THREE MILLS BAKERY

Founder

A. BAKER

Co-Founder

Two Before Ten Coffee Roasters

Founder / Director

I'm on a mission to grow a world-class food business and share the journey with people along the way. 

Food businesses are the beating heart of a community. 

A place to connect, unwind, laugh, escape and share delicious food.

But the industry is crisis...

Getting hit from all sides - costs, talent, supply. 

To survive, you need to access new information, learn from those around you, and implement at lightning speed. 

I'm sharing my experience growing my team to 140 people in this challenging market. 

You'll get the raw bits, sh*t bits, massive wins and every entrepreneurial struggle in between. 

Where I can, I share the 'why' and 'how' behind what worked and what didn't so you can apply it to your own business. 

LinkedIn is one way to follow my content. 

But I also share the juicier stuff in my weekly newsletter - Curious Founders. 

Here's where you can find it: www.jarroddeaton.com.au

I'd love to see you there.

We're closing one of our stores. 

Here's a quick wrap-up:

Two years ago we set out open a few stores across Canberra to balance out our business and reach more customers directly. 

Through covid, we realised how important it was to build direct relationships with our wonderful clients.

But it's really challenging to do when you're wholesaling products to other businesses or retailing them through food stores. 

You miss out on those rich connections you only get over the counter. 

So our first step was taking on a site in the city previously used as a food business. 

It meant we could fit it out Three Mills style and get open faster than normal because all the main parts were already there.

But we weren't sure if that's where we wanted to be long term, so we treated it like a pop-up and only committed to a short lease term. 

Fast forward a couple of years and we're at the end of that term. 

And we've made the decision not to stay there. 

The biggest reason?

We're a different business now. 

We know so much more about ourselves, our growth model and what our customers expect from us.

For example, we learned that most people want to buy bread and pastry on the weekend. 

And that site was near-impossible to operate on the weekends.

One of the best parts is that we can relocate our incredible team to our other stores and repurpose the fit-out to improve our Fyshwick sites. 

All of that aligns with our objective of less complexity and way higher quality. 

Even though we're closing a store we invested in, the positives outweigh the negatives. 

It's been an incredible journey and we've learned a ton along the way. 

A massive thank you to those who came there to support us over the past couple of years - I'm really grateful!

In the meantime, keep an eye on our Leeton Street store in Fyshwick - Big things are happening there.

Jarrod Deaton

Building Three Mills Bakery from a craft bakery into a global retail brand. Sharing useful insights about growing businesses in a weekly email. Find the link in my bio.

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After about 1000 days of posting online, I've never been more clear about one thing.

It's so damn easy to paint a rosy picture of life to make people think you’re doing well. 

The entire social media system is geared towards it. 

- Fake smiles
- Perfect images
- Only sharing the wins
- Selfies at inspirational destinations
- Curated lighting to show off your best side.

The reality is:

Business is often hard. 

Messy. 

Uncertain.

But you're not rewarded for sharing it. 

The market rewards you for the wins and the big growth.

So it becomes dangerously easy to buy into the idea of only posting about success.

But it's only a fraction of the journey.

And I would argue that the juiciest bits, the ones where all the lessons are, are in the struggles, the fails and the massive f-ups. 

I think it's our responsibility to share those real bits. 

The full picture.

For example, in the past 6 months, I've:

- Reached burnout trying to do too many different things
- Lost months worth of stock from our freezer that we’d already made
- Had a new van stolen and the insurance company refused to cover it
- Watched the economy slow and suck the margins out of our business
- Second guessed myself and my ability to run a good business (many times)
- Had to let really good people go and not be liked by the people who stayed
- Then held all that in my mind going home and failed to be present with the people I love.

But I've learned some pretty damn good lessons from it all about how to create the right mindset and keep growing.

That's the valuable bit.

Not the pictures of only winning all the time. 

Love to know your thoughts o this?

We wrote a cookbook..!

But not just any cookbook because we believe the world doesn't need another book teaching you how to make bread...

Instead, we focused on creating recipes that use up old bread. 

The end bits, stale pieces and offcuts that always end up in the bin. 

We assembled a bunch of high-end restaurant chefs and created insanely delicious meals that feature old bread. 

And shot it in a way that is worthy of sitting on your coffee table. 

We've already sold 4000 copies and we're about to do our third reorder. 

It covers sweet and savory dishes and we've also shared a few of our favourite sourdough recipes including how to start a stiff sourdough culture like ours. 

If you've got a foodie friend tag them in the comments.

Feeling really grateful for this incredible team - We finally got a chance to celebrate our efforts through Christmas together!

One of the things about building a business from scratch is you meet the most amazing people. 

You often hear that employee turnover is bad.

But I see it differently, especially in the hospitality industry.

Three Mills is a platform for foodies to do good work. 

I never think people are working for me as the owner. 

It's a collaborative effort to build something excellent in the food space that helps our customers live better lives and is meaningful for us and those around us.

If that means you stay for a short time or a long time, I'm okay. 

