May 27, 2021 • 24 mins
Who doesn’t love cookie dough? Kristen Tomlan found a way to turn a guilty pleasure into a safe, versatile treat. Learn how she overcame a devastating health challenge to build a thriving, nationwide business.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Sharon Bowen,
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. When a
little shop called Dough opening Greenwich Village in early two
thousand seventeen, the lines stretched down the block and people
waited literally for hours. What was this magic product? They
were selling? Cookie dough, edible cookie dough sold in scoops
(00:48):
and ice cream style cups and more than a dozen flavors.
The woman behind the scoops is Kristin Tomlin, who was
only twenty eight when Dough launched. We're gonna learn from
her how she came up with the concept for dough
and made it into a thriving nationwide business that's been
featured everywhere from People magazine to Forth to Vogue. Please
(01:11):
enjoy my conversation with Doe founder Christian Tomlin. Good morning, Kristen,
Good morning. You're the founder of Dough spelled d O.
Describe it's the world's first edible cookie Dough Confectionery. Explain
a little bit more. Tell us what does dough actually
(01:33):
do and sell? So we specialize in all things cookie dough.
We happen to sell primarily cookie dough that is edible
and safe to eat, straight from the mixing bowl and
baker bowl, so you can stick it in your oven
and make delicious cookies. And then we I run a
physical bakery in New York City where we serve cookie
(01:56):
dough as our number one product, and then we also
sell on line and lots of other venues. But at
the end of the day, what we're doing with dough
is for me, it's all about spreading joy. We just
happened to be doing it through dessert. So then for
many of us, dough is all about the thrill of
being a child and sneaking cookie dough. What is that
(02:19):
of hill? Yes, so I have always loved cookie dough.
It's been my guilty pleasure since I was a young
child baking in the kitchen with my mom, and there
wasn't anything on the market that was safe to eat
and bakeable, and so I essentially had to create my
own brand and my own product. And really what I
(02:40):
was doing when I was creating, it was allowing myself
to eat it how I want it, and therefore giving
our customers the ability to eat it however they wanted.
So my favorite way is, of course, straight from the
mixing bowl. But you know, my dad likes to mix
it in with ice cream, My brother likes it fresh
from the oven, my husband likes a combination of both.
And at you get to choose to eat cookie out
(03:02):
however you want it and not be worried about, you know,
getting sick and then no nos of not being able
to sneak cookie dough straight from the mixing bowl like
you would with traditional cookie dough. I remember those days
for sure. But before we get too far ahead, I
want to take you back to your early days. You
were a design major in college wood Road, did that
(03:24):
play and eventually leading you to found Dough. Did you
always want to be an entrepreneur or did you have
other aspirations? So I don't know that when I was
growing up, I really knew what being an entrepreneur was.
What I knew was that I always had this creativity
and always love just creating, And so my path to
(03:48):
how I started dough. I went to school for design
interior design, to be specific, and that path followed me
to New York City. And when I worked in New
York City, I really I was working for a branding consultancy,
so I wasn't even necessarily doing traditional interior design. I
(04:10):
was doing more branding and I was doing experience design,
so physical retail locations and branded customer experiences, and that
really was what I fell in love what with, and
that is what ultimately get got me started with Dough.
So I the idea came about because I was with
a bunch of girlfriends. We went to this cookie shop
(04:33):
and instead of buying anything that was baked, we left
this shop with a tub of cookie down and we
sat in the car passed it around. And that was
the moment for me that I thought, why is this
not a thing? And then I really just used that
design experience, so the designing the logo, designing the brand,
and designing the store experience that otherwise didn't exist. So
(04:55):
without that design background, I I don't even know if
I would have ever started dough because it gave me
such a great base for what I do today and
what I learned in school and design school. It's all
about problem solving and that really helped me as an
entrepreneur kind of navigate all of the problems that we're
going to come up over the years. And you know,
(05:17):
this was my first business. I was young when I started,
and as many entrepours entrepreneurs, no, you just figure it
out as you go and it's problem solving every single
step of the way. That's really great, great background. I
do know though, you you have a life threatening illness
while you were planning to launch dough and you wrote
your business plan while you were recovering. Can you tell
(05:40):
us a little bit about that episode in your life. Yeah, Um,
so I started on the business plan at the beginning
of two thousand fourteen, and my husband and I were,
you know, sitting down nights and weekends trying to get
this business plan together. And we got to the point
where we were going to be having financial conversations and
(06:02):
trying to figure out how we were going to fund
this business. Because we were young, we didn't have a
lot of money. We both were still working full time,
so we were just kind of figuring it out. And
it also happened to be just a couple of months
before our summer wedding in two thousand fourteen, and so
I said, you know what, I'm going to put this
business plan down for a second, and I'm going to
just concentrate on the wedding, and after the honeymoon we
(06:24):
can go ahead and pick it back up. And it's
that's exactly when I ended up getting sick. I was
right before my wedding. I was diagnosed with a condition
called Stephen Johnson Syndrome or TENS, and it was an
allergic reaction to an antibiotic that I was prescribed. And
the way that this allergic reaction happens, it's not anaphylactic
(06:46):
where you're you know, throw rope closes. It's actually um
like a chemical burn from the inside out. So it's
a very scary thing. It's very rare condition, and so
it took a lot of um trying to figure out
what was happening. But I ended up in the burn.
