BAK'D Cookies

Filmosity:
Today, we’re at a cookie cafe, getting BAK’D .

Filmosity:
A cookie cafe that began as a simple home project that’s now bringing over a million dollars a year in revenue.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We cleared the year with, I can’t believe I’m gonna… 1.25 mil, which is crazy.

Filmosity:
And I’m here with Andy and Jessica, the co-founders of BAK’D, a brand that went from a small side hustle to a cookie empire with over 30 employees.

Filmosity:
So my question is, how do you go from baking your mom’s kitchen to making over a million dollars a year with cookies?

Filmosity:
That’s what we’re here to find out.

Filmosity:
My name is Andrew, and today we’re chatting with Andy and Jessica to dive deep into the story of BAK’D Cookies.

Filmosity:
Enjoy the video.

Filmosity:
Can you talk to me about the scale of baked cookies?

Filmosity:
How many cookies do you make a day?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Oh, I think we’ve grown our operations quite a bit since moving into the store.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So now we make anywhere from like on the short end, like 500 cookies and on the larger end, anywhere to like 2,000, 3,000 cookies a day.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
That’s a lot.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, but it makes the whole store smell

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
so good when we are making that much.

Filmosity:
I do smell it, I do smell it.

Filmosity:
We’re gonna dive deeper into the story of BAK’D as we go further along this video, but in the meantime, can we take a look at how you guys make your cookies?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, absolutely.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Come get BAK’D with us.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Let’s get BAK’D.

Filmosity:
So, Andy, very clean.

Filmosity:
It’s very good, very important.

Oh, and an ice spatula.

Filmosity:
I don’t know how to put this on.

It’s a one-o-chee.

Filmosity:
There you go.

Filmosity:
Alright, Andy, we’re here in the back of house.

Filmosity:
Is this what it’s called? I learned this in the previous bake shop.

Filmosity:
It’s called back of house.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, it’s called back of house.

Filmosity:
We’re in the back of house.

Filmosity:
I see a lot of stuff going on.

Filmosity:
Can you talk to me about how these cookies are made?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, absolutely.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So we start off all our cookies with the kind of the same steps.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So we measure out our ingredients and that’s going to be a lot of like butter, sugar, eggs, flour, kind of those staples that go into each of those.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But they all kind of have their unique flavorings that they get into it.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So all our cookies have 100% butter in them.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So we don’t cut any corners there.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And yeah, we take them over here into this big boy over here.

Filmosity:
Oh,

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
This mixer can fit 60 quarts, I think it is.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And yeah, each batch of dough makes around 200 cookies.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So it’s quite a lot of dough that goes into it.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
You can see that we’re midway through portioning out the dough.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So we bring them out into bowls and then we portion them into little five ounce balls that you see here.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Once we get those into the fridge, those chill for a minimum of like two hours, but we try and chill them for about 24 hours so that the flavors get to know each other before we put them into the oven on that side.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
All our cookies bake for about the same amount of time, so it’s about anywhere from 12 to kind of 16 minutes.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And we try and make sure that each one gets like a very even bake because when we’re baking the name of the game is consistency.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So when we’re baking about halfway through, we kind of rotate the trays and we kind of switch their positions as well to make sure everybody gets kind of the same level of heat throughout the entire baking process.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And then once they’re out of the oven, each of them get touched by a ring mold.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So what we mean by that we have little yeah little circle ring molds and we kind of shape them into the perfect circles because sometimes they come out a little uglier and they’re not quite always so perfect.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But yeah it’s one of the ways we kind of try and maintain our consistency in the kitchen.

Filmosity:
All this talk about cookies Andy, I have to try one.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Absolutely.

Filmosity:
Can I try a cookie?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
Great.

Filmosity:
We have the cookies here.

Filmosity:
Let’s get baked.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Oh yeah.

Filmosity:
Okay, so which one is this?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So this is the Gimme S’mores.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
This is one of our best-selling cookies of the regular menu.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh no, the marshmallow stuck.

Filmosity:
Oh wow.

Filmosity:
Okay, this is the best seller?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yes, this is the best seller.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I hope you enjoy.

Filmosity:
Oh wow, it’s like tight.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
You have to actually pull.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Let’s get baked.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
You’re gonna get a marshmallow bowl.

Filmosity:
I said this last time too, but I’m not a sweets guy.

Filmosity:
But this is good.

Filmosity:
Like it’s the right amount of sweetness.

Filmosity:
Yeah, great. Wow.

Filmosity:
Here you go. That’s nice.

