How Grief Became a 600-Store Cookie Empire w/ Brittney Cook

Jeff Albaum

Man, that's that's so beautiful and and condolences on your dad. That's super tough. But it's pretty amazing that you've been able to take that, you know, off oldness and to create something amazing out of it. man, I have like a zillion questions as it comes to like yeah, like you said when you were a kid, you noticed that there was this gap in the in the frozen treat space. Like walk me through how do you how do you know that? How do you identify that? Because if I go down, if I'm thinking of a new company, I'm like, cookies are crowded.

Brittney Cook

Thank you. Thank you.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. So when you and I challenge everyone that I talk to, go to the grocery store and go to the frozen dessert set. I'm not talking about ice cream. Ice cream is novelties and that's that's a separate category. And there's multi-categories within a category. and so frozen dessert is essentially frozen pies, frozen pie crusts, cool whip. And think about how many times that you go to that set. Not a lot.

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Not a lot.

Brittney Cook

And so exactly you might go maybe once or twice a year to you know for your seasonal options or random little things that you need cool whip or something for. It's owned by legacy brands and it's boring. and so we saw I see that, and there's an opportunity for innovation. there's a space that people pass that people are still going to, but it's lacking.

and so and also frozen cookie dough hasn't been an option that has been highly recognized within the frozen dessert space in a long time. There's been brands here and there who I a hundred percent respect, but it's been a harder category to grab people's attention, and we're changing that. We're bringing an amazing product to that set, bringing life to it and innovating. so I I challenge you, go to the grocery store, check the frozen dessert set.

and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Albaum

Okay, fair enough. I I will, I will, I will. I as as you were talking, I was trying to think of brands that I could think of and it's like Toll House maybe is one. And then like in Texas, H E B is the big grocery chain. So I think H E B has a what's it called? Like a H E B branded, you know, whatever it is. But that's about it. I don't I couldn't name another one.

Brittney Cook

Yeah, yeah, there's there's a lot of legacy brands. Think about like Sarah Lee Pies. you think about all of those larger scale brands that have been around for a while. and it it is craving it is a set that is craving innovation and growth and excitement. And so we're excited to start that path of bringing that to that set.

Jeff Albaum

Totally. From the first time, so you said that you started from a a kitchen aid recipe and you scaled up and I think you said or or how long was it from c call it opening the door, so to speak, to being in a retail store? What was that total timeline?

Brittney Cook

Yeah, so for us it was about less than a year, year and a half. we from the very beginning, the thing about us is that we had a very strong conviction from the very beginning that this was not going to be some small business. We had a vision and we started in farmers markets. We started in every single way that most entrepreneurs do with kind of building that product market fit.

but I was knocking on the buyer's door at our local retailer from like day one. and I pestered until I got that meeting, and then they were our first yes, and we didn't have retail packaging ready by then. But we got the yes and we told them that we would figure it out, and we did. and from there, we didn't have extensive retail backgrounds, but we learned, we pivoted, we did a hundreds of demos.

listening to in-person customer feedback, working directly with our buyer and building the trust within customers and learning from them and then curating and then building from there. We went from eighteen doors to then fifty doors to then sixty doors. It all compounded and we had that really strong foundation as a business. So yeah.

Jeff Albaum

Can you explain for those that aren't aware? So like, I I I wasn't aware, for example, how products get into a grocery store, into a retail space. So can you just give a high level overview of, you know, you have this product, you have this food brand. How do you get into a store? Like what does that look like?

Brittney Cook

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I think that I did it a little bit unconventionally. for sure. I think that there's there's different avenues that you can go down as a founder. a lot of I'd say 80 to 90 percent of founders will hire a broker who has sales relationships with each of the buyers and will be able to pitch your product to the buyers. we've never we've never had a broker. I do all of our sales in-house. so I have learned

Jeff Albaum

When you say

Brittney Cook

how to pitch, how to manage all of our sales is in-house. so I did it unconventionally by just being I found a contact through my mom's friend and I emailed the president, I think it was, of Nugget. And then he I emailed him weekly until he actually replied. And then you know, was able to get a meeting with our actual buyer. And then from there it just, you know, took off. But

Jeff Albaum

Was was Nugget the first tour that said yes? Let's go. Huge Nugget fan. We love the Nugget here.