I see you in New York City for twenty one
days and on essentially on life support, on a ventilator
(07:08):
for twelve of those days, just really fighting for my life.
And at the time, my my world was turned upside down.
I mean I was, you know, writing this business plan,
working full time, training for the New York Marathon, anticipating
my wedding, and all of that came to a halt,
and really, as I recovered, luckily, I was um I
(07:29):
it was a difficult recovery, but the thing that got
me through it really was picking back up where I
left off on that business plan. I was really lost
and searching for a way to get my mind off
of the difficult recovery, and I had time on my
hands because I wasn't able to go back to work
full time, and so I found myself back in the
(07:50):
kitchen doing what I loved, and that was making cookie
dough and trying recipes and working on the design of
the store experience. And it was a really great distraction
during a very difficult time in my life. And ultimately
it really just changed my perspective about life in general.
I thought, you know, what do I have to lose?
(08:10):
I almost just lost my life, and you just really
really reevaluate all of the priorities when you go through
something traumatic like that, and for me, I just really
wanted to follow this dream and this passion and this
thing I was working on, and I think it really
propelled me to launch Dough, maybe even quicker than I
(08:30):
thought and in a different way. So when the business
plan was all focused around this store experience, but I
just wasn't going to be able to open up the
store from a financial perspective or from a physical perspective
because of this recovery. And I thought, you know what,
let me just change the path and let me try
to launch it online first and see what the responses
(08:52):
and really kind of dip my toes into running a
business that way. And I think it was the best
decision and that I could have made for the business.
It really allowed me to dive in and still really
understand what I was doing before I put up all
of this money and all this risk with opening up
the store. My dream was always the store, and we
(09:13):
eventually opened up in two thousand and seventeen. But I
launched the business online and learned so much about our
customers and our product, and that I think helped us
be successful ultimately because we started small and um, you know,
grew organically. Well. First, let me say just you're a
deal with sounds really really scary. Um they can't even
(09:35):
imagine what you were going through, but it's clear that
you are resilient, strong woman, in that respect, and I'm
glad that was part of that recovery for you as well.
We'll be back with Seneca's Made by Women after this
short break. It was the online initially only, and now
(10:02):
I understand why that was the case. And so in
many respects, you learned the lesson that many people, you know,
sort of post covid had to learn about how to
pivot and start your business that way. But but particularly
for the entrepreneurs who are listening to us right now,
what obstacles did you run into while starting dough and
(10:22):
how did you overcome them? I think as an entrepreneur
and with anybody starting a business, there's obstacles every single day.
I mean for me, there there wasn't another business that
was like Dough that I could look to and say, oh,
they did it and it was successful and we can
follow a similar path or look at their business plan
or their strategy, because this doesn't didn't exist otherwise. You know,
(10:46):
we we weren't in ice creams shop, we weren't a
traditional bakery. I wasn't sure if people were going to
buy our cookie dough, if they would be able to
get over this stigma of oh cookie dough is not
good for you. You could get sick. So I feel
like the first major obstacle that I had was just
overcoming that education piece and making sure that we were
(11:08):
communicating correctly to our audience and making them aware that
our cook you do is completely safe to eat and
the versatility of the product is that you get to
eat it however you want. You can, you know, from
the mixing bowl or from the oven. And I feel
like that was definitely the first big hurdle, and then
after that, I mean, honestly, there are hurdles every single day.