Filmosity:
Can you guys give me a little bit of the backstory about BAK’D?

Filmosity:
Why did you guys get into the cookie business?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So it was right during the start of COVID.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Everybody was stuck at home.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Jess was graduating university at the time and she had her first kind of big boy corporate job lined up after that.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I was working at a local pie shop, just part time as I was finishing high school.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So both of us were just graduating and both of us kind of lost our jobs because of COVID.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So the pie shop let me go and Jess’s job fell through that she had lined up.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And so both of us were just super sad at home, super unemployed and didn’t really have anything else to do.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So I kind of fell in love with baking at the pie shop.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So I was just baking up a storm at home and just being really sad.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I wanted to cheer her up with something.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So I asked her, like, what can I make you that would make you feel better?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And she was telling me about these like big ooey gooey cookies she had in New York that were like the best cookies she’s ever had.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
She said like they were Oprah’s favorite cookies.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Like she had to have them again.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And so I tried to look up like a couple of copycat recipes and I was just trying out some of those recipes.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So we just made like a bunch of batches.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And I think throughout the whole process, Jess was just posting it on her Instagram and people started reaching out saying like, Hey, those look really good.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Like, can I have some, are you guys selling them?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And I think like we, at first we were like a little weirded out.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We were like, Oh, if people wanted to buy, sure.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We’ll sell them.

Filmosity:
Sure.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And yeah, it was started out with just like friends and family that we were selling cookies to.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And then it became like friends of friends.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And then like a stranger started like DMing Jess for the cookies.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And we’re like, Oh, this is a little weird now.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So why don’t we start a separate page for the Instagram?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And that’s kind of how Baked came about.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We thought of it as just kind of like a little passion project on the side, maybe a way for me to save up some money for like university, some textbook money.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And yeah, it kind of just snowballed and snowballed into the business that we are today.

Filmosity:
What were some of the hardest things you guys had to learn when you first started out?

Filmosity:
Was there anything or like, was there anything?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think everything.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We were, to be super candid.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think everything.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It was a lot of learning and a lot of trial and error and just being extremely agile to navigate this very unknown space.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Because you couldn’t even reach out to people in the industry with a lot of experience.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Because they would tell you that they’re like, I’ve never been in a pandemic before.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Which is valid.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So they were like, I don’t have any advice to give you.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Good luck.

Filmosity:
Oh my gosh.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So it was very, we were kind of just shooting in the dark.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And then figuring out what works and what doesn’t work.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So it was a lot of like fighting for ingredients at that time because people were stockpiling things left and right.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
You also had to wait in long lineups to get into grocery stores.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And we would spend like maybe 45 minutes in line waiting to get into Costco every three days to do things like that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think also making sure that we were following all the COVID guidelines.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like it was very funny because the story I always remember is that I would meet up with people on the corner of the street because my brother and my partner didn’t want strangers to know our address because they thought that would be weird.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So they were

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
like, just walk like 10 blocks down to this like busy corner street and meet with complete strangers.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So I was like on the street with a bunch of cookies and people were, you know, we had to save distance or whatever that word was.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And they would yell for me.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They’d be like, are you the cookie girl?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I’d be like, yeah. What’s your name? I would like look for their order, place it on a bench, back away like six feet or whatever it was and then they’d walk over and grab their cookies, thanks, and then run away and I’d be like yeah that was a totally normal experience. So I think we navigated just a lot of craziness and just went with it.

Filmosity:
Can you give me a breakdown of baked financials?

Filmosity:
So first of all So let’s start off, how much money did you need to start doing this, start making cookies?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think to start, we’re very lucky that what we decided our passion was going to be was cookies.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And you know, those ingredients are, I guess, like a lot relatively cheaper than, I don’t know, something like tech or anything else that a startup might need.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So our initial investments were kind of like ingredients, which also had a low risk because if we didn’t end up selling cookies, we could always use those for something at home because it’s like flour, sugar, eggs, butter, a lot of those staples.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And then I guess our really our only big kind of initial investments were packaging and website because I think we only committed to like a hundred boxes.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And I think that was our scariest investment at the time.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Which was like 20 bucks.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It was off Amazon or something like that.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
It was off Amazon, but we were so scared to just commit to 100 boxes.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And then, yeah, website as well.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So we started off with the most simple website package you can get.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
On Squarespace.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, Squarespace.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Just the simple buy, check out, whatever we needed.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And then, yeah, just seeing if we can make the money back through the cookie sales.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think once we did, we were like, “Okay, I feel a little bit more comfortable putting in the next order of 100 boxes.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But yeah, definitely it was scary when we first started off.

