Better Butter

BACKGROUND

Founder David Shamy gave homemade garlic butter to friends and family each holiday season as a thoughtful gift. As this family favorite grew in popularity, he realized there was a market for gourmet butter. So, he moved his operations to a small, commercial kitchen and began to increase his production levels. He began to add sweet and savory flavors to his repertoire and Chef Shamy gourmet butters took off. In March of 2021, Chef Shamy was sold to a private equity group and has now rebranded as Better Butter. Since that acquisition, the company brought in all new leadership and is positioning itself for continued growth.

CHALLENGE

After the acquisition, Ken Bayne was brought on as the new CFO. Ken quickly realized there were a lot of inconsistencies with the financials and little to no processes and procedures in place. Before the acquisition, Better Butter had never closed the books at the end of each month, so Ken needed to quickly get in place some month-end close processes and account reconciliations. Ken’s team was very lean and he needed to hire someone that could quickly join the team to assist without having to hire someone full-time for a short-term role. 

SOLUTION

Ken Bayne reached out to Amplēo for help with these short-term projects. One of Amplēo’s consultants quickly assisted with organizing month-end close processes, building a cash flow forecast, and training the staff on how to use it.  Amplēo also assisted in building a new chart of accounts in QuickBooks, providing ongoing feedback to the staff, and keeping things moving along while Ken focused on the big picture. Ken said, “The things Amplēo helped me with were things I could have done myself, but I didn’t have time for. Having Amplēo as a resource that I could turn on and turn off in 6 months was really valuable and super helpful.”

CONTINUED SUCCESS

Amplēo’s ability to quickly deliver an experienced consultant to assist in these projects allowed Ken to focus his time on staffing a high-performing team and establishing the fundamental building blocks of a best practice-driven financial organization. Ken said, “Without Amplēo’s help, I’m sure we would have eventually gotten everything done, but we wouldn’t have been as far along as we are now.” As the company grows, implementing robust and scalable processes and platforms is important to the success of the company. Furthering the private equity owners’ goals, Ken’s goal is to build a financial organization that delivers timely and accurate financial information and enhances the value of the company.

QUOTES

“It was so helpful to have high-quality, part-time talent available to us through Amplēo.”

– Ken Bayne, CFO at Better Butter

“If you are looking to hire Amplēo, make sure you first know what you want from them. You are hiring premium people at a premium price and you will want to hit the ground running instead of running in circles. Utilize them and get the most out of them.”

– Ken Bayne, CFO at Better Butter

“Knowing I had a resource like Amplēo that I could turn on and turn off in 6 months was really valuable. You are not paying a cheap price but you will get a lot of value out of them. Amplēo gave us the opportunity to get things done quicker.”

– Ken Bayne, CFO at Better Butter