(11:29):
As any entrepreneur knows, as you grow your business, there's
no playbook that you follow. You really have to go
with your gut and UM. For me, the way that
I built my business and the way that worked for
me was doing it organically and really um listening to
our customers and learning what they wanted and what resonated
with them. And I think you can do that. You
(11:51):
can really test the product and see what's working if
you do it at a smaller scale in the beginning. YEA,
And after you went through you know that the pain
of getting started and some of those difficulties, what was
your first big break as a company. So I think
the first big break was probably around Valentine's Day of
(12:14):
two thousand and fifteen. It was just a few weeks
after we launched, and I was approached by two different
media outlets, Refinery nine and Cosmopolitan, and both of them
were just fascinated with this concept, in this idea. And
at this point the business had taken off in some
(12:35):
small way. I mean it was certainly still tiny, but um,
the word was kind of getting around and I didn't
have any money for traditional advertising or marketing and really
just used uh, social media and the word of mouth
marketing and asking people to kind of spread the word
if they liked the product. And when they approached me
(12:56):
and wanted to write about Dough, that was the first
moment I was like, oh my gosh, this could be
something um. And they wrote about us right before Valentine's
Day in two thousand and fifteen, and the orders started
coming in by the dozen, And I feel like that
was really the first big break um for me to
(13:17):
just be able to get the word out about the
business and have really understand the power of good pr
great Timmy, Yeah, it was you know, I forgot d
ask you earlier. We mentioned Valentine's Day and when you're
telling us about your early days and recovering from your illness,
you eventually got married, right I did. Yeah, found time
to do that too, write I got married. Um. Yeah.
(13:39):
We actually kept our original wedding date and that was
something for me that was a good goal to look
forward to as I was recovering, because it was just
like just you know, get to the wedding, be able
to walk down the aisle. I'll be able to wear
this wedding dress. Um. And it was a really great
celebration when that day came, because I, um, you know,
(13:59):
it was huge milestone for me personally, but it was
also just a great way to celebrate the resiliency and
the ability to that you know, life is going to
go on and I was going to be Okay. That's great.
It beat a reference little bit earlier to Covid and
how that affected so many particularly small businesses. How did
(14:22):
Covid affect those business and how did you pivot to
meet those challenges. Yeah. So originally, even though we started
out as an online business and we were shipping nationwide
from the very beginning, over the course of the many
years in business, as we opened up our flagship retail
location and many other pop ups. Our retail business really
(14:46):
became the where a majority of our revenue came from.
So this is pre covid. UM. So when COVID hit,
it was a really UM it was difficult for us
because we you were primarily a retail business, but luckily
we had this online presence and for me, we pivoted
(15:06):
very quickly and I said, you know what, if our
customers are not able to come to us, they're not
able to come visit New York because of the travel
restrictions and our store was shut down for a long
period of time. UM, I wanted to still reach them
and if they were at home, then we were going
to introduce new products that would continue to make them smile,
(15:28):
that would engage their kids who are stuck at home.
We launched virtual classes. We really focused the business back
on our director consumer um offering because you know, again
that's where our customer work was, and that's really what
what was working for us at the time. And during
the beginning of covid it very much felt in this
(15:49):
weird way, um, like the beginning days of when I started.
I mean, there was everything was just we were so
unsure about it all that I was back in the
kitchen working long hours with the team. Um and you know,
prior to that, I hadn't necessarily been back in the
kitchen in that way and packing shipments and receiving deliveries.
(16:09):
We just were working with such a small team and
bare bones and just you know, trying to make it
work and see what really was going to happen with COVID.
That it brought me back to those early days and
there were so many things that were just reminiscent about um,
you know, rolling up my sleeves and and getting my
hands dirty. And it was of course a difficult time,
(16:31):
but ultimately we saw over an eight percent growth in
our direct to consumer business, which was amazing over the
past year and definitely the silver lining of of COVID
to know that. You know, as I mentioned in the beginning,
our our mission is to spread spread joy and allow
people to smile. And I think especially during uncertain times
(16:52):
and times when people aren't able to gather and celebrate
and the way that they normally would, having the ability
to send something we to brighten someone's day or have
them celebrate their birthday, even if they're doing it at
home alone really goes a far away, and that's really
what our concentration was with UM making sure that we
(17:12):
were going to make it through COVID and we were
continuing on this mission to provide happiness to people, and
we all needed a lot of happiness of the last
year and a half. Yeah, definitely, So thank you for
bringing joy to all of us. Yeah, of course. So
you know, another unique thing about dough is your emphasis
(17:33):
on charitable giving and partnering with hunger relief organizations. UM.
Can you tell us a little bit about these efforts
and why they are important for your business model. Yeah,
I think from the very beginning, it's always been important
to me to give back in whatever way it makes sense.
