, smell, touch, taste and hear needs to represent you. 
 
And when it does, people you never thought would join you come knocking. 
 
Next is... 
 
𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 
 
Everyone goes on about it in the corporate world. 
 
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲, 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀. 
 
You can have all the ping pong tables and perks imaginable but still have crappy culture. 
 
So find interesting problems to solve, start working on them, and talk to other people about it. 
 
The right people hear about it and come and find you to help. 
 
--- 
 
Obviously there's more to it than that. 
 
But it's about building a business that attracts people so you're not always chasing. 
 
Make your brand, products and culture magnetic.

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Curious Founders NL

I share stories and tips from growing my business to 140 people in an email every Sunday.

You might like to join 1677 other business owners already reading it.

Here's where to find it:

www.jarroddeaton.com.au

three-mills-bakery

Founder & CEO, Three Mills Bakery | Building the next generation of food brands through craft, tech & culture | Writer of Fix Before You Scale

I baked these in my home oven on the weekend. 

They're a new version of our bake-at-home croissants.

Stored frozen. 

Ready to bake in one hour instead of doing them overnight.

You just gently egg-wash the top. 

And bake for 15 minutes. 

Pretty spectacular results in the home oven.

My house smelled so damn good.

I used to be afraid of sucking at things. 
 
Always practicing in private before revealing a skillset in public. 

But the problem is, when you keep it a secret, you miss out on rich feedback that can help you level up faster. 

Most people genuinely want to help you succeed.
 
The key is to switch to a student mindset, and not an expert.

Being prepared to suck at something first and make tiny rapid improvements using loads of feedback. 

That type of vulnerability has helped me so much in my career. 

Not to mention the accountability it's added to my life as an entrepreneur.

Apart from the occasional idiot who laughs at you from behind the screen, it's been all upside.

I'd encourage you to put yourself out there, openly try new things and be prepared to ask for help along the way.

No alternative text description for this image

This is the reason I exercise as much as I can. 

The more I work out, the more of these I can eat!

It's that simple.

Here's how growth can make a business better:

For years I watched other food businesses grow and sacrifice quality to achieve scale. 

Not wanting to fall into the same trap we started asking how growth could make us better.
 
- Better product 
- Better team culture 
- Better customer experience 
 
Instead of the alternative where all joy is lost and money is the only objective.
 
I've always felt that there's an opportunity to do the opposite. 
 
It's more of a feeling of responsibility. 
 
The bigger you grow, the more resources you have to do good with. 
 
Things like: 
 
- attracting better talent 
- hearing more customer feedback 
- utilising access to excellent equipment 
 
And that last one -optimising industrial equipment has changed the game for us. 

When you select the right piece, it not only makes the product better and increases efficiency, it removes unnecessary load on the team's body.

It's especially important in an industry like ours where you're lifting 25kg bags of flour and dough all day. 
 
This is our Rheon stress-free divider from Japan. 
 
It helps us cut precise dough weights without lifting the 20kg tubs or over-handling the dough. 
 
It means less load on the team and less impact on the dough which drives up our quality. 

Indirectly, a piece of equipment like this then improves culture by making the day better. 

And a better culture attracts better people. 
 
You start to realise that focusing on quality and team culture as you scale a business is always the best route. 

What are your thoughts?

I spent years behind the coffee machine. 
 
I miss the action and daily connections. 
 
These days I'm in the office for hours. 
 
-Meeting 
-Planning 
-Deciding 
-Documenting 
 
Sometimes I think it's such a shift away from the idea of building a hospitality business. 
 
But it's about empowering, training and trusting others to do it in your absence. 
 
It's also something I've seen other food entrepreneurs struggle with. 
 
"Getting off the tools" so to speak. 
 
Office work and corporate life are something we're all probably trying to avoid by staying in this world in the first place! 
 
Thought work 
People work 
Strategy 
Culture 
 
Are often things that are put on the 'To-Do' list as you prioritise opening the store and serving customers. 
 
