The Mac & Cheese Millionaire: Building a Better Business by Thinking Outside the Box

by Erin Wade

Overview

A captivating tale about what it takes as a small business owner to build a meaningful company from the ground up, falling in love with your work along the way

In The Mac & Cheese Millionaire: Building a Better Business by Thinking Outside the Box, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and culinary innovator Erin Wade shares her inspiring and often hilarious journey of leaving her corporate lawyer job to open a hit mac and cheese restaurant, taking you through the challenges and victories that paved her path to success. By sharing the lessons that helped her sell millions of dollars in cheesy carbs, she delivers the tools you need to create change and surpass all your expectations.

This book isn't just a personal narrative; it's a masterclass in redefining what it means to love your work. Because while her journey started out of a love of mac and cheese, Wade found that what she ultimately fell in love with—was business. What follows is the story of starting a small business, all of the ensuing trials and tribulations, and ultimately building a unique, feminist work culture that helped transform the restaurant industry.

You'll also find:

• Funny and inspiring personal anecdotes that illustrate the power of tapping into your own singular brand of leadership
• Strategies for creating a one-of-a-kind work culture based on greater meaning, purpose, and connection
• Tools to embrace a feminine leadership style that offer an enduring competitive advantage to entrepreneurs

With leadership takeaways for businesses of all sizes, The Mac & Cheese Millionaire is an essential read for small business owners, professional women, aspiring entrepreneurs, and, of course, comfort food-lovers. Wade's story demonstrates how blending passion, innovation, and a bit of culinary magic can lead to unparalleled success. Whether you're dreaming of launching your own venture or seeking to infuse your current role with more meaning and joy, let this book be your guide to transforming your professional life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781394264438
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	72,999
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Erin Wade is a bestselling author, chef, and entrepreneur. Erin founded Homeroom, a hit mac and cheese restaurant in Oakland, California. She authored The Mac + Cheese Cookbook, as well as a viral op-ed in The Washington Post about her restaurant’s solution to sexual harassment. Erin’s work improving business culture has also been covered in Forbes and The New York Times.

Learn more at ErinWade.co

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Passion: The Best Fuel Out There, Other Than Chocolate 1

Chapter 2 Failure: The Shittiest Part of Finding Success 7

Chapter 3 Termination: Why Being “Let Go” Is the Best Euphemism Ever for Losing Your Job 13

Chapter 4 Dreams: Sometimes Scary, Always Interesting 21

Chapter 5 Apprenticeship: Fake It Till You Make It 27

Chapter 6 Working: Career, Job, or Hellscape? 33

Chapter 7 Detours: The Hallmark of a Worthwhile Career or Memorable Vacation 43

Chapter 8 Startup: The First Wobbly Steps of a Baby Business 53

Chapter 9 Luck: So Important It’s Unsettling 61

Chapter 10 Perseverance: Why Grit Matters More Than Wit 69

Chapter 11 Hiring: The Eerie Resemblance Between Hiring and Dating 79

Chapter 12 Rulemaking: On Trying Not to Become Your Parents 89

Chapter 13 Mission: The Only Good Reason to Change out of Soft Pants in the Morning 99

Chapter 14 Training: Why the Best Instruction Resembles a Coloring Book 107

Chapter 15 Culture: The Centerpiece of Great Workplaces and Dairy Products 115

Chapter 16 Discipline: On Spanking, Cages, and All the Weird Ways We Punish People 125

Chapter 17 Goals: Not Just for Motivational Posters 137

Chapter 18 Teamwork: It Really Does Make the Dream Work 147

Chapter 19 Transparency: Essential for the Performance of Companies and Windshields 157

Chapter 20 Collaboration: Because Ten Minds Are (Usually) Better Than One 167

Chapter 21 Iteration: Aka Failing Upward 179

Chapter 22 Impact: Kicking Ass and Taking Names 191

Chapter 23 Power: How to Have More of It in One Easy(ish) Step 199

Chapter 24 Purpose: Like Coffee, Without the Crash 209

Chapter 25 Meaning: As Fulfilling as Mac and Cheese 219

Epilogue Mac & Cheese Millionaire 225

Acknowledgments 229

About the Author 233

Index 235

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The Mac & Cheese Millionaire will take you on a journey fueled by determination, compassion, and purpose. Transforming lives through comfort food and elbowing her way into people’s hearts, Erin’s story is sure to inspire anyone who dreams of making a difference."
—Danny Meyer, author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

“One of the most wise and funny management books ever written. The Mac & Cheese Millionaire is a beautiful blend of Erin Wade’s rollicking no-bullshit memoir and her hard won and relentlessly useful lessons for building a humane and profitable business.”
—Robert I. Sutton, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and New York Times bestselling author of The No Asshole Rule, Good Boss, Bad Boss, and The Friction Project

“A delightful memoir that doubles as a management and career guide for the modern era, The Mac & Cheese Millionaire offers both humor and wisdom. Erin Wade shares her remarkably adventurous life experiences and along the way decodes how to build a better company and a better relationship with work.”
—Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School and author, Right Kind of Wrong and The Fearless Organization

“In transforming herself from high-priced corporate lawyer to mac and cheese queen, Erin Wade made an unexpected discovery: she loved business as much as her favorite dish. What’s more, she turned out to be equally skilled at both—so skilled that one of her techniques was adopted as the national standard by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and she wound up selling her restaurant for millions of dollars. Read this book to share the joy of her journey, even if you don’t love mac and cheese.”
—Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants and Finish Big

“Any small business owner will find Erin’s thoughtful experiment—in creating a job she could love by opening a restaurant—a joy to read. The Mac & Cheese Millionaire makes a formidable case for disrupting traditional models of power in the workplace and incorporating the unique values of collective success. Post pandemic, with work force stability and satisfaction at an all-time low, Erin’s story could not be more timely or useful.”
—Mary Sue Milliken, Author, Activist, and Chef-Owner of the Mundo Hospitality Group

“The Mac & Cheese Millionaire captures the true spirit of entrepreneurship—the wild, gritty, sometimes lonely but ultimately creative act of starting something new. It's about problem solving and refusing to take the status quo as a given. A compelling read for anyone looking for their own path to defining success.”
—Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner at Floodgate and named the “Most Powerful Woman in Startups” by Forbes