And when I have a food business, one primarily based
in New York City, UM, where the food and security
(17:58):
is so prevalent, it was important for me to get
involved with organizations that do good things and whatever way
made sense for us. So we've partnered with No Cold
Hungary through the New York City One and Food Festival
for many years, you know, raising money, and I'm set
on the culinary console of the Food Bank of New
York City working on a number of different initiatives for them,
(18:21):
and we also are very involved in Ronald McDonald House charities,
particularly the New York City House, which is the largest
house in their network. And again it's just for me
the way that we can spread joy, spread happiness, make
people um smile despite what they're going through. And it's
(18:42):
been a very important part of our business from the beginning,
and it's something that we make sure that our efforts
are concentrated on, concentrated on every single quarter about making
sure that we give back to organizations and then also
volunteer at organizations as a whole team. It's an important
part of the culture at dob Well. That's really so
(19:03):
important to give back and thank you for being such
a great role model that way. Tell us, you know,
what have you learned that you wish someone had shared
with you about starting your own company? So I think that,
oh my gosh, I've learned so much over the years,
but I wish that I would have known in the beginning,
(19:25):
and guess would have told myself to really um trust
my intuition and trust my gut and I have many
times over the years. But I think as an entrepreneur
and not knowing exactly what you're doing. Uh, you question
every single step of of the plan. And I would
say to people that are starting out of business, has
(19:47):
confidence in yourself and your ideas. You know, you're the
only one that knows your vision for the company and
what you're trying to do, and so really, you know,
go for it, dig in, d get your hands dirty,
try lots of things, and um, Ultimately, I think if
you're following your gut and you're following this passion that
(20:09):
you have inside, I imagine that you're going to be
successful in some way or another. And I think over
the years, for me, it's I wish I would have
questioned the question that my judgment less, because the times
that I did just trust my gut and follow um
what I really felt was right, that's when things ended
(20:30):
up working out really well. That's great advice for someone
starting their own company. Tell me, is there any one
question that you wished I had asked you today that
you'd like to tell us? Oh? Um, I would love
to just talk a little bit about kind of all
of the offerings at does SO. I know I talked
about how we sell cookie dough, yes, but um, we
(20:53):
have all of these different facets of the business where
that we've expanded over the years. UM. I wrote a
cookbook in two thousand nine team called Hello Cookie Dough,
and for me that was a way to kind of
continue to expand our offerings and UM reach more people.
And I think people were always um when when they
heard I was writing a cookbook and going to be
(21:14):
sharing these hundred and ten different recipes about how to
make edible cookie do at home. People really questioned that
judgment and thought, you know, are you going to give
away your secrets? Why are you putting your recipes out there?
And for me, it was I learned how to bake
in my parents kitchen and that's where I found, UM,
(21:35):
you know, the ability to explore and to learn, and
that's where that passion really started. And I recognize that
not all of our customers can come to New York
and visit or can't ship our product nationwide, but I
bet that they can go to their local grocery store
and get these ingredients and follow a recipe and be
inspired hopefully by this story of how I had this
(21:57):
idea and started with nothing, was able to build this
and in this business, and so writing the cookbook for
me was certainly just an amazing way to connect with
more people and hopefully inspire more people to do what
to find their passion and then follow their passion, so that,
(22:17):
I think is um One of the one of my
proudest moments is just publishing my cookbook. Hello Coopido. That's great,
and it sounds like you took the advice you gave
our entrepreneurs. You follow your good you follow your passion,
and and it sounds like that's a great recipe for success. Yes, absolutely,
(22:42):
what a fascinating and dramatic journey. You're Three things I
took from my conversation with Kristin Tomin. First, there are
many paths to be in an entrepreneur, and whatever your
experience is, you can use it to build your business.
Christians background was in design. To her, that translates into
(23:04):
problem solving skills. As Christen says, when you're an entrepreneur
is a problem solving every step of the way. Second,
sometimes you just have to throw out your plans and
we draw them. Christians suffered a life threatening illness just
before dough launched. It gave her a new perspective. She
(23:25):
launched more quickly than had been planned. Her attitude was
go for it, when do I have to lose? Finally
realized the value of starting small. Christian at first wanted
to launch a brick and water store, but opening an
online business first let her get her feet wet, understand
the business and her customers, and lessened her risk. Made
(23:51):
by Women is brought to you by the Seneca Women
Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding
partner P ANDNG
Welcome to Made by Women by the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and I Heart Radio. At a moment when businesses
face some of the biggest challenges in recent history, we
bring you inspiring stories, practical insights, and shared learnings to
help you successfully navigate in today's environment. I'm Sharon Bowen,
(00:26):
and thanks so much for joining us today. When a
little shop called Dough opening Greenwich Village in early two
thousand seventeen, the lines stretched down the block and people
waited literally for hours. What was this magic product? They
were selling? Cookie dough, edible cookie dough sold in scoops
(00:48):
and ice cream style cups and more than a dozen flavors.