Brittney Cook

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love Nugget Market. So, so

Jeff Albaum

But can you can you up level it one more? So like when you say buyer, right? Cause I think most people would hear buyer and they think of the end customer, the consumer. But what does buyer actually mean in the retail CPG space?

Brittney Cook

Yeah. Yeah.

Great question. So within each of the categories, grocery is is incredibly vast with its structure. And coming from a consumer not having retail experience, it was definitely a huge learning curve. I've been through a CPG school the last four years. but essentially a buyer is someone dedicated to a specific category within a grocery store. So you have like a dairy buyer who does like the

Yogurt, eggs, might be the refrigerated dough, and then you have a frozen dessert buyer or frozen buyer, period. They might encompass it all where it's every single product within the frozen aisles. you have a wine and spirits buyer, like every single category within the grocery store has a specific buyer that basically manages, looks at new products to bring in. they might take out some products, swap some products.

So all of the products you see on the shelf are managed by a specific person, which is called the buyer. so

Jeff Albaum

Got it. Yeah, it's super helpful. Cause I I didn't understand that relationship before. And so also to get a little bit into the the financials, like when you're selling to Nugget, for example, when you say the buyer, so Nugget's actually buying your product from you and then turning around selling it to you with people like you and me as shoppers at the Nugget. and so that creates this really cool that probably helps you a lot with like your cash flow and your inventory and like you have a lot more stability in terms of management.

Brittney Cook

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And we do for people who don't understand like the retail model, we have distributors who, so it's it's a multi-buying process. So Nugget doesn't directly buy from us, especially being frozen. Some, you know, shelf stable brands can probably do direct. but for us specifically, and for most CPG brands, essentially what happens is is you sell, so you have your product, you put it in a what's called a case. So you have

X amount of bags per box, and then you sell it to the distributor, then the distributor sells it to the retailer. or retailers is most distributors. And so it's very, very interesting. You don't know that as a consumer, but it has multiple layers of getting to the grocery store. So

Jeff Albaum

And do you know do you have a sense why that is?

Brittney Cook

It's honestly, I think, as a brand, as you continue to grow and scale, it's really hard to be able to service each retailer direct. Like being in over 600 stores now, I can't imagine trying to ship frozen to each individual store. it simplifies the process because a distributor.

Is essentially having multiple different products within their warehouse that the grocery store orders, and then they have a delivery where they have X amount of all those different products that they are delivering. So it would be a logistical nightmare to not have a distributor. Yeah. Essentially, kind of. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jeff Albaum

Got it, got it. It's kind of like drop shipping for food.

Huh. That's so interesting. I didn't I didn't realize that was the model. Okay. Cool. Man, that's insane. So you so you knock down the pre one of the president of Nugget's doors and you're like, hey, you know, can we get a meeting? You got the meeting. Can you share like what you said and how you went into that? And like what was the pitch?

Brittney Cook

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I've very much been a salesperson my whole life. You can ask any of my family members. and so it wasn't hard because of the strong conviction that we've had and continue to have on our product, we knew how we were better, how we were different, how our brand story you know, was differentiated and and impactful. We were a local brand.

We had a vision and they didn't have anything like it. And so it was, I wouldn't say it was easy, but we knew and we were confident in what we were offering. And we got a yes on the spot, which normally doesn't happen. but we went to the headquarters and by the end of that meeting, we had our first yes. And we knew from there that we had something larger than ourselves. And we still to this day know and have the strongest conviction that we have something bigger than ourselves.

Jeff Albaum

Man, that's incredible. How how did you like maybe this is a silly question, but how did you have that conviction? Like was it you were selling out at farmers markets, you were you you had only positive reviews? Like what what gave you that conviction?