But there's a responsibility for owners to change their role as the company grows. 
 
Even though it'd be great to get back on the machine and pump out some coffees, I know it'd take my focus away from other important things that need doing. 
 
Things the rest of the team are expecting will get done at a high level so they can do their best work.

We had a fierce competitor land on our doorstep a few years back who threatened to gobble up a huge part of our business.

They were:

- Bigger
- Well funded
- Aggressive on sales
- Undercutting us on price

They were relentless.

Our strategy?

𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

So here's what we did:

- Increased consistency
- Extended our contact hours
- Rapidly fixed problems for clients
- Treated people like our best mates and bent over backwards to help them.

The result?

We only lost 3 clients over 12 months.

And two of them came back within the first 30 days due to crappy service.

We used it again this year to grow instead of retaining clients and it worked just as well.

There's literally no downside to over-servicing your clients by building a culture around long-term customer delight.

If your company is struggling to retain clients or hasn't seen enough growth over the past 2 years, I'd love to understand more.

Drop me a DM sometime.

Maybe I can help.

My company didn’t fail. But it almost did.

Three Mills scaled faster than we were ready for.

Culture frayed. 
Margins eroded.
Ops got complex.

And the story that once inspired our team stopped working as well.

I could’ve raised more capital or blamed the market (or covid again)...

Instead, the team dug in. 

Together we:

→ Rebuilt our margins
→ Fixed the financial foundations
→ Reconnected our team to the mission
→ Rewrote the future story from the inside out

And after 2 decades in business, learning how to fix instead of just grow has been one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. 

Easily the most valuable thing I've ever done.

If you've followed my content before, you'll know that I keep things practical.

But recently, I made the decision to start sharing more about fixing. Not building. 

It's less sexy, but way more valuable. 

I hope you enjoy it. 

And as always, if you want to go deep on this topic, you can jump on my weekly newsletter. 

(link in the comment section)

Let’s get to work!

After recruiting over 1000 people, here's one insight that's transformed how we hire going forward:

When we started, we would recruit for tasks. Jobs that needed to be done. 

This sounds obvious, but the result is everyone reported to a handful of highly organised leaders. 

They were expected to think strategically, align teams, and ensure that everyone was working on the right thing at the right standard. 

It can get overwhelming for those people to wear so many different hats and lead big teams.

Instead, we flipped our approach. 

We stopped recruiting for frontline roles and started recruiting leaders.

We gave them the freedom to select their own team and align on what needed to be done.

At that point, everything clicked up a gear. 

- We started to distribute the leadership responsibility. 

- Our best people got to focus on their core strength instead of being spread thin

- And we noticed that those new A players started to recruit other A players. 

I can't say if we should have done this earlier or not. We often didn't have the cash for high-level roles back then. 

But I do know that we'll always be looking to recruit the team leader first from here on. 

What are your thoughts on recruiting key roles first or later?

If your margin is thin, your standards are about to get thin too.

When there's no cash left over, you have no choice but to make tough calls that crush your standards. 

No cash for training, repairing, recruiting, marketing. being generous. 

It's a crappy game from there. 

The fix is simple, 

Increase your margin

Often you've just got to start the journey before setting a goal. 
 
Here's what I mean: 
 
This afternoon I missed the gym because I was held back at work. 
 
Instead, I decided to walk up a gnarly part of a nearby hill I'm used to running around. 
 
Halfway up I noticed that the sun would be setting any minute and thought it's be cool to see it from the top. 
 
So I pushed hard and caught it just before it dipped over the horizon. 
 
(freaken beautiful) 
 
But my point is, I didn't set out to catch the sunset. 
 
The goal became clearer after I started. 
 
In the beginning, I just started walking. 
 
And this same thing applies to nearly any goal worth pursuing. 
 
1. Start moving in the general direction 
2. Goals and milestones become clearer. 
3. Lock in on a goal 
4. Adjust your direction, movements and speed to get there. 
 