The woman behind the scoops is Kristin Tomlin, who was
only twenty eight when Dough launched. We're gonna learn from
her how she came up with the concept for dough
and made it into a thriving nationwide business that's been
featured everywhere from People magazine to Forth to Vogue. Please
(01:11):
enjoy my conversation with Doe founder Christian Tomlin. Good morning, Kristen,
Good morning. You're the founder of Dough spelled d O.
Describe it's the world's first edible cookie Dough Confectionery. Explain
a little bit more. Tell us what does dough actually
(01:33):
do and sell? So we specialize in all things cookie dough.
We happen to sell primarily cookie dough that is edible
and safe to eat, straight from the mixing bowl and
baker bowl, so you can stick it in your oven
and make delicious cookies. And then we I run a
physical bakery in New York City where we serve cookie
(01:56):
dough as our number one product, and then we also
sell on line and lots of other venues. But at
the end of the day, what we're doing with dough
is for me, it's all about spreading joy. We just
happened to be doing it through dessert. So then for
many of us, dough is all about the thrill of
being a child and sneaking cookie dough. What is that
(02:19):
of hill? Yes, so I have always loved cookie dough.
It's been my guilty pleasure since I was a young
child baking in the kitchen with my mom, and there
wasn't anything on the market that was safe to eat
and bakeable, and so I essentially had to create my
own brand and my own product. And really what I
(02:40):
was doing when I was creating, it was allowing myself
to eat it how I want it, and therefore giving
our customers the ability to eat it however they wanted.
So my favorite way is, of course, straight from the
mixing bowl. But you know, my dad likes to mix
it in with ice cream, My brother likes it fresh
from the oven, my husband likes a combination of both.
And at you get to choose to eat cookie out
(03:02):
however you want it and not be worried about, you know,
getting sick and then no nos of not being able
to sneak cookie dough straight from the mixing bowl like
you would with traditional cookie dough. I remember those days
for sure. But before we get too far ahead, I
want to take you back to your early days. You
were a design major in college wood Road, did that
(03:24):
play and eventually leading you to found Dough. Did you
always want to be an entrepreneur or did you have
other aspirations? So I don't know that when I was
growing up, I really knew what being an entrepreneur was.
What I knew was that I always had this creativity
and always love just creating, And so my path to
(03:48):
how I started dough. I went to school for design
interior design, to be specific, and that path followed me
to New York City. And when I worked in New
York City, I really I was working for a branding consultancy,
so I wasn't even necessarily doing traditional interior design. I
(04:10):
was doing more branding and I was doing experience design,
so physical retail locations and branded customer experiences, and that
really was what I fell in love what with, and
that is what ultimately get got me started with Dough.
So I the idea came about because I was with
a bunch of girlfriends. We went to this cookie shop
(04:33):
and instead of buying anything that was baked, we left
this shop with a tub of cookie down and we
sat in the car passed it around. And that was
the moment for me that I thought, why is this
not a thing? And then I really just used that
design experience, so the designing the logo, designing the brand,
and designing the store experience that otherwise didn't exist. So
(04:55):
without that design background, I I don't even know if
I would have ever started dough because it gave me
such a great base for what I do today and
what I learned in school and design school. It's all
about problem solving and that really helped me as an
entrepreneur kind of navigate all of the problems that we're
going to come up over the years. And you know,
(05:17):
this was my first business. I was young when I started,
and as many entrepours entrepreneurs, no, you just figure it
out as you go and it's problem solving every single
step of the way. That's really great, great background. I
do know though, you you have a life threatening illness
while you were planning to launch dough and you wrote
your business plan while you were recovering. Can you tell
(05:40):
us a little bit about that episode in your life. Yeah, Um,
so I started on the business plan at the beginning
of two thousand fourteen, and my husband and I were,
you know, sitting down nights and weekends trying to get
this business plan together. And we got to the point
where we were going to be having financial conversations and
(06:02):
trying to figure out how we were going to fund
this business. Because we were young, we didn't have a
lot of money. We both were still working full time,
so we were just kind of figuring it out. And
it also happened to be just a couple of months
before our summer wedding in two thousand fourteen, and so
I said, you know what, I'm going to put this
business plan down for a second, and I'm going to
just concentrate on the wedding, and after the honeymoon we
(06:24):
can go ahead and pick it back up. And it's
that's exactly when I ended up getting sick. I was
right before my wedding. I was diagnosed with a condition
called Stephen Johnson Syndrome or TENS, and it was an
allergic reaction to an antibiotic that I was prescribed. And
the way that this allergic reaction happens, it's not anaphylactic
(06:46):
where you're you know, throw rope closes. It's actually um
like a chemical burn from the inside out. So it's
a very scary thing. It's very rare condition, and so
it took a lot of um trying to figure out
what was happening. But I ended up in the burn.
