Leonard Shawn Kelly
Father of three. Civil Structural Designer by day. Founder building a hospitality brand
Founder @ Drunk Baker LLC · Houston, Texas, US
About Leonard
Shawn Kelly is a Senior Principal Civil/Structural Designer with 25 years of experience in drafting and design, and a founder who has been building in parallel for years. Early in 2021 he launched Drunk Baker, a dessert brand rooted in a family rum cake recipe, and grew it into a sell-out operation with thirty-plus flavors and a loyal customer base built entirely through markets, events, and word of mouth.
What started as a cake brand, Shawn always saw as something larger. Drunk Baker Taphouse and Grubbery is the next chapter, an all-day hospitality concept planned for historic downtown Conroe, Texas, combining a morning and lunch cafe, evening taphouse, live music, private event room, and licensed commercial kitchen under one roof.
Shawn brings design discipline to everything he builds. Precision, systems thinking, and long-horizon planning are not just professional habits. They are how he approaches entrepreneurship and the businesses he is building for the long term.
He is also a published author, a father of three children who are watching him build something real, and a founder who believes the best businesses are built for the next generation, not just the next quarter.
Company
Drunk Baker Operations LLC
drunkbakerllc.com/taphouse
Drunk Baker Operations LLC is the operating entity behind Drunk Baker Taphouse and Grubbery, an all-day hospitality concept launching in historic downtown Conroe, Texas. The concept combines a morning and lunch cafe, evening taphouse, live music venue, private event room, and licensed commercial kitchen under one roof, serving captive daily foot traffic from the Montgomery County Courthouse and surrounding downtown district.
The first location is not just a restaurant. It is the proof of concept for a scalable, franchiseable brand family built on a simple but underserved idea: hospitality should feel like something again. Drunk Baker Taphouse and Grubbery holds the exclusive franchise rights to the Taphouse and Grubbery concepts, with a franchise subsidiary structure ready to activate when the first location validates the model.
The parent brand, Drunk Baker LLC, has operated since 2021 with consistent sell-out results, thirty-plus product flavors, and a loyal customer base built entirely through markets, events, and word of mouth. A licensed commercial kitchen at the Conroe location unlocks every revenue channel currently unavailable under Texas Cottage Food law, including shipping, wholesale, third-party delivery, catering, and subscription programs.
Investors in Drunk Baker Operations LLC are not buying into a single location. They are buying into the ground floor of a franchise brand with a proven parent, a turnkey asset, and a founder who has been building toward this for years.
Funding Stage
Pre-Seed
Funding Raised
None/Bootstrapped
Team Size
1-5 employees
Annual Revenue
$0 to $100k
Location
Conroe, TX, USA
Founded
2026
Industry
Food
Skills
Civil/Structural Design
Possesses 25 years of experience in civil and structural drafting and design.
Drafting
Skilled in technical drafting with 25 years of experience.
Business Growth
Scaled Drunk Baker into a highly successful, sell-out operation with a loyal customer base.
Design
Extensive experience in design, applying precision and systems thinking to various projects.
Precision
Approaches work and entrepreneurship with a high degree of precision.
Strategic Planning
Engages in long-horizon planning for sustainable business development.
Founder
Successfully founded and grew a dessert brand while also planning a new hospitality concept.
Systems Thinking
Utilizes a systems thinking approach in professional habits and entrepreneurial ventures.
Design Thinking
Applies disciplined design principles to all entrepreneurial and business endeavors.
Grassroots Marketing
Drove customer acquisition for Drunk Baker primarily through markets, events, and word-of-mouth strategies.
Entrepreneurship
Actively building and launching businesses with a long-term vision.
Startup Launch
Successfully launched Drunk Baker, a dessert brand, in early 2021.
Long-Term Vision
Focuses on building sustainable businesses with a vision for future generations.
Product Line Expansion
Expanded Drunk Baker's product offering to include more than thirty distinct flavors.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Successfully leveraged word-of-mouth to build a strong and loyal customer base.
Business Planning
Developed comprehensive plans for a multi-faceted hospitality concept, Drunk Baker Taphouse and Grubbery.
Event Marketing
Experienced in marketing and selling products directly to customers at various markets and events.
Parallel Entrepreneurship
Demonstrates the ability to manage a full-time career while simultaneously building a startup.
Customer Relationship Management
Cultivated a loyal customer base for Drunk Baker through direct engagement at markets and events.
Recipe Development
Developed and expanded a family rum cake recipe into over thirty unique flavors for a commercial brand.
Hospitality Industry
Developing an extensive hospitality concept combining a cafe, taphouse, and event space.
Food & Beverage Industry
Gained experience in the food and beverage sector through the creation and growth of Drunk Baker.
Parenting
Manages responsibilities as a father of three children.
Hospitality Management
Managing the development of an all-day hospitality concept including a cafe, taphouse, and event space.
Published Author
Has achieved the distinction of being a published author.
Local Market Knowledge - Conroe, TX
Familiar with the local market and planning within historic downtown Conroe, Texas.
Commercial Kitchen Operations
Planning and managing a licensed commercial kitchen for food preparation.
Taphouse Management
Planning and managing a taphouse operation within a hospitality venue.
Cafe Operations
Planning and operating a cafe as part of a larger hospitality concept.
Event Space Management
Designing and planning a private event room for various functions.
Live Entertainment Management
Integrating live music events into a hospitality concept.
Experience
job
Senior Principal Civil/Structural Designer
McDermott Inc
I support offshore and subsea projects through structural design, 3D modeling, and detailed subsea mapping deliverables for complex energy infrastructure. Over the past year I trained directly with Autodesk to deepen my expertise in Civil 3D and led a global initiative to implement Civil 3D standardization across all regional McDermott subsea mapping operations.
Led a global Civil 3D implementation initiative across all McDermott regions, standardizing subsea mapping workflows and increasing mapping drawing production efficiency by at least 5x, reducing turnaround time while improving consistency and quality control across deliverables worldwide.
startup-founder
Founder
Drunk Baker
Launched and managed Drunk Baker, a dessert brand rooted in a family rum cake recipe, expanding its product line and operational capabilities.
Grew Drunk Baker into a sell-out operation with thirty-plus flavors and a loyal customer base built entirely through markets, events, and word of mouth, demonstrating significant entrepreneurial and market growth skills.
startup-founder
Founder & Visionary
Drunk Baker Taphouse and Grubbery
Planning and developing an all-day hospitality concept in historic downtown Conroe, Texas, combining a morning/lunch cafe, evening taphouse, live music, private event room, and licensed commercial kitchen.
Conceived and is actively developing the next chapter for Drunk Baker, expanding into a multi-faceted hospitality venue.
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