In his three years working for Moody’s Investors Service, Scott Kluger saw the peak and plunge of the financial sector. That’s what happens when your career in finance spanned from 2006 to 2009.
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In his three years working for Moody’s Investors Service, Scott Kluger saw the peak and plunge of the financial sector. That’s what happens when your career in finance spanned from 2006 to 2009.
As the economy began to recover from the Great Recession, Kluger chose a completely different career path, leaving New York for his hometown of West Hartford, and founding Hartford Baking Co.
The career change wasn’t completely out of the blue, though, because Kluger’s family took cooking seriously, making meals and baking sweets from scratch throughout his childhood, he said.
With a decade under its belt, Hartford Baking Co.’s 45 employees work out of two storefronts in West Hartford, with another set to open in Glastonbury next year. Moving from an employee role to that of the ultimate authority was a struggle at first, Kluger said, but it turned out to be well worth it.
“I was challenged like never before,” Kluger said. “I have no regrets, it’s the single best decision I’ve ever made.”
The career you came from and the career you migrated to are very different industries. How did you go about that transition?
The change in industries really wasn’t a challenge. The biggest challenge was moving from an employee role where I was working as part of a team to becoming an owner without business partners and needing to make all the decisions myself.
In addition, though the industries are very different, the fundamentals are still the same: You need to have people management skills and make sure your finances are in order. My finance background has helped us get this far, even when my lack of management skills created hurdles.
More often than not, entrepreneurs focus only on industry-specific knowledge and fail because they don’t give the same attention to the fundamentals of business management.
How has the restaurant/cafe industry changed in Greater Hartford since you opened your first location?
As with the rest of the country, there has been a huge restaurant boom during the last 10 years. With the rise of food-focused reality TV and many people leaving corporate jobs because of the recession in 2009, the low-barriers to entry of the food industry and its depiction in popular culture have made it a super popular industry.
There’s a lot more competition for restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries, but it’s great for consumers, who now have more choice than ever. The more competitive nature of the industry also means that food quality and service need to be top notch, so I think that’s good for everyone. It keeps us on our toes.
What was the first hard lesson you learned as a business owner?
Just because you sign someone’s paycheck doesn’t mean they’ll do whatever you ask. It’s slightly more complicated!
What role do restaurants play in economic development?
Restaurants and hospitality businesses make a place more livable. Wouldn’t you want to live on the same block as a cool coffee shop or bar that you could stop at every day? Look at what Story and Soil and Little River are doing for the stretch of Capitol Avenue in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood. Those types of businesses create a much more appealing neighborhood and function as community gathering places.