I see you in New York City for twenty one
days and on essentially on life support, on a ventilator
(07:08):
for twelve of those days, just really fighting for my life.
And at the time, my my world was turned upside down.
I mean I was, you know, writing this business plan,
working full time, training for the New York Marathon, anticipating
my wedding, and all of that came to a halt,
and really, as I recovered, luckily, I was um I
(07:29):
it was a difficult recovery, but the thing that got
me through it really was picking back up where I
left off on that business plan. I was really lost
and searching for a way to get my mind off
of the difficult recovery, and I had time on my
hands because I wasn't able to go back to work
full time, and so I found myself back in the
(07:50):
kitchen doing what I loved, and that was making cookie
dough and trying recipes and working on the design of
the store experience. And it was a really great distraction
during a very difficult time in my life. And ultimately
it really just changed my perspective about life in general.
I thought, you know, what do I have to lose?
(08:10):
I almost just lost my life, and you just really
really reevaluate all of the priorities when you go through
something traumatic like that, and for me, I just really
wanted to follow this dream and this passion and this
thing I was working on, and I think it really
propelled me to launch Dough, maybe even quicker than I
(08:30):
thought and in a different way. So when the business
plan was all focused around this store experience, but I
just wasn't going to be able to open up the
store from a financial perspective or from a physical perspective
because of this recovery. And I thought, you know what,
let me just change the path and let me try
to launch it online first and see what the responses
(08:52):
and really kind of dip my toes into running a
business that way. And I think it was the best
decision and that I could have made for the business.
It really allowed me to dive in and still really
understand what I was doing before I put up all
of this money and all this risk with opening up
the store. My dream was always the store, and we
(09:13):
eventually opened up in two thousand and seventeen. But I
launched the business online and learned so much about our
customers and our product, and that I think helped us
be successful ultimately because we started small and um, you know,
grew organically. Well. First, let me say just you're a
deal with sounds really really scary. Um they can't even
(09:35):
imagine what you were going through, but it's clear that
you are resilient, strong woman, in that respect, and I'm
glad that was part of that recovery for you as well.
We'll be back with Seneca's Made by Women after this
short break. It was the online initially only, and now
(10:02):
I understand why that was the case. And so in
many respects, you learned the lesson that many people, you know,
sort of post covid had to learn about how to
pivot and start your business that way. But but particularly
for the entrepreneurs who are listening to us right now,
what obstacles did you run into while starting dough and
(10:22):
how did you overcome them? I think as an entrepreneur
and with anybody starting a business, there's obstacles every single day.
I mean for me, there there wasn't another business that
was like Dough that I could look to and say, oh,
they did it and it was successful and we can
follow a similar path or look at their business plan
or their strategy, because this doesn't didn't exist otherwise. You know,
(10:46):
we we weren't in ice creams shop, we weren't a
traditional bakery. I wasn't sure if people were going to
buy our cookie dough, if they would be able to
get over this stigma of oh cookie dough is not
good for you. You could get sick. So I feel
like the first major obstacle that I had was just
overcoming that education piece and making sure that we were
(11:08):
communicating correctly to our audience and making them aware that
our cook you do is completely safe to eat and
the versatility of the product is that you get to
eat it however you want. You can, you know, from
the mixing bowl or from the oven. And I feel
like that was definitely the first big hurdle, and then
after that, I mean, honestly, there are hurdles every single day.
