Category: Blog

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Some People are Meant to be Connected

Jeanne Fiocca Teri Beck, and Grandma Mayer

It Started with a Dream

The dream of a little cookie business. And the need for a website.

When I was very young my parents had some very good friends…Mr. and Mrs. Mayer lived in what is known as the Fox Hill section of Hampton…long before Willow Oaks Mall or Barron Elementary. Barron sits on some of the “farmland” the Mayers sold when they moved to Gloucester. When we went to visit the Mayers at the farm in Ware Neck it was a day trip. I loved it. There was a dock for skipping rocks and an old car on the land I could sit in and pretend to drive. There were cows. And talking. Hours of grown ups talking around the kitchen table.

Time Marches on…

Fast forward, because we all know time flies…Mrs. Mayer is 97 and Mr. Mayer passed long ago. Thanks to the advent of Facebook I was connected to the Mayer’s granddaughter, Teri, who just so happened to be a graphic designer and also built websites. The only thing I remembered about Teri when we re-connected on Facebook was that she was Jim and Eve’s daughter who lived in a very un-cluttered house that had woods in the backyard, we occasionally stopped by their house after a visit to the farm. I considered a few other web designers as I exchanged a couple of messages with Teri.

We had an easy back and forth so I sent her my detailed vision: what our product would be and how things would work. I sent Teri a very detailed explanation of how things should work: what we offer, the options, et cetera. The response from Teri was, “I have a concern, we need to talk.” I was terrified, thinking she was going to tell me that my idea and concept were crap. It turned out that Teri’s biggest concern was she was as disappointed in the logo that I had already paid for as I was. Though I discussed at length with the designer my concerns, but I was too young in business at the time to be assertive enough to get what I wanted. When Teri said, “I think you have a great idea, but you can’t launch a brand with this logo,” I knew immediately we were on the same wavelength.

Cookie Text is Born

Within 24 hours Teri sent me images of a logo. With a little more back and forth we had the official CookieText logo. Not a logo that might identify a little website some gal in Yorktown decided to use to sell a couple cookie cakes. Teri sent me a logo that would launch a brand. CookieText Cookie Cakes. The logo shifted my thinking. It made me want more. It took me from wanting to have a little side business to realizing I could reimagine gift-giving for thousands of people. CookieText as a concept was completely my idea, that is indisputable. But Cookietext.com is Teri’s brainchild. Sometimes a vision and a dream need just the right partner to make things work.

Some Connections Span Generations

I’m certain my parents and Teri’s grandfather had some cosmic hand in our collaboration. It only makes sense that people who are such good friends have offspring that connect. And I guess we have to give Zuckerberg a shout-out as well, because we can all admit that without Facebook most of our past wouldn’t be part of our present.

And Teri is my present. She is the gift that has made my dream work. And she didn’t just make my dream work…she made me dream bigger. Her team at Zenoform, Inc., is the genius behind the amazing Cookietext.com that you see online today. Not only is it gorgeous to look at and easy to use, it’s streamlined on my end as well. When you order I click the mouse a couple times and your order comes out of a printer…zip zip.

Our kitchen team still has to bake and decorate and sprinkle and box…but that’s what we like to do…we’re good at that.

Teri has made it possible for us to do what we do best. While she does what she is so absolutely amazing at…seeing a vision, setting a course…and shooting for the stars.

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What’s New at CookieText.com

Don't forget the Cookie Text sprinkles

Streamlined Ordering and Checkout

With featured products on the front page you can start shopping immediately. One-click and you are on your way to personalizing your CookieText® for your special someone. From browsing the shop, to ordering and checkout, we’ve improved the shopping experience from start to finish. The site is mobile responsive and optimized for fast and secure shopping on your desktop or mobile device. Billing and shipping are now conveniently located on the checkout page, and coupons or store credit can be applied easily with just one click.

New Registered Account Feature

For Individuals: Make a Cookie Text account easily view account information, available coupons, and past orders. No more, “What was that address again?” or “What size did we order last time?