As long as we do good work together while we're here that pushes us further than we went yesterday.

Afer a challenging year together last year and a busy Christmas, it was awesome to catch up and have some fun together!

Hope you're spending 2025 with a great team!

New pastry shape.

You like it?

Got loads of new pastries launching this year. 

Mostly updated flavours. 

But then the team dropped a few new vessels on my desk last week to see if our new flavours could be put into a new shape too. 

This one caught my eye. 

Super elegant. 

What do you think?

Do I add it to the range?

Being a business owner can feel super lonely.

Even though you've got good people around you, you feel like you're walking the road solo.

And the longer you live in that state of mind, the harder it is to reconnect with people.

So this is a nudge...

Don't isolate yourself in 2025.

Surround yourself with other entrepreneurs - they'll understand your challenges, cheer you on and offer valuable insights.

And it's never been easier to find them.

Reply to comments on here
Drop them an email
Send them a DM

Not to put the hard sell on them.

Just simply connect and talk sh*t.

Do that once a month this year and you'll have 12 new contacts to share the journey with in the future.

Good luck in 2025!

Most high performers view the start of every decade, year, quarter, month, week and day as an opportunity to set a goal and start achieving it. 

While the rest of the world thinks their only chance is January...

Here's how my communication has changed as my business grew: 
 
At the start, it's all about one-to-one because there's only a handful of people on the team. 
 
If the information isn't sensitive, you can often speak a little louder and some of the ideas rub off on other people within earshot. 
 
But as the team grows, your time shrinks. 
 
You start looking for ways to get more bang for your buck when it comes to your time. 
 
Meetings become really valuable opportunities to impact at a larger scale. 
 
This is the one-to-a-few world where it's more efficient for you to do small broadcasts to a handful of people so you get more reach in the same time. 
 
But you sacrifice something... 
 
Specificity and Impact. 
 
Your words become general in order to appeal to different people in meetings. 
 
Take that too far and you become ambiguous which makes it hard for your team to connect what you say to their work. 
 
You leave things way more open to interpretation and spend more time helping others spread the message you normally would have shared yourself in the past. 
 
It feels clunky. But it gives you leverage which allows you to keep growing.
 
At this point, we crossed the 100-employee mark. 
 
Now you start struggling to keep track of new people's names. 
 
Your time is spread wafer thin and meetings need to become shorter. 
 
Yu almost speak in headlines now! 
 
'Strip away all the fluff and get to the point' you think to yourself. 
 
But you start missing the subtle details as you look for ways to impact at scale. 

The:
 
- company broadcasts 
- internal videos 
- CEO updates 
 
All done from a distance and pretty much one-directional. 
 
You still meet with a core team of senior leaders and chase feedback, but the gap widens between you and the growing team. 
 
You start relying on systems and software to capture information and feedback. 
 
Now you spend your days eyeballing reports and responding to things digitally - further fueling the divide. 
 
I paint it at its worst. 

There are good bits that come from seeing things from a distance too. 
 
I just don't like where it leads without thoughtfully nudging in a better direction. 
 
This is something I'm exploring for myself this year.
 
The first thing is to understand what good culture and communication looks like. 

And then find ways to head in that direction. 
 
--- 
 
Love to know your thoughts on how to scale without becoming a faceless corporate mess. 
 
(slightly smiling face).

I've changed strategies and tactics over the years because they've failed. 
 
It can drive you mad as an entrepreneur if that's all you focus on. 
 
A better way to stay focused and keep yourself on track is to fall in love with the problem. 
 
Spend your days searching, experimenting and solving for that instead of focusing on the one solution you've created. 
 
All too often the solution must change. 
 
Same with your strategy sometimes.
 
But when you love the problem you're solving for, it'll never feel hard to start from scratch or iterate over and over. 
 
It's one of the most critical pieces of information that's helped me not lose my mind over the years. 
 
Marry the problem. Not the solution. 
 
I hope this helps.

Most entrepreneurs make terrible managers.  
 
They're scattered.  

Erratic thinkers.

Perpetual opportunity chasers.
 
And complete dreamers.
 
The only way you have a chance at succeeding is to build an excellent operational team that can connect daily actions to lofty ideas.

The most important asset you have is the quality of the people around you and the quality of their relationships with each other. 

Feeling really grateful for the team we have at Three Mills. 

Here's to chasing big things in 2025!

Hope you're getting after it too!

If you're thinking about launching a business but aren't sure which one, this might help.
 
It's often easier to look at what the market wants in your local area, rather than what you want to build. 
 
I did this right before launching my artisan bakery in 2013: 
 
When I asked 'what's missing in this area?' a bakery came to mind.

Along the way I realised the entire city needed a local bakery to supply the cafes with excellent fresh baked goods because most of it was coming from interstate.
 
After that, I realised the entire country needed better access to high-quality sourdough that wasn't filled with nasty preservatives to make it last on a supermarket shelf. 

Rather than thinking about what YOU want to build, look at what the market is telling you to build. 