Brittney Cook

I mean, first and foremost, the recipe we taste every competitor, we are open to every cookie. And so we knew the differentiation that my mom's recipe had. And also, you know, after the continual feedback from customers, even at farmers markets and ordering it when we were delivering it to their door with, you know, ice chests in our car, we saw that strong conviction early on from customers, which gave us more belief, but we also knew that.

Just even that alone, we were very confident in the product that we were offering and the value that it had and also the space that we wanted to build and the you know innovation that we wanted to excite within the category. so it's multifaceted, but I also am a firm believer in my faith and I know that it was placed in our lives w at the right time for a reason. and we are

That's what we lead by. There's been so many things that have happened in our business that are not a coincidence. And we believe it's it's our it's God. And then also my dad leading us on a path that we don't know the end result yet, but we listen to those little little voices in our heads and and things that just you can't put into words that it just it just makes sense more than it did ever in our lives with this business. So

I don't know if that makes sense a hundred percent, but when you lose a loved one, you just s you know, things don't become a coincidence, I don't feel like anymore. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Albaum

Totally. Totally. Yeah. I wanna shift to asking about the relationships between working with your family. Cause that's gotta be you've there must be some interesting stories.

Brittney Cook

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean the the key thing about me and my family, and I don't just say this just to say this. we've always been a very tight-knit family. we grew up, my mom and dad instilled in us having to work through our relationships, whether there's a TIFF or a bump, as every relationship has, but always being a team. in our story on our website, and also just as a family, we've always referred to ourselves as Team Cook.

my mom, sisters, and I are incredibly close. We've been through hell and back as a family. And it's actually the most empowering thing to be able to have so many amazing talents and skills within each of us that we can put together in this beautiful enmeshment and create something magical together. on the day-to-day, my mom and I run the business. my two sisters help where they can.

and they will have more of an involvement as we continue to grow and scale. And they've been a huge helping hand already. Everyone scooped in the early days with you know, we have early signs of carpal tunnel for sure. and that was that was a that was a hard time. If anyone's done self-production, it's definitely challenging. It's not for the faint of heart. but as a family, as a whole, working together, we do really well. We are a good team.

and we don't let anything get in the way of our relationship. and also we work really well together. We are all hustlers and we all believe in this. So there's a lot that you know we that we agree upon and work hard towards together and we have the bigger vision all together. so I wouldn't I mean it obviously has its challenges for sure, but very grateful to do it with my mom and sisters.

Jeff Albaum

How many sisters do you have? Okay, so three, three girls in total. can you tell so we my wife and I just welcomed our first baby boy. He's 15 months old as of yesterday. Thank you. Or last week. but so like I think about this a lot, like raising a family that's super tight-knit and close. Like I love what you said about like, you know, they raised us to be a team and to work through stuff. Can you give a specific example of a time that like, like what did that look like day to day?

Brittney Cook

Two.

Yeah, yeah.

congratulations.

Yeah, I mean, for us specifically, like we have always enjoy enjoyed each other just hanging out. whether that was just watching a movie, we always valued each other's different personalities and we've always been encouraging of each other and supportive of each other. I never grew up in a household where I felt like anything was impossible.

my parents instilled in us from very early age that anything was possible, especially my dad specifically. He was very much that way. And my mom and dad are they, they, their relationship was such a foundation for us in the sense of their role model that they led for our family, in that they always made life fun. they always worked so well as a team, and also they always encouraged us to be close-knit.

because of different family n dynamics that they had growing up, that they wanted to change the path of their family. and so I it honestly I feel like there's no secret other than we just love spending time with each other. even as we get older and it even becomes even more fun. But also, we've been through so much as a family. and I think when you go through hardship and you lean on each other and you get

through it and you overcome it, it only makes you stronger. and that was a true testament when we lost my dad. that our foundation as a family really stood the test of time and really became, you know, apparent after losing my dad. We only became closer. but we had a really strong bond as a family growing up. And I don't think that there's a secret you know,

Jeff Albaum

Mm-hmm.

