Goodman predicts sweet success in 2024

Even if you are one of the few Milwaukeeans who has yet to taste goodies baked by A Goodman’s Desserts, you likely recognize the face of its founder, Alan Goodman. He appeared on season six of Project Pitch It, won Rev-Up MKE in 2019, was one of the entrepreneurs featured in the Invest Black MKE initiative sponsored by the Milwaukee Bucks and Hennesy USA and is a member of Food and Beverage Wisconsin, the African American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce.

The bootstrapped company was launched in 2018 and bakes butter-rich cookies, bread puddings and poundcakes based on family recipes.

The CEO found his love of baking as a kid when he was punished with kitchen duty after playing basketball with friends, rather than going to the library to study. While paying for his misdeeds, he discovered a previously hidden talent.

Basketball led him to the kitchen, and the game was also at the center of one of his greatest entrepreneurial successes thus far, being part of the Milwaukee Bucks’ historic championship season through Invest Black MKE.

“I started my business based on my love of basketball,” Goodman said. “It was a perfect marriage of an opportunity to come in and have desserts in a major NBA team in the suites and in the Jockey Club all throughout the championship run. It was pretty awesome to be a part of that. It was exciting to be able to say my product was there during a historic championship run in Milwaukee. I learned the craft from playing basketball and to have it wrapped back around to basketball was really awesome. A full circle moment.”

After participating in the Invest Black MKE program the solopreneur wanted to take advantage of the momentum it created and scale but knew he could not grow the company without making fundamental changes in how the company was run.

“I realized that in order to scale and take on larger opportunities like I wanted to grow to do, I need help,” Goodman said.

“That’s when I started crafting a relationship with a co-manufacturer to be able to produce (baked goods) in volumes that I can’t do myself,” he said. “That process took a year or so to find the right co-manufacturer. It’s a local company in Oak Creek and we work pretty well together. It gives me the confidence to go after larger opportunities because I don’t have to worry about whether I have the time or the stamina or anything else to spend hours making these cookies.”

“It’s also allowed me to free up my time to build other relationships, and that’s really what I want to do next, “he continued. “I feel like that’s one of my better attributes. I can find somebody else to do the baking, I just show them how to do it. But I need to be out in front making relationships and finding opportunities.”

Goodman is focusing on growing A Goodman’s Desserts in 2024.

“I’m looking at expanding through food suppliers and doing it that way to leverage the relationships I’ve had with corporate partners… With large food distributors they can help push my product nationally,” he said.

“I am also looking at commercial clients who are not based in Milwaukee and have a wider reach,” he continued. “I’m trying to do it the smart way so I can start to get national without having to go individually to each place to do it. If I get into some larger opportunities who have regional and national reach, my strategy is to go through there and have the product expand internally that way.”

To learn more about A Goodman’s Desserts, connect with the company here