Business Accounts: Receive access to additional products to help brand and market target their business (including “No Label” options). Business Accounts have access to menu items/pages that will allow them to place their corporate orders with the simple upload of our provided Quick Order Spreadsheet. Schedule corporate gift giving days, weeks, and even months in advance.

Delivery Areas And No Surprises

Visitors can now search Delivery Area by zipcode to see if their cookie cake is going to a Free Delivery Area. Now you don’t have to wait until check out to see if there will be a fee. No one likes a surprise like that!

Delicious New Cookie Cakes & Decorations

WHAT!? Yes, you heard it here first. We’re introducing the CookieText® BFF & CookiePic® BFF (Best Friend Flavors). We know you often struggled picking you favorite flavor, now you don’t have to. Pick any two and they’ll get baked together in a pan full of YUM!

Party Packs: the CookieText® Party Pack and the CookiePic® Party Pack feature a cookie cake for the party, and Emoti-Cookies to decorate for your guests complete with buttercream frosting, and sprinkles!

Now it’s even easier to add Balloons or Candles to your cookie cake order. Big, bold, images make it easy to see exactly what you will be getting.

Making Cookie Cakes Easier to Find

Text Only Cookie Cakes

Look for the term “TEXT” in the product name for when you want to add your special message to a cookie cake.

Images AND Text Cookie Cakes

Look for the term “PIC” in the product name for when you want to add an image AND your special message to a cookie cake. Pics include images with 1-3 colors of icing.

Special Thanks

Site Design & Development

At almost 4 years in business, we had a good idea of what was working and what was not working. We knew how our clients order, and what their frequent questions were. We also knew that cranking out quality cookie cakes was never a problem for us…but we knew we could improve the online shopping experience. Zenoform, Inc., took all that information and built from scratch and custom-coded all the functionality, responsiveness, and speed needed to make CookieText.com run smooth like…butter!

Photography

You can’t look at the new website and not notice the amazing photography. It took a lot of convincing but I finally accepted that we needed some professional photos of our products. I wish I’d listened long ago. Susan at Fowler Studios got our vision and her photos blew us away. She was an absolute pleasure to work with as well.

We Worked Hard So You Can Relax and Enjoy!

Spend a little time checking out what’s new on the NEW, IMPROVED, MACH SPEED Cookietext.com. I absolutely love it and I hope you do too.

Jeanne Fiocca
Owner & Founder

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Podcasts for Small Business Success

Cookie Text loves Freakonomics Radio

Listen and Learn

I’ve wondered from time to time how our small business has been able to find success when so many other’s fail. A recent session in my headphones taught me about what I’ve decided to call the CookieText advantage.

I just discovered Podcasts. For those that don’t know, they are essentially radio shows that you can listen to whenever you want. I suspect most of you know what they are and I’m the one that is late to the game. A good indicator of this is the vast amount of Podcasts that are available. Whatever your interest, there’s one for you, I’m sure.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the delve into true crime that was the first season of Serial, I’m trying to utilize Podcasts more for business and personal growth. I’ll plug in my headphones while I’m working alone or on a solo run and listen to the wisdom of those who have far more experience than I do. I’ve learned some fascinating things in a very short time. They often serve to make me re-examine my approach to a problem or to dream a little bigger. My favorite Podcast offered me an explanation.

Freakonomics Radio

As you may know, most new businesses don’t succeed. Freakonomics Radio, a hugely popular podcast, explained why mine has so far. It was an episode called Think Like a Child. In it Steven Levitt (one of the founders of Freakonomics and an esteemed economist) spelled out exactly why Cookie Text has an exponential advantage over other small businesses and why I am in exactly the right business for me.

Freakonomics Radio Steve Levitt Says

“Enjoying what you do, loving what you do is such a completely unfair advantage to anyone you are competing with who does it for a job. People who love it they go to bed at night thinking about the solutions. They wake up in the middle of the night, and they jot down ideas, they work weekends. It turns out that effort is a huge component of success in almost everything. We know that from practice and whatnot. And people who love things work and work and work at it. Because it’s not work — its fun. And so my strongest advice to young people trying to figure out what they want to do, is I always tell them: try to figure out what you love…”

I love what I do. I think about it constantly. It doesn’t get old. I’ve built my own sandbox that I get to play in everyday.