(11:29):
As any entrepreneur knows, as you grow your business, there's
no playbook that you follow. You really have to go
with your gut and UM. For me, the way that
I built my business and the way that worked for
me was doing it organically and really um listening to
our customers and learning what they wanted and what resonated
with them. And I think you can do that. You
(11:51):
can really test the product and see what's working if
you do it at a smaller scale in the beginning. YEA,
And after you went through you know that the pain
of getting started and some of those difficulties, what was
your first big break as a company. So I think
the first big break was probably around Valentine's Day of
(12:14):
two thousand and fifteen. It was just a few weeks
after we launched, and I was approached by two different
media outlets, Refinery nine and Cosmopolitan, and both of them
were just fascinated with this concept, in this idea. And
at this point the business had taken off in some
(12:35):
small way. I mean it was certainly still tiny, but um,
the word was kind of getting around and I didn't
have any money for traditional advertising or marketing and really
just used uh, social media and the word of mouth
marketing and asking people to kind of spread the word
if they liked the product. And when they approached me
(12:56):
and wanted to write about Dough, that was the first
moment I was like, oh my gosh, this could be
something um. And they wrote about us right before Valentine's
Day in two thousand and fifteen, and the orders started
coming in by the dozen, And I feel like that
was really the first big break um for me to
(13:17):
just be able to get the word out about the
business and have really understand the power of good pr
great Timmy, Yeah, it was you know, I forgot d
ask you earlier. We mentioned Valentine's Day and when you're
telling us about your early days and recovering from your illness,
you eventually got married, right I did. Yeah, found time
to do that too, write I got married. Um. Yeah.
(13:39):
We actually kept our original wedding date and that was
something for me that was a good goal to look
forward to as I was recovering, because it was just
like just you know, get to the wedding, be able
to walk down the aisle. I'll be able to wear
this wedding dress. Um. And it was a really great
celebration when that day came, because I, um, you know,
(13:59):
it was huge milestone for me personally, but it was
also just a great way to celebrate the resiliency and
the ability to that you know, life is going to
go on and I was going to be Okay. That's great.
It beat a reference little bit earlier to Covid and
how that affected so many particularly small businesses. How did
(14:22):
Covid affect those business and how did you pivot to
meet those challenges. Yeah. So originally, even though we started
out as an online business and we were shipping nationwide
from the very beginning, over the course of the many
years in business, as we opened up our flagship retail
location and many other pop ups. Our retail business really
(14:46):
became the where a majority of our revenue came from.
So this is pre covid. UM. So when COVID hit,
it was a really UM it was difficult for us
because we you were primarily a retail business, but luckily
we had this online presence and for me, we pivoted
(15:06):
very quickly and I said, you know what, if our
customers are not able to come to us, they're not
able to come visit New York because of the travel
restrictions and our store was shut down for a long
period of time. UM, I wanted to still reach them
and if they were at home, then we were going
to introduce new products that would continue to make them smile,
(15:28):
that would engage their kids who are stuck at home.
We launched virtual classes. We really focused the business back
on our director consumer um offering because you know, again
that's where our customer work was, and that's really what
what was working for us at the time. And during
the beginning of covid it very much felt in this
(15:49):
weird way, um, like the beginning days of when I started.
I mean, there was everything was just we were so
unsure about it all that I was back in the
kitchen working long hours with the team. Um and you know,
prior to that, I hadn't necessarily been back in the
kitchen in that way and packing shipments and receiving deliveries.
(16:09):
We just were working with such a small team and
bare bones and just you know, trying to make it
work and see what really was going to happen with COVID.
That it brought me back to those early days and
there were so many things that were just reminiscent about um,
you know, rolling up my sleeves and and getting my
hands dirty. And it was of course a difficult time,
(16:31):
but ultimately we saw over an eight percent growth in
our direct to consumer business, which was amazing over the
past year and definitely the silver lining of of COVID
to know that. You know, as I mentioned in the beginning,
our our mission is to spread spread joy and allow
people to smile. And I think especially during uncertain times
(16:52):
and times when people aren't able to gather and celebrate
and the way that they normally would, having the ability
to send something we to brighten someone's day or have
them celebrate their birthday, even if they're doing it at
home alone really goes a far away, and that's really
what our concentration was with UM making sure that we
(17:12):
were going to make it through COVID and we were
continuing on this mission to provide happiness to people, and
we all needed a lot of happiness of the last
year and a half. Yeah, definitely, So thank you for
bringing joy to all of us. Yeah, of course. So
you know, another unique thing about dough is your emphasis
(17:33):
on charitable giving and partnering with hunger relief organizations. UM.
