Robbie Werner and Tina Howard
Robbie Werner and Tina Howard
The ownership of one of the pillars of Magnolia Avenue, Stir Crazy Baked Goods, is changing hands.
In what amounts to a turnkey transfer, Stir Crazy Baked Goods’ founder and owner, Robbie Werner, will be handing the business over to her friend and fellow Near Southside business owner, Tina Howard.
According to Werner, Howard — who our readers might know as both the owner of Leaves Book and Tea Shop and writer of the magazine’s monthly “Read This” column — brings a sharp business acumen, devotion to the community, and a new perspective to the thriving bakery.
“She’s such a visionary for Fort Worth,” Werner says of Howard. “And I love what she’s done with Leaves. I think watching her grow both businesses simultaneously is going to be fun.”
Despite the new ownership, both Howard and Werner have assured Fort Worth Magazine and the two businesses’ legion of devoted pastry eaters and tea drinkers, that, as of now, little will change with the two shops.
“There are so many things at the heart and soul of Stir Crazy that I really love, and that’s what makes it Stir Crazy,” Howard says. “So, there won’t be any immediate changes. We’re planning on keeping the businesses separate, and we’re not coming in to fundamentally change Stir Crazy.”
While the delicious cupcakes and distinct signage will no doubt remain, that’s not to say things might not eventually change a little. According to both Werner and Howard, one of the key reasons Werner wanted Howard to take over the business (Howard says Werner asked her straight up in January if she’d like to own a bakery) was because she thought, in Howard’s hands, the decade-old business could not only continue to prosper but grow, too.
“I see potential for where it could go and what it could be,” Howard says. “It’s more, like, ‘Hey, what’s the next level of this?’ Whether it’s product offerings or community events and spaces, I’m still brainstorming. Obviously, there’s some real synergy between Leaves and Stir Crazy that could be had, but I’m still working out what that might look like.”
While this news might come as a surprise to some, the two have been working out the details of this change in ownership since January. The change is also coming on the heels of the bakery’s most successful year to date. This, despite widespread restaurant closings.
“It was important for me to pass along the bakery when it was at its best moment,” Werner says. “Now it’s just creating a new potential, and that’s why Tina’s the best.”
For her part, Howard, who has a master’s in management from University of Texas at Dallas and opened Leaves Book and Tea Shop in January 2016, looks forward to bringing her pedigree of success to Stir Crazy.
“I always felt like if there was the right opportunity to continue our vision, even if it wasn’t our exact product, that we would consider those options.”
With Howard taking the helm, people may wonder why Werner, who’s grown the business from its roots as a start-up on South Main to its iconic status on Magnolia Avenue, is leaving the business. Werner credits a course she took via Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Program with spearheading her decision. In the program, they outline all the ways one can grow as well as ways to make an exit strategy.
“I found myself on that line: Do I grow this and continue it myself, or do I let someone take the reins and work myself out of it and let someone else control the next chapter?
“What I decided for myself and my family is that I do have a lot more to give,” Werner says. “I just don’t know exactly what that is yet, and I need more time and space to figure that out. But I’ve contributed as much as I know how to the bakery, and I feel like it takes a new perspective and fresh eyes and a new energy to see beyond what I’ve created to help it to grow.”
Werner compares leaving the business to seeing her daughter move the dormitories at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2020. Sometimes, you just have to know when it’s the right time to let go in order to allow someone (or something) flourish.
“It’s difficult,” Werner says. “But, more than that, it’s exciting to watch what we’ve built grow into something new.”