When I have “me time” I usually spend it working on building Cookie Text: reading a book about business, playing with new recipes, experimenting with new products… There are so many moments I am in the cookie kitchen and think to myself, “this is just so fun.” When we introduce a new product, get new shipment of logo pens, someone new discovers our business and becomes a fan, all that stuff excites me.

Still.
Every time.

Cookie Text’s Advantage

I love my job! Cookie Text has an advantage over any business that isn’t founded and run by someone who absolutely LOVES THEIR WORK. Because I do. I get to watch a tiny bit of a dream come true every day. And that’s so cool. Here’s hoping your work is fun, too.

You can check out Freakonomics Radio at www.freakonomics.com/radio/ or you can listen to the whole Think Like a Child podcast here.

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Ode to Cookie Cake

Cookie Text Happy 18th Birthday cookie cake

Cookie cake is yummy, I like it in my tummy.

Cookie cake delivery, very very happily.

Cookie cake to Newport News, or all over in Hampton Roads: you choose.

Cookie cake in 6 great flavors, send them to your friends and neighbors.

CookieText® is cookie cake, with your message that we make.

Baked from scratch and boxed real pretty, we deliver but don’t sing a ditty.

Order online today for tomorrow, very affordable you wont need to borrow.

Once you have ordered, you’ll order again, our customer service sets a quick trend.

No yucky old store bought with unknowns inside, order a CookieText® and you’ll feel the pride-

…of sending a gift that’s such a delight, don’t be reluctant you could order tonight.

Don’t mess up your kitchen or go out to shop, ours are moist and delicious with frosting on top.

CookieText® cookie cakes are the best of the best, if you don’t believe me then put us to the test.

Cookie Text is a fabulous brand, by our reputation firmly we stand.

Every last cookie cake isn’t the same, order CookieText® cookie cakes or your own self’s to blame.

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5 Things I Learned from Bar Rescue

There is a television in our cookie kitchen

A giant one. It was there before the conversion to bakery, so it’s grandfathered in and thus is allowed to stay… On Tuesdays, I spend my whole workday with my friend Jon Taffer watching Bar Rescue. He doesn’t know we’re friends but that’s okay. He’s given me so much free business advice and guidance I can’t help but consider him my friend.

Bar Rescue

In case you don’t know, Bar Rescue is a show on SpikeTV.  Jon Taffer and his varying team of experts go around the country and attempt to rescue failing bars. It’s. So. Great. Often on Tuesdays they show episodes back to back all day. I can’t turn it off, whether I’ve seen that episode before or not. I survived college by working in bars and nightclubs. Perhaps that contributes to my fascination of the show. Now as an entrepreneur I’m always looking for business wisdom. I know cookies and cocktails seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, but most of the issues raised in Bar Rescue are vital to any business that serves customers anything they might eat or drink:

  • How do we grow?
  • How do we stay relevant?
  • What can we improve?
  • What should we be doing that we aren’t?
  • Are we giving our customers what they are looking for?

There are themes that repeat throughout the episodes that are vital to my business, if you work in food and beverage service, I bet they are critical to you as well.

Top 5 lessons from Jon Taffer and Bar Rescue

#1: Cleanliness is….Everything.

If you’re offering edible-anything to customers, you better run a tight ship. When you’re done cleaning, clean some more. Not so easily said for bakeries, where powdered sugar and flour like to float through the air to tiny crevices of worktables and mixer handles. Theoretically proper insurance would cover us if someone ever got sick from our products, but that money won’t restore the the damage to our brand and reputation. Don’t take that risk. When your workplace is unclean you’re gambling with the health of your clientele. Doing that makes you a jerk. Don’t be a jerk, clean, clean, clean.

