The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur

Quickie Post: Winner of LWJF Giveaway!

Kelly Peloza ♦ April 15, 2011 ♦ 2 Comments

And the winner is…veganwhore! Congrats! Send me your mailing address and your prize will be shipped asap.

*Winner announced* Guest post and giveaway from Laura’s Wholesome Junk Food (part 2)

Kelly Peloza ♦ April 8, 2011 ♦ 10 Comments

Hello everyone!
Today is the announcement of the giveaway winner.
My screen capture is just producing corrupt files for an unknown reason, so here’s just the text from the number generator. #11 is theradioactivevegan! Congrats! Email me at kellypeloza@gmail.com with your mailing address and I’ll make sure your prize gets shipped asap.

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 18
Result:
11
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Where there is a part one, there is a part two, with yet another giveaway and guest post!

How I Started a Vegan Cookie Company (part 2)

I met so many people who said things like: I needed a ton of money, it’s really hard, or that I’d never succeed in the food business. Wow. Why try? But, no other doors were opening. I tutored kids part-time to pay bills and worked on starting the company. My first priority was to find a bakery that could make my cookies. It took 2 years of asking around to find a bakery that could make the vegan cookies and do a good job at it. I headed down so many dead ends. I was warned not to show my formula to others without having them sign the 5 page Non-Disclosure Agreement someone had drawn up for me. I remember my cousin once saying after two years, “You still haven’t made any money from that?”
What kept me going? Well, I had gone to the library and read books such as “One Smart Cookie” by Mrs. Fields, and “The Inside Scoop” by Ben and Jerry’s former CEO, Fred Lager. I discovered it is a big deal to go from a 1 pound batch in the kitchen made lovingly by hand to 400-800 pound batches made by big, metal equipment. Also, it wasn’t just baking, but, what do we put the cookies in, what are the nutritionals, and a barcode costs how much? You mean if I order 1,000 labels they are $0.35/label but if I order 25,000 they are $0.05 each? That’s a lot of labels and commitment. Choosing a label company, buying boxes, and learning about Quickbooks and pallets also came with the territory. In short, I realized that to make these cookies available to lots of people there was the cookie end, the packaging end, the money end, the quality end, customer service end and the sales end. I had experience only in the cookie end and only in my kitchen. It was intimidating. However, from reading those two books, I learned that some people had been helpful, others had been rude, and others dishonest to Mrs. Fields and Ben and Jerry. I figured if they could weather it, I’d give it a try. One chocolate sales rep refused to send Mrs. Fields some chocolate chip samples because her company was too small. Ben and Jerry constantly had problems packing their ice cream because it was too chunky. Their belief was since their ice cream was so difficult to make, it would give them a competitive edge. So, when some people were rude or dismissive to me, I remembered to persevere and find helpful people. I tried not taking it personally or getting discouraged. When the bakery told me my cookies were the hardest cookies to make because of the chunkiness, we worked together to make the cookie a success.
The first sale I made was 4 cases of cookies to my local health food store. I was so uncomfortable with rejection that any time a store or person didn’t like my cookies, I would feel upset. The first time that little store sent a check for the 4 cases of healthy cookies and then reordered, I had tears in my eyes. After 2 years of effort, it was starting to work. One of the best things about Laura’s Wholesome Junk Food for me is that we make a vegan cookie without any white sugar that is enjoyed by non-vegans and vegans alike. My goal was to provide a vegan, wholesome option to be enjoyed without consumers feeling as if they were sacrificing taste or satisfaction. I wanted our healthy cookies to be staples in every pantry, like Sun-Maid raisins or Morton’s salt; a brand you can trust that feels like home. It has now been almost 10 years since we started Laura’s Wholesome Junk Food. I continue to learn and make mistakes and get better at making cookies. It saddens me to retire flavors that are no longer top sellers. There are lovely emails from customers every week who email to say thank you for making a great tasting cookies that they, their spouse or kids enjoy. I feel a sense of family with customers and appreciate the trust and loyalty they demonstrate by purchasing the product. After running a vegan cookie company for 10 years, I have seen public awareness increase about vegan eating. I feel good about being able to intentionally make a vegan cookie that has mass appeal and is still around. I also feel good about persisting through the many issues that come up and staying a small, private, woman owned business that does our best. The best part about being vegan was not having to deal with egg and dairy issues, and also, enjoying vegan cookie dough freely!
-Laura Trice, M.D.