Because working backwards from demand is often the best way to ensure success.

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?

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.

I can't get enough of the passionfruit curd in this Danish. Will be sad to see this seasonal pastry go soon. 

If you haven't tried it, do yourself a favour.

Most people try to measure results.

But when progress is slow, it’s easy to lose momentum.

The real game-changer? 

Measuring actions instead.

Swipe through to see how it works. 👉

Two key things I measure in business.

Is it possible to grow a big business without becoming crap? 
 
I'm on a mission find out... 
 
You know those big faceless companies that grow nicely but sacrifice product quality and culture along the way? 
 
I'm trying to avoid that. 
 
Instead, my team and I are growing something that unlocks greater potential for good. 
 
(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.  
 
It's a heavy responsibility (more of a privilege) to serve others, build great workplaces and make really good stuff. 
 
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 ourselves.  
 
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. 
 
--- 
 
Give us a thumbs up if you're heading in the same direction.

None of us love being behind the camera. 

But it's way more fun when you're working alongside other passionate people.

Last week I spent a few hours with these two legends (Shanon and Rima) grabbing some content for socials and testing our bake-at-home sourdough in a few different ovens.

Big thanks to @winningappliances for letting us crash your kitchen and Adam McGrath from Hcreations for taking the photos. 

Loved working with all the different ovens to bake our products.

Looking forward to sharing some more photos from the day soon.

We're exploring ways to get more texture in some pasties. Here's a product you might see in the lineup soon. 

Pastry is kinda like plywood.

When you look at it from the side, it has heaps of layers. 

To make this one the team basically have to cut dozens of strips of pastry dough and lay them on their side so all the layers now face up. 

Then re-roll it so those layers are across the sheet instead of on the side of it. 

It adds so much texture to the pastry when you eat it and it looks super cool. 

I think it's worth the effort.

What do you think?

Entrepreneurship can be brutally isolating. 
 
But nobody tells you that at the start. 
 
Here’re 5 ways I’ve found to make it more of a team sport: 
 
Even though you’re around people all day growing your business, it can feel transactional.  
 
There’s very little time to go deep and explore meaningful conversation. 
 
But what makes it worse? 
 
Business can be all about bravado.  
 
You can’t be seen to be struggling.  
 
Not to your team, your family, and certainly not to your customers. 
 
So who the hell do you talk to about your biz with if you don’t want to take work home with you? 
 
Here’s what helped me... 
 
The best conversations I’ve had about business have been with other entrepreneurs. 
 
Sometimes it takes one to know one. 
 
I’ve found them at: 
 
𝟭. 𝗟𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀/𝗗𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 
 
A mate of mine organised a boozy lunch for a bunch of entrepreneurs who work too much. 
 
We only had a couple before everyone got too busy (sad face),  but a decade later I still remember the quality conversations and laughs around that table 
 
--- 
 
𝟮. 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 
 
I thought these were garbage at first.  
 
Full of try-hard wannabes.  
 
But the reality is the right group can accelerate your growth and add a ton of value to you as an individual. 
 
To find them, start a 100 conversations with other business owners. 
 
--- 
 
𝟯. 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 
 
I was asked to join a mentoring program run by the government a while back. 
 
I was hesitant at first because I thought it would be terrible.  
 
But it blew my mind how valuable it was to be in a room full of other entrepreneurs and learn from their experiences. 
 
--- 
 
𝟰. 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻/X 
 
I’ve met some seriously incredible people on these platforms.  
 
All from building a profile, posting some content and then just reaching out.  
 
Each time I get a chance to swap stories and hear their challenges makes me feel connected and invigorated.  
 
--- 
 
𝟱. 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 
 
My old business partner used to just pick up the phone and call anyone.  
 
He’d call a business and ask for the CEO, explain who he was and why he’d like to meet.  
 
I always admired the directness. 
 
And inevitably he'd land a ton of meetings with top execs.  
 
IT taught me the power of just asking to connect. 
 
--- 
 
At the end of the day, it's only only if you let it be.  
 
The good news you're not alone.  
 
All it takes is the simple act of reaching out to someone on the same pathway. 
 
I hope this helps!

Posting content gives you brutally honest feedback some days.  
 
The kind you normally need to hear but that no one wants to tell you. 
 
When your content is crap, people ignore it.  
 
When it's good, they engage.  
 
It's largely that simple. 
 
Sure... other things contribute.  
 
- audience 
- posting times 
- early engagement 
 
But at the end of the day, learning how to post good content online is one of the most humbling experiences you can sign up for.  
 
It's terrifying and raw. 
 
But also therapeutic in ways.  
 
Especially when someone connects with your words or lived experiences. 
 
It's never about numbers.  
 
The real wins are: 
 
- doing uncomfortable things to grow 
- small moments of connection 
- and personal discovery 
 
And as always, this lesson applies to life and business.  
 
Put up good work, make it better next time, and repeat it consistently over a long time horizon.  
 
Love to know your thoughts?

Taplio

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