Small Business Profiles
With a kitschy-cool name, a refined artisan product and recipes handed down from an old Irish family cookbook, Claire Keane has created a standout business in the already crowded kitschy-cool/artisan San Francisco market.
ClaireSquares brings the city by the Bay handcrafted Irish sweet treats, inspired by Keane’s mother and the recipes they used to bake when she was a child back in County Cork.

John Rood was always a natural test-taker. What dawned on him, though, while training to teach giant prep courses for graduate level exams is that this model of tutoring lacked the detail to help the average student. Thus came the idea for Next Step Test Prep, an alternative test preparation small business that focuses on individual, one-on-one tutoring for each student. Rood found that his experience with the one-on-one format was “extremely effective.”
Red Truck Bakery delivers Southern style, charm and moonshine-infused treats to a national clientele
How does a former magazine art director become the owner of one of the most heralded bakeries – The New York Times, Esquire and Southern Living are among the many singing it’s praises – in the country? The answer starts with a red, 1954 Ford F-100 purchased from Tommy Hilfiger.

Having worked for a few big retailers after college, Mike Brey learned the business and wanted to do it well—professionalize the retail workforce with people who knew the product, were happy in their jobs and provided great customer service. He opened the first Hobby Works store in 1992, and has since grown the business to five locations in Maryland.
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