Tea Shop Case Study

Starting a business in a failing economy can be tough, especially for a small business. Donna Lauinger has been a CPA (certified public accountant) for the past 30 years. She graduated from Oakland University with a Masters in Accounting. She has had many different jobs titles as an accountant. She has worked at several accounting firms, big and small, been a controller for many different companies, including restaurants and a docking company. In 2008 she decided to start a new venture and add owner to her resume. Donna and a friend (Skip), decided to start a new company, Tea Buds Brewing Company. Skip, was the owner of Paradise Café and Bakery, where Donna was the controller. They had become great friends and learned to work really well together. After, Skip sold that company, he and …show more content…
After much thought and deliberation they had come to the conclusion to start tea shop in the Art District of Carmel, IN. Donna was considered the “brains” of the company, running the day to day, and Skip was more the money, although Donna did place a pretty large sum to contribute to the finances. When Donna was describing why they decided to start a tea shop, I noticed how excited she was talking about this past endeavor. She is an avid tea drinker and believes that tea can literally cure anything, “Tea is the common day medicine!” Coming from the medical field, I don’t know how much I believe this, but it was exhilarating just listening to her talk with such joy and excitement about this journey. Having a successful business is something that every first time owner dreams of having, but they all face struggles and challenges, ups and downs, at some time or another. She went on to mention some of the struggles that they faced, being a small business. When they first opened, they noticed that they had a big inventory and a high clientele, which was