Beyond the Scoop Shop: A Blueprint for Scaling Artisan Food Businesses

Scaling an artisan food business is no easy feat. What starts as a passion for quality, craftsmanship, and unique flavors often turns into a logistical challenge when demand grows beyond the capacity of a single storefront or kitchen. Many small food businesses reach a critical point where they must decide whether to remain small and exclusive or expand into wholesale, manufacturing, and broader distribution.

Ten years ago, I started my journey in the restaurant industry with a simple mission: to make people happy through ice cream. I mean, it’s hard to have a bad day in an ice cream shop. Through this relatively simple idea, High Point Creamery was born. My business plan laid out my steppingstones: open three artisanal ice cream shops, create synergy, and ride out the cash flow. Looking back, I was optimistic—perhaps a bit naïve—about what scaling would require. Within five years, I had opened three scoop shops and was still struggling to keep up.

The Turning Point: Expanding into CPG

Scaling an artisan food business isn’t just about making more product—it’s about ensuring that growth doesn’t dilute quality, customer experience, or operational efficiency. Opening 10 more stores wasn’t financially feasible. As business owners, we know how expensive turning a gray shell into a gorgeous restaurant is. Because of our funding constraints, we had to get creative.

We decided to expand into the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) space, aiming to get our ice cream pints into grocery stores. As luck would have it, our pints got onto grocery shelves just before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the industry. Practically overnight, we shifted from a scoop shop model to a full-fledged CPG business, navigating supply chain disruptions, evolving consumer demand, and the operational realities of large-scale manufacturing. I also picked up a lot of new vocabulary—lumper, FOB, EDLP, and scan back all became part of my vernacular. 

Recognizing When It’s Time to Scale

Many food businesses reach a point where demand exceeds production capacity. Signs that it’s time to scale include:

• Struggling to keep up with orders, leading to delayed fulfillment or product shortages.
• Increased interest from wholesale buyers or retailers requesting larger orders.
• A need for more efficient cost structures that bulk production could offer.
• Space or equipment constraints that prevent further growth in the current setup.

Recognizing these signs early allows business owners to plan for expansion before hitting major bottlenecks.

In-House Expansion vs. Co-Packing

Once scaling becomes necessary, the next big decision is whether to expand production in-house or work with a co-packer. In-house expansion gives full control over quality and processes but requires significant investment in equipment, facilities, and compliance with food safety regulations. On the other hand, co-packing allows for scaling without major infrastructure investment but often comes with high minimum order quantities and less direct control over production.

For High Point Creamery, neither of these traditional options felt like the right fit. Trust me, I wanted to find a co-packer that matched our needs. However, I came against multiple stumbling blocks. I’ll use our signature flavor as an example, Basil with Blackberry Swirl. Our process is cleaning and steeping the basil in local cream (much like a tea), straining it and swirling in our house-made blackberry sauce. Co-packers I talked to wanted to know what basil extract & commercially made blackberry sauce we wanted to use for our 10,000 minimum unit run. Tying up all our cash into aging inventory was not going to work for us.

We had another big decision to make: do we change who we are at our core to accommodate a co-packer’s production approach, or do we figure out how to remain small batch at scale?  Recognizing this hole in the contract manufacturing marketplace, we decided to create Sugar Lab of Colorado. This was more than a rebrand; this gave us the opportunity to create something new. A hybrid model where we control production while also offering co-packing services to other growing brands looking to scale without compromising quality.

This allowed us to diversify our streams of revenue and not just rely on our retail shops. That’s one of the big lessons I learned from Covid… diversification. We could now make all our ice creams in a wholesale setting, allowing us to open additional retail locations with much smaller footprints and simultaneously reducing retail costs. It also allowed us to be more aggressive inour approach to our wholesale business. And for the first time we had more capacity than we needed. Sugar Lab had allowed us to become co-packers ourselves, enabling us to manufacture ice cream for other brands and to offer private label grocery products. 

Optimizing for Operational Efficiency

Scaling a food business requires a shift in thinking from small-batch production to streamlined efficiency. One key focus is ingredient sourcing—securing reliable suppliers who can meet growing demand while maintaining quality is essential. Another critical area is production processes. Standardizing recipes and batch sizes helps ensure consistency across larger volumes, which is crucial when scaling.

Food safety and compliance also become increasingly important. Meeting FDA and industry standards, implementing HACCP plans, and ensuring proper storage and distribution logistics are all necessary steps. Logistics and fulfillment must also be carefully planned. Larger-scale storage, packaging, and distribution channels, including 3PL solutions for direct-to-consumer and wholesale shipments, need to be established to support growth effectively.

Maintaining Quality While Scaling

One of the biggest concerns for artisan food businesses is maintaining quality at a larger scale. Keeping batch sizes manageable helps preserve the artisan feel, preventing the loss of what makes a product special. Producing key inclusions in-house is another solution—we have a pastry kitchen where we create house-made cookies, sauces, and mix-ins rather than relying on pre-made ingredients.

Implementing rigorous quality control processes at each stage of production ensures consistency and reliability. Lastly, staying connected to the brand’s original mission and values is vital. This helps ensure that as a company grows, it continues to deliver the same high-quality product that customers expect and love.

Exploring Private Label and Wholesale Expansion

Once production is optimized, businesses can explore additional revenue streams such as private label partnerships and wholesale distribution. Many restaurants, retailers, and specialty food brands seek high-quality products that they can offer under their own branding. By working with a flexible co-packer or operating a private label production model, businesses can increase revenue without significantly increasing marketing costs.

Scaling an artisan food business is challenging, but with the right strategy, it’s possible to grow without compromising quality. Sugar Lab of Colorado’s spin-off from High Point Creamery has given me firsthand insight into what it takes to navigate this process successfully. By recognizing the right time to scale, choosing the best production model, optimizing operations, and maintaining product integrity, food entrepreneurs can expand sustainably while staying true to their brand.

For food entrepreneurs looking to scale, the key is intentional growth. Whether expanding into co-packing, private label, or wholesale, success comes from balancing operational efficiency with a commitment to quality. With the right approach, small artisan brands can scale into regional and national players without losing what makes them special.