#2: Systems are your friend.

Everything should have a system or a process. You can’t just wing it.

How do you charge/bill customers?

How do you account for inventory?

What glass is that cocktail served in and how is that cookie packaged?

Have systems and reevaluate: are your systems working? If not, how can you improve them? Where are the lapses?

#3 Efficiency is King.

This piggy-backs on the systems philosophy. Again and again I’ve watched as Jon Taffer and his team have scrutinized the layout of the back bar, counting every wasted step as lost money. Look at the layout of your workspace. What’s working? What’s not working? Our space has expanded as we’ve grown, and we reorganize about once a month to try to optimize efficiency. Three steps might not matter when we have 5 orders, but when we have 50, it’s everything. If our drivers show up and we aren’t ready to load, then that’s lost time. If I’m working faster in my station than the gal in the next station because she keeps having to cross the room for one step of her process, then that needs to be fixed, yesterday. Efficiency is king and time is money.

#4: What’s your market?

Who are you selling to? If you don’t know you better learn quickly. If you’re in the cocktail business, you can’t just say, “Anyone over 21,” that’s not realistic. If you own a birthday cookie cake business, you can’t just say everyone who likes cookies…that won’t work either (believe me, I thought that when we first launched). Location, location, location.

If you’re brick and mortar you had better do your research to learn who lives and works near your location and market to them. If you’re just starting out and choosing a location you need to know the demographics. I like Taffer’s approach: know your market and go after it.  A business in a “Dual-Income, No Kids” area can cater to families, but it won’t succeed. Your business is a ‘victim’ of your location with a storefront. You have to cater to the population at hand. If you don’t know what that is you’re in trouble.

With an online business like ours, it’s a little different. We have a massive delivery range. Theoretically, our reach is greater than a single location. For an online delivery business like ours, the question has to expand to “How do we reach this segment of our market?” At CookieText, we try to work in waves, because too many ideas spread too thin are ineffective. The question for us is what’s the next-best customer/demographic to introduce our product to and how do we reach them?

Often it’s a subset of people: college parents for nearby universities (we make this push at August move-in), people who have birthday celebrations(we form strategic partnerships with places that host children’s parties), corporations who give gifts (we approach them in the Fall, prior to Holiday gift-giving), friends and family of expectant mothers…

Maybe our working in waves is actually a result of a small marketing budget, but I prefer to think it’s from the wisdom that one eats an elephant one bite at a time. Anyone who’s marketing and doesn’t know who their target market is is wasting time and money. Do your research, don’t generalize, and focus.

#5: Your employees make or break your business, and you can make or break them.

Hire wisely. Treat your staff well. Evaluate their effectiveness: quite simply, can they do the tasks you need them to do? If not, it’s probably your fault, not theirs.

Did you train them? Consistency is an integral part of customer service. Training is key. Everyone needs to learn to do things so they turn out the same way. You don’t want to have 2 margaritas at a bar and have them taste entirely different. Nor do I want a CookieText made by Liz to taste or be packaged differently than one made by myself. It’s all in the training. On those systems, you established back in step #2.

Remember your employees are not your underlings. Treat them with kindness, respect, and gratitude. Owning the business does not dub one king or queen of the world. Being the boss means the final decision is yours, but you’re an idiot if you ignore the insight of your employees. You’re a jerk if you treat them as subordinates, or don’t realize that for every good employee there are 10 bad ones waiting to take their place. Do all that you can and should to keep good employees, and don’t just keep them, keep them as happy in their job as you can by appreciating them and acknowledging their contribution to your success. That said, there are no free rides. If a properly trained employee consistently underperforms, it’s time to let them go.

Check Out Bar Rescue

Jon Taffer is all about exceeding expectations and eliciting good reactions from your customers. The Five Lessons I’ve learned barely scratch the surface of what a motivated business owner can learn from him. You can learn more about him at www.jontaffer.com or find his book Raise the Bar on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. His show on SpikeTV airs new episodes Sundays at 9pm Eastern Time.