Get after it!

“We’re scaling” is often code for we haven’t fixed the business model. 

In a world where revenue gets more attention than profit, most entrepreneurs are still chasing the applause (revenue) instead of the proof (profit). 

Unless that was just me up until a few years ago...?

Growth doesn’t fix margins. It hides them until it kills you.

(hindsight's a wonderful thing)

Most founders only tell the story after they’ve won.

I’d rather share mine before the ending gets too shiny.

We were losing $40K cash a week and I thought selling more would fix it.

It didn’t.

If you’re in the messy middle, this one’s for you.

Swipe through these lessons would’ve saved me years.

ieK89pvfI

Most founders try to be better.

Faster. Cheaper. Louder.

That’s a race to nowhere.

The best brands don’t compete. They create. 

They name the problem. They try to own the language.

If your customers can swap you for a similar option, you’re not building a brand. You’re building a commodity with a logo.

This is a reminder (to self) to stop competing and start creating new categories with less competition. 

Love to know if this resonates?!

When I started my bakery, I was done being a “small business.”

I wanted to build something bigger. 

Something that could thrive without me doing it all.

But somewhere between 30 and 40 employees, I hit a wall.

I was still solving every problem.

Still the one everyone came to.

What changed everything wasn’t working harder... it was finding the right person to take the reins operationally and empowering them to lead.

If you’ve been stuck in the grind, wondering how to scale without burning out, this one’s for you.

Swipe through to see how one hire changed everything.

One hire multiplied our growth overnight

Busy doesn’t mean effective.

Stacked calendars look productive, but they’re a dreadful way to operate.

Lunch gets skipped. The gym gets pushed.

And the worst part? There’s no time left to think.

Thinking isn’t a perk. It’s the job.

If this sounds familiar, read the carousel.

Carving out time to think. Here's what happens.

Here's how our team changed as we grew: 
 
𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲 (𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗨𝗽): 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 
 
Everyone is doing anything and everything to growth the business, handle challenges and find a way to deliver on the work. 
 
It's important that the people on the team can jump into any role. 
 
𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝘄𝗼: 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 
 
You need an extra layer of management so you start to pull in a few more high level team members to share the load and gain greater leverage. 
 
𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲: 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 
 
At this point hyper specific people become very important for doing the work that needs to be done. 
 
You shift from generalists to a team of specialists. 
 
𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 
 
You begin to invest in other people who can unlock growth. 
 
Up to this point there's only room for one or two people looking externally and everyone else is looking internally at things to be done. 
 
Intrapreneurs are like entrepreneurs who want to find new things that can help the business grow, diversify, vertically integrate and create new opportunities. 
 
𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 
 
I'm not there yet so I'll keep you posted... 
 
--- 
 
Each one has been linked to the team size and the revenue. 
 
It's different for each business and how it's structured but based on a few conversations with other entrepreneurs, every business seems to go through these phases in some form.

You know those big faceless companies that grow nicely but sacrifice product quality and culture along the way? 

I'm trying to avoid that as I grow.
 
Instead, we're growing something that unlocks greater potential for good and impacts the world positively. 
 
(permission to kick me in the shin if I get off track) 
 
I love the idea that a business can get better with age. 
 
You move from the selfish days of bootstrapping and pure survival, to a place where you can flourish and contribute to leaving this world better than we found it. 
 
I believe businesses can be a platform to do so much good. 
 
Not only for the people who engage with it, but the communities around it, and the people who contribute to it. I doubt it's easy to manage or maintain at scale but I'm all in.
 
And there are some key reasons why I like trying: 
 
𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 - Many hands make light work. 
 
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 - Solve something bigger than our own. 
 
𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 - Nudging the world in the right direction means having a bigger reach. 
 
There's plenty more. 
 
But for many business owners, growth scares the pants off them. 
 