To enter the contest, please comment on this post (anything!), and I will choose the winner with a random number generator on Friday, April 15th at 10am CST.
The winner will receive an Athlete’s Friend variety pack, which includes one 7oz tub of Mint Double Fudge bite-lettes and one 6.5oz tub of Cole’s Cashew Chocolate Chip bite-lettes, an $11.98 retail value. They are gluten-free, and more information can be found on the website.
**US entries only, please!**

Guest post and giveaway from Laura’s Wholesome Junk Food (part 1)

Kelly Peloza ♦ March 31, 2011 ♦ 18 Comments

Hello everyone!
I have two giveaways coming up from Laura’s Wholesome Junk Food, and Dr. Laura Trice sent a guest post to accompany each giveaway.
It is probably evident by now that when I bake, I don’t skimp on the sugar or EB and make everything as decadent as possible. Sweets are a once in a while treat…wait who am I kidding?! Well, moderation in everything is the key, so even desserts don’t have to be sugar coma-inducing 100% of the time.

That’s where Dr. Laura comes in. Here is the first part of her guest post, and the instructions for the cookie giveaway are at the end:

How I Started a Vegan Cookie Company

I grew up the way I think many of us did; enjoying desserts that were heavy on animal products like dairy and eggs. I mean, wasn’t going out for ice-cream or making chocolate chip cookies heaven? I did not even know that the concept of vegan existed until I was in medical school and decided to do an unusual elective summer rotation. It was 4 weeks at a nearby health institute. I knew very little about it, however, I needed a family practice requirement fulfilled and the institute was on a lake so I could go swimming. Upon arriving, I learned that the entire place was vegan. When it was explained to me what vegan meant, I smiled and thought, “Great. The food will all taste awful and I’ll never feel satisfied.” At the time, I couldn’t imagine a satisfying meal, which included healthy cake or cookies, that was vegan. I was in for a surprise. Everything from the soups, to breads (and fake “butter”) and especially desserts tasted good. My concern turned into joyful anticipation at each meal to see what would be served – always saving room for dessert. I was astounded how well one could eat using only a plant-based diet and whole sweeteners, and how that gentle diet positively impacted everything. After learning about factory farming and mass meat production (I had grown up eating beef from my grandparents small beef and chicken farm), and the impact eating such a high volume of animal products had on the earth, I decided to try living vegan as the people I was surrounded by were doing. I did so for 3 years. And, I made it a personal cause (and still do) to encourage others to eat fewer animal products and try adding more vegan items to their regular daily diet.
Once I left the health institute, I had a hard time finding vegan desserts and cookies that didn’t taste awful. If they existed, I couldn’t find them, so I headed to the kitchen to make much needed treats for myself. Loving batter since I was a kid, the fact that vegan cookie dough did not have any raw eggs made my batter consumption feel much safer. After many attempts, I came up with an amazing oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and an oatmeal raisin cookie, both of which were vegan, decadent, and did not use any white sugar. I made these cookies any time I had an excuse. Party? I’ll bring cookies! Dinner invite? How about some cookies? Birthday? I’ll give cookies as a gift. Bit by bit, I noticed that these vegan cookies were often the first to go at gatherings of non-vegan people. They were chosen over chocolate chip cookies, brownies and other regular desserts containing butter and eggs. I realized that none of the people guessed they were vegan – had they known that ahead of time, they may have passed them by, pre-judging them as “won’t taste good because they are healthy.” That is why I never said anything and just set them down on a table. It got to the point that people would call me before a party and ask if I was going to bring my cookies.
At the time, I was working as a set medic on the set of 7th Heaven. One day, I brought in cookies and set them out on the breakfast table next to deep fried donuts. When I saw the truck drivers and other crew taking these vegan cookies over donuts, I realized I was on to something. I realized that other people were like me; satisfaction from food was important and if the food tasted good and nothing biased them against it, they would eat vegan healthy cookies without any white sugar on a regular basis.
About this time, I became unemployed and unsure of what to do next. I had never done anything other than work for other people. A friend suggested, “Why don’t you sell those cookies?” However, I had never run a business and didn’t know the first thing about starting one. How could I take a little hobby like baking once in awhile and turn it into Laura’s Wholesome Junk Food?
-Laura Trice, M.D.

To enter the contest, please comment on this post (anything!), and I will choose the winner with a random number generator on Friday, April 8th at 10am CST.
The winner will receive an Athlete’s Friend variety pack, which includes one 7oz tub of Mint Double Fudge bite-lettes and one 6.5oz tub of Cole’s Cashew Chocolate Chip bite-lettes, an $11.98 retail value. They are gluten-free, and more information can be found on the website.
**US entries only, please!**