Filmosity:
Right. Yeah. Roughly how much was that?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Honestly, probably under $100.

Filmosity:
Yeah, it’s not much.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
Wow.

Filmosity:
Okay.

Filmosity:
So from a hundred bucks and then five years later now, what are the expenses like for you guys currently?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Kind of crazy.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Do you have that number on the top of your head?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Not off the top of my head, but just anecdotally, I was paying off Snowcap, one of our vendors, where we use the baking ingredients as paying off, I think, four deliveries.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And it was about $15,000.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And I was just thinking back to when we used to just run to Costco.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And we’d be like, okay, under $300, under $300.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Adding on top of that, one thing we’re very proud of, and I don’t think we actually communicate or showcase it often, is that we pay all of our staff above minimum wage.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And some of them even make even more than that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like our farmers market people get $25 an hour.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So we pay,

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I would say

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
like–

Filmosity:
Generous.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah, like reasonable.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think they work really hard.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We have an awesome team that I love.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I just did the payroll, like last payroll and it was like $25,000 in labor.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So just for two weeks.

Filmosity:
Just for two weeks.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So, yeah.

Filmosity:
Okay.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
The shock in your voice tells me, yeah.

Filmosity:
How much annual revenue does Baked bring?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So last year is kind of a crazy year for us.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We started the first six months without a store and then we opened our store in June, end of June actually.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And so the last six months we had our storefronts and so the numbers are kind of skewed weirdly,

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But we cleared the year with, I can’t believe I’m 1.25 mil, which is crazy.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We had to submit the numbers for BC Business Magazine for the BC 30 under 30.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And when I was putting the number in, I like did not believe it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I like triple checked it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I’m like, I’m not very good with numbers.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I’m like, am I reading this correctly?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like this is insane.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like I don’t, I, yeah, I’m, I’m in shock to this day.

Filmosity:
Congratulations.

Filmosity:
Congrats.

Filmosity:
That’s super impressive wow.

Filmosity:
Someone’s watching it and they’re like whoa like they have such fast success.

Filmosity:
Like okay I want to do it too but like what’s like the reality check, you know, for that?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think people feel like it’s fast success but we actually worked really hard for the last five years there were many nights of like not sleeping.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Especially during like all the busier season and the very start like Andy said um our townhouse kitchen oven is like very small.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So we can only bake 12 cookies at a time and we were getting lots of like 100 cookie orders per day. So we ended up just baking, it would take us like 16 to 20 hours.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And that like we would spend like all night just awake baking, packaging, decorating, cooling and doing all of that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So there were many many sleepless nights.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Even this last holiday or our hot chocolate festival in January to February, like Andy and I were working 18 to 20 hours um and i would just go home sleep wake up go back and just repeat and just do it time and time again.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So I think people feel like it was very quick but in the last five years we’ve been grinding it out and I think it’s just because we love what we do that it doesn’t feel so bad like I just love like every day I’m so grateful for this job

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah honestly I think we just like putting ourselves like a hundred percent into what we do and I think that’s very true to who we are as people like uh almost to a fault like we do everything either like zero or a hundred and we decided like baked is our 100.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So um and I think early on too um it was I think it was really good that Jess and I both kind of sat down and we’re like “Hey is this what we want our 100 to be” and making sure that you know both of us were on the same page because I think it can be really hard when one is like putting their all into it and one isn’t.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But yeah definitely having somebody who is working just as hard alongside you willing to put like that 100 in and also like willing to support you when like um you get when you have those like long nights um you definitely need some kind of support there.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah you see how cranky this one gets.

Filmosity:
You’re the cranky one?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
He’s a hangry one. I’m a cranky one when I’m not sleeping.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah he gets really hangry.

Filmosity:
What is it like working with your sibling. You know, what is that dynamic like? Do you guys ever have conflicts and how do you handle it?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah about 15 minutes ago we had a conflict. So I think, you know, we live together, we work together.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We also have a lot of the same hobbies, unfortunately.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah, and then our friends are so involved in our lives that my friends are his friends, his friends are my friends.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We’re very, very intertwined in each other’s life, too much so.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So we definitely fight.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We definitely have a lot of moments of disagreements.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like I said, just like 10, 15 minutes ago, lots of deep breathing for me.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think we’ve been really good, especially now that we have a bigger operation.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We’ve been really good in trying to, you know, when we have those big conflicts, we try and take a