It means: 
 
- More people to deal with 
- Greater complexity 
- Bigger problems 
- More risk 
 
And I get it...But for me, just the reward of flexibility and freedom that comes with having more people to help carry the load is enough of a reason to grow a little. 
 
Whatever your business goals are, my hope is that by sharing some insights with you along the way we can grow together and learn from each other. 
 
If you're reading this, I appreciate you. 
 
Thanks for being here. 
 
--- 
 
Drop me a comment if you're heading in the same direction and building something bigger.

We spend so much of our time at work trying to get on the same page as each other. 

Meetings, slack, email, presentations, offsites, briefings all geared towards making sure a few people understand what good looks like, align on how to get there, and deciding what happens when you don't. 

When you think about it, that's pretty silly.

No action required here. Just an observation that we're pretty inefficient communicators. 

Makes sense why a company vision needs to be so clear and so messaging simple. 

If you do that, everyone gets on with it sooner. 

Thoughts?

Not many people share the tough times in business... It's always the postcard moments and winning photos.

I completely understand what drives it. 

All the normal mindsets are at play:

- No one wants to back a losing horse.
- It's not good for business.
- Weakness is a flaw.

Not to mention the whole 'fake it 'til you make it' approach that most entrepreneurs subscribe to in the early days.

(That included me)

But fast-forward two decades and I've always learned more during the rough patches that the good bits.

The hardest moments in business taught me more about myself, my business and the people around me. 

And you don't just magically learn things without going through the crappy bits, yet the business world still doesn't value talking about them openly.

When I shared our bumpy journey in front of a few hundred distillers, brewer and bakers at a recent event, a remarkable thing happened. 

It opened the door for so many amazing conversations and new connections. By opening up, others did too. 

Since the event, I've received loads of emails and DMs from really incredible people. 

Easily one of the best things I've ever done. 

But, you don't need to speak in front of hundreds of people to make the same thing happen.

You can start small, group coffee meets with other business people. A nice dinner with a dozen like-minded folks in industry. It's always worht it.

Business can be a lonely game. But that's also a choice.

Entrepreneur. Founder. Investor. Operator. Founder|CEO Free Bird Beverage Founder|CEO Grayhawk Ventures Founder|CEO FNSH Hydration

Founder & Big Bird @ FREE BIRD 

Entrepreneur. Founder. Investor. Aquaman.

I sell water. You need water to stay alive. I will save your life.😎 

If you have cookies…I will eat them.

Also: Founder & CEO @ Grayhawk Ventures 

Jay Williams

No offense, but I don’t really care about your view of our country.

You may be on the right, on the left, or in the middle. All good. 

All sides who care enough about America to speak up are cool with me.

That said, if you are running a business, you may want to think twice about how vocal you are. That is, of course, if you want more business. 

But that’s just me.

Founder|Big Bird @ FREE BIRD 🆓🦅🇺🇸

You may stop.

You may drop.

You may roll.

However…

If you stop in the name of love.

If you drop it like it’s hot.

If you let the good times roll.

Then…

Ice cream cake?

I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m so sorry you read this far.

Drink from the fire hose, they said…

It will be fun, they said…

They were right!!!

What a ride I’m on.

That is all.

Have a great day.

Cheers y’all.

Who’s running your company?

You?

You sure about that?

The question seems simple, but the answer isn’t always clear.

Are you running a company OR is the company running you?

It’s an important distinction. Sure ok, that seems obvious. However, you don’t always realize until it’s too late.

It’s easy to get so busy and so focused on the minutiae of the day, that you forget you’re running a whole company. 

Instead, day by day you’re just checking tasks off a list while the company drifts aimlessly. Yet, when you’re in the middle of it, sometimes you don’t even realize that you’re drifting and that the company is running you. 

You know what it means when the company is running you?

It means that NOBODY is running the company. 

The company is just surviving why you’re stuck in a never ending cycle of completing tasks. Completing tasks is great, but not at the expense of leading the company. 

What’s the solution?