Brittney Cook

tip to that other than we all just valued each other at where we were at and enjoyed each other. and had such a positive mindset around everything, really. so yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jeff Albaum

That's so cool. I love that. It's so cool to hear that. And it's so cool to see the the fact that you guys now get to work together in this endeavor is like the ultimate like truth test, I guess. You know, it's like, you could say you love each other, but go start a business with someone and then see how much you like.

Brittney Cook

Yeah. absolutely.

True. True. Yes. Go through hard, hard times. and then you'll really you'll see the true colors and the true colors for our family has always been transparent, in that we love each other so much and we work through all the hard things that life brings. So

Jeff Albaum

Do you have a hard time differentiating between like family time and and comp like work time? Yeah.

Brittney Cook

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I my brain doesn't stop thinking about something sweet. I love it. but I do try to make an effort in separating that and having time where it's designated with family and not bringing that up. but I'd say I probably have a harder time with it than most of them because I eat, sleep and breathe this business. but I also try

We all tried to like turn it off for a second. So

Jeff Albaum

And w is this your like in your career, is this the first company that you've been CEO of or were there did you have previous Okay. Cool. So like what what has happened like?

Brittney Cook

Yeah. So I mean, yeah, I'm only 27 and I've only had a background in sales and marketing. And I did not have a CEO background whatsoever. but I've always wanted to build something and lead something. And this I love it. I love it. I love every second of it. I love the Excel spreadsheets, which I never thought I'd say. I love the sales component, I love the relationship component.

I'm constantly learning, evolving, growing my skills. I'm never comfortable. I am always putting myself out there and embarrassing myself. But I think I think that I heard a quote. It was embarrassment is the most underrated you know, feeling in a founder. And I think like embarrassment is the you know, the the what is the word for that?

I think embarrassment is the price you pay to succeed in a lot of ways. And so I though don't have a background in that. I have taught myself everything that I know and I've learned from amazing founders. but used Google Google search bar more times than I can count, and just learned as I've gone. So yeah, no background.

Jeff Albaum

What's what's been something that's surprised you as you've gone on this journey? Like you thought you thought A, you're in it, you're like, it's very clearly B.

Brittney Cook

Mm-hmm. Honestly, I think just how much longer it takes than you expect. it's definitely it's already been four years, but I feel like it's gone by so fast. But at the same time, I feel like it's like also gone by slower than I thought. and there's so many different learning curves. And I think too, you have to be a problem solver and you have to learn how to pivot constantly.

Constantly. I think your job as a CEO, which I knew, but I didn't really know until you're in it, is to be a a chief problem solver. that should be the name of a CEO. so lots so there's so much more I could say on that. but I'll keep it simple at that. There's there's a lot to it that I just didn't know. So

Jeff Albaum

How do you think about mentorship? Because obviously, like you said, you've there's a lot that you've learned and there's a lot that you know, and then there's a lot that you probably don't know. And so how do you balance that? Because I feel like as a founder and a CEO, you you need to have this, you need to have this like belief that is not backed by stuff, but you also need to be realistic. And so, how do you balance it too? And how do you think about mentorship?

Brittney Cook

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I try to s I think the the thing that comes to mind when you say that is that you are who you surround yourself with. And I do think that as a whole, I think obviously in this day and age, with the digital, you know, meetings and less in-person, I do try to prioritize the in-person.

events and such that connects me with people who are doing the same thing that I'm doing and also constantly try to keep in contact with also my friends within the space who are doing the same thing that we're doing. and so I think mentorship is super important. I also think that this CPG industry is is is intense and brutal in so many different ways. And so to have a community that you can lean on to ask questions is incredibly important. We can't have we can't do it all alone.

and I've learned an insane amount from so many incredible people within the space who are doing what I want to be doing and you know at a level in business where I want to be. and so it's amazing that you can lean on people and keep learning from people. And also I hope that I can do the same to people who, you know, maybe are a couple of steps earlier than where we're at. so I think mentorship is huge, huge. Yeah.