Can you tell us a little bit about these efforts
and why they are important for your business model. Yeah,
I think from the very beginning, it's always been important
to me to give back in whatever way it makes sense.
And when I have a food business, one primarily based
in New York City, UM, where the food and security
(17:58):
is so prevalent, it was important for me to get
involved with organizations that do good things and whatever way
made sense for us. So we've partnered with No Cold
Hungary through the New York City One and Food Festival
for many years, you know, raising money, and I'm set
on the culinary console of the Food Bank of New
York City working on a number of different initiatives for them,
(18:21):
and we also are very involved in Ronald McDonald House charities,
particularly the New York City House, which is the largest
house in their network. And again it's just for me
the way that we can spread joy, spread happiness, make
people um smile despite what they're going through. And it's
(18:42):
been a very important part of our business from the beginning,
and it's something that we make sure that our efforts
are concentrated on, concentrated on every single quarter about making
sure that we give back to organizations and then also
volunteer at organizations as a whole team. It's an important
part of the culture at dob Well. That's really so
(19:03):
important to give back and thank you for being such
a great role model that way. Tell us, you know,
what have you learned that you wish someone had shared
with you about starting your own company? So I think that,
oh my gosh, I've learned so much over the years,
but I wish that I would have known in the beginning,
(19:25):
and guess would have told myself to really um trust
my intuition and trust my gut and I have many
times over the years. But I think as an entrepreneur
and not knowing exactly what you're doing. Uh, you question
every single step of of the plan. And I would
say to people that are starting out of business, has
(19:47):
confidence in yourself and your ideas. You know, you're the
only one that knows your vision for the company and
what you're trying to do, and so really, you know,
go for it, dig in, d get your hands dirty,
try lots of things, and um, Ultimately, I think if
you're following your gut and you're following this passion that
(20:09):
you have inside, I imagine that you're going to be
successful in some way or another. And I think over
the years, for me, it's I wish I would have
questioned the question that my judgment less, because the times
that I did just trust my gut and follow um
what I really felt was right, that's when things ended
(20:30):
up working out really well. That's great advice for someone
starting their own company. Tell me, is there any one
question that you wished I had asked you today that
you'd like to tell us? Oh? Um, I would love
to just talk a little bit about kind of all
of the offerings at does SO. I know I talked
about how we sell cookie dough, yes, but um, we
(20:53):
have all of these different facets of the business where
that we've expanded over the years. UM. I wrote a
cookbook in two thousand nine team called Hello Cookie Dough,
and for me that was a way to kind of
continue to expand our offerings and UM reach more people.
And I think people were always um when when they
heard I was writing a cookbook and going to be
(21:14):
sharing these hundred and ten different recipes about how to
make edible cookie do at home. People really questioned that
judgment and thought, you know, are you going to give
away your secrets? Why are you putting your recipes out there?
And for me, it was I learned how to bake
in my parents kitchen and that's where I found, UM,
(21:35):
you know, the ability to explore and to learn, and
that's where that passion really started. And I recognize that
not all of our customers can come to New York
and visit or can't ship our product nationwide, but I
bet that they can go to their local grocery store
and get these ingredients and follow a recipe and be
inspired hopefully by this story of how I had this
(21:57):
idea and started with nothing, was able to build this
and in this business, and so writing the cookbook for
me was certainly just an amazing way to connect with
more people and hopefully inspire more people to do what
to find their passion and then follow their passion, so that,
(22:17):
I think is um One of the one of my
proudest moments is just publishing my cookbook. Hello Coopido. That's great,
and it sounds like you took the advice you gave
our entrepreneurs. You follow your good you follow your passion,
and and it sounds like that's a great recipe for success. Yes, absolutely,
(22:42):
what a fascinating and dramatic journey. You're Three things I
took from my conversation with Kristin Tomin. First, there are
many paths to be in an entrepreneur, and whatever your
experience is, you can use it to build your business.
Christians background was in design. To her, that translates into
(23:04):
problem solving skills. As Christen says, when you're an entrepreneur
is a problem solving every step of the way. Second,
sometimes you just have to throw out your plans and
we draw them. Christians suffered a life threatening illness just
before dough launched. It gave her a new perspective. She
(23:25):
launched more quickly than had been planned. Her attitude was
go for it, when do I have to lose? Finally
realized the value of starting small. Christian at first wanted
to launch a brick and water store, but opening an
online business first let her get her feet wet, understand
the business and her customers, and lessened her risk. Made
(23:51):
by Women is brought to you by the Seneca Women
Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding
partner P ANDNG
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