Complete tasks, yes!! However, never allow those tasks to get in the way of your need to steer the ship.

Here is what I suggest:

You need to delegate. You need to prioritize. You need to plan. You need to have a clear strategy. You need to execute efficiently. 

You need to take a step back from time to time and take a moment to see the big picture and understand what needs to be done to move forward effectively.

Never forget that steering the ship and leading the company is more important than daily tasks. 

You can do both. 

Good luck.

Are you a dipper?

What’s your thing? Skoal, Dippin Dots, Sour Cream and Onion, French Dip, Skinny dipping??? 😎

Or, are you a plunger?

You go all the way in, head to toe?

I’ve never been much of a dipper.

That’s not to say that “dipping your toes in the water” is a bad idea in business. It certainly can work to be deliberate and cautious. While I most definitely believe in a smart approach, I just don’t believe in barely dipping your toe in the water. I prefer to take the plunge. 

All in. 

More often than not, risk and reward is pretty reciprocal. Meaning that, dipping my toe, will yield a reward representative of my willingness to bet on myself.

Right or wrong, I don’t believe in going for small outcomes. The work involved for big and small bets is usually pretty similar, so why not go big. Also, I’m mindful of how many others are out there trying to be better than us and I refuse to be the one creating limitations that will cause us to fail.

If I want to be competitive and if I want to win, I recognize the requisite work that’s required.

I use the term “responsibly aggressive”. 

Of course, I’m cautious. 

Of course, I’m calculated. 

Of course, I’m aware of the risks involved.

As a result, I’m thoughtful about our plan and I’m rigid when it comes to execution. 

More importantly, I have the right people in place and I empower them and make sure they have whatever they need to operate effectively.

The world is a competitive place. Showing up big can yield big results if you are willing to do what it takes.

Go big or go home!

I just said “thank you for your service” to the cashier at Krispy Kreme …in case you were wondering how my day was going so far.

Anybody know a good brand manager or marketing manager or brand strategist in Atlanta or nearby?

***Edit: 
I should have specified “someone who is looking for a new position” in that kind of role. In particular, somebody who has preferably worked in the beverage industry. Thanks.

People are bananas…

In today’s episode of “Jay thinking out loud in public”, we will explore two unrelated and incongruent concepts simultaneously while weaving a tapestry of utter delight as we connect these unexpected dots of destiny…

(Doesn’t that sound good? I mean, I made it up of course, but I like it 😉)

Anyway, let’s move on.

People: The hardest part of building a business is finding the right people. In particular, within a small company, having someone who doesn’t fit can really disrupt your rhythm. Don’t wait and don’t compromise. 

If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. No wait, that was OJ, sorry. 😎 

If someone doesn’t fit in your company, for whatever reason, make a change. Waiting too long can have unintended consequences and you don’t want that.

Bananas: The hardest part of buying bananas is finding the right one. If you buy it too early, it’s too ripe to eat. However, when it’s too late, it happens so fast. Waiting too long can have unintended consequences and you don’t want that.

The moral of this story?

People are basically bananas. Choose wisely.

Thank you for reading today’s episode of “Jay thinking out loud in public”. 

Have yourself a day!

You’re a “Whisperer”???

What?

What’s the deal with all the whispering??

Why would I ever want a whisperer of anything??

What am I missing??

So you’re a Marketing Whisperer? Really? WTF is that?

A Baby Whisperer??? Sure why not. I didn’t really want someone totally qualified around my baby anyway. So I’ll just go with a whisperer. Seriously?

You’re a Operations Whisperer??? Oh great. Please whisper some operations to me….what?

I hear that you’re an AI Whisperer? Cool, I didn’t really want someone to help me anyway. Just need someone to whisper sweet ai nothings in my ear.

This whole “whisperer” thing confuses me.

I’m open to anyone who wants to educate me. Feel free to explain.

What’s your fake name?

I’ll go first in the comments.

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The Battle

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