Jeff Albaum

So let's let's craft the the perfect outreach. So like let's say that someone's reaching out to you and they're, like you said, a couple, they're starting a CPG brand for the first time. They're like, man, I follow Britney. She's awesome. Something sweet is amazing. I love the product. I love the market. I love the brand, et cetera. What does that outreach look like where you as a founder would be like stoked to help them? Is it a LinkedIn message? Is it an email? Is it like something sent to you? Like, what does that look like?

Brittney Cook

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Honestly, I respect persistence when it is intentionally and thoughtfully thought through. It's not just like, hey, can I pick your brain? I think that when someone, you know, shares their story of what they're doing and where where I can be helpful and has specifics on maybe categories of the business, let's say investment space that they would love to learn more about, I'm happy, I'm happy to help in any way that I can.

Especially to meeting people in person. but I think, you know, email, Instagram message, LinkedIn, whatever it is, I do try to look at it all. But also my email is never a hundred percent caught up. I don't think any founder is a hundred percent caught up on their email. but I do respect persistence and consistency because I do it all the time. and that's how I even got into our first retailer is the persistence. so I love

to the ability to be able to help and pass on what I've learned. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Jeff Albaum

Totally. That's really cool. That's really cool. Thank you for sharing that. as as you think about the future, what is what does something sweet look like in five years? Like where are you guys going?

Brittney Cook

Yeah, super exciting. So many different avenues of growth that we are pursuing. and as in five years, gosh, a lot can change in one and already has changed a lot for us in a year. And so in five years, I'm super excited because I want us to be a household dessert name brand. When I say something sweet, you know exactly what I'm talking about. and building that trust with consumers that they know exactly what they're gonna get.

Homemade tasting dessert, but elevated and a flavor punch is kind of our MO. And in five years we'll be a large scale brand. you know, hopefully multi-category and multiple avenues within even outside of retail that we're excited to expand and grow as well. so excited for the future. We're I feel like we're only just beginning and we change so much every year that

I'm excited to see yes in five years. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Thank you. We appreciate you.

Jeff Albaum

Man, me too. Me too. I can't wait. I'm I'm fired up.

Well, I have to have to start wrapping things up here. But before I let you go, I was wondering if someone's listening to this and they are thinking, Man, I would love to help. I'm really good at A, B, or C. What is something that you're looking for that would be helpful that if someone is listening and and they have the expertise in this, they could reach out to to offer something, you know? What are you looking for?

Brittney Cook

Yeah. I mean, this is a perfect stage in our business. We are actively growing and in the next probably six to eight months, we will be hiring more people. whether that's you know content creators, sales, there will be a lot of growth within the next year. and so I think if there, if you see a fit for our business, you can direct message us on Instagram, LinkedIn.

and definitely start that connection. I think that, you know, even if you're early, I think it's important if you want it to be on someone's radar and start that relationship building. because like I said, we are in a growth, high growth phase right now in our business. and we're looking for amazing people to join us in whatever capacity that looks like. right now I don't have the specifics, but that's changing every day. so definitely reach out. We'd love to.

Have the right people join us.

Jeff Albaum

more important to get the get the right people on the bus and figure out where you're gonna where they're gonna sit.

Brittney Cook

Yep, yep, exactly, exactly.

Jeff Albaum

Awesome. And where can people And you said Instagram, LinkedIn? we'll link to everything that we have in the show notes, but is there any like Instagram handle, caption, LinkedIn caption, et cetera? Like what's the what's the handle?

Brittney Cook

You can yeah, so something sweet dough is our handle for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. You can look up Brittany Cook. feel free to connect with me and add a little message. and I'd love to I'd love to have everyone join us on this journey. It's an exciting phase. We're we're super pumped for this next year, it's gonna be our biggest year yet.

Jeff Albaum

As you should be. And congratulations on all the success so far and and I'm excited to see it continue.

Brittney Cook

Thank you. Thank you. Grateful to chat with you.

Jeff Albaum

Thanks, Brittany. I'll see everybody next week. Bye, everybody.