We've been where you are — sketching floor plans at midnight, wrestling with decisions that feel impossible, and holding onto a vision that only you can fully see. We know the excitement, the self-doubt, and the profound magic of watching it all finally come together. And because we've built it ourselves, we know exactly what it takes to help you do the same.
Erin didn't start with a consulting company. She started with a dream — vaulted ceilings, soft light, a place where couples could exhale and feel taken care of from the moment they arrived to the moment they left.
In 2019, she made it real. Working hand-in-hand with architects, builders, and craftspeople, Erin designed and built Little Lights on the Lane — a modern venue in Iowa that opened to immediate success. And then, almost immediately, the real education began.
Running the business taught her what building it never could. She learned how to construct systems that scale, how to build a team that performs under pressure, and how to navigate the kind of unknowns that no business plan anticipates. She launched during a global pandemic, figured it out anyway, and came out the other side with something most venue owners spend years searching for: a model that actually works.
Today, Little Lights hosts more than 60 weddings and events each year. It runs its own in-house bar program. Nearly half of its couples book coordination services. It's not just a beautiful space — it's a thriving, sustainable business.
That success didn't stay quiet for long.
Other owners started asking questions — not just venue owners, but restaurateurs, innkeepers, and hospitality entrepreneurs of all kinds who recognized the same challenges in their own businesses. How do you build a space that works as hard as it looks? How do you create systems that hold up under pressure? How do you turn a passion project into a business that lasts? So Erin started sharing. What began as conversations between peers grew into something bigger: a collective of people who had each built real expertise across every layer of the hospitality industry, and who believed that knowledge was most valuable when it was passed on.
That's how Kindling & Crew was born.
Today, we work with a wide range of hospitality businesses.
Event venues, restaurants, boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts, glamping properties, and mixed-use spaces that blend several of these under one roof. The details differ, but the fundamentals don't. Every great hospitality business is built on the same foundation: intentional design, strong operations, a clear brand, and a team that knows how to deliver an exceptional guest experience consistently.
We're a team of designers, strategists, operators, and hospitality owners — each of us with deep, hands-on experience in the work we advise on. We've opened venues, built bar programs, developed coordination teams, created financial models, and crafted brands from the ground up. We don't theorize about what good looks like. We've done it, measured it, and refined it.
We're not architects or contractors. We're the people who fill the space in between — collaborating with your building team, shaping your vision, refining your plans, and building the brand, systems, and experience that make everything work together.
We know what it takes to open a hospitality business. We know what it takes to keep one running. And we know the difference between a space that looks good and one that sustains a business, a team, and a dream.
We've walked this path. Now we walk it with you.
Construction at Little Lights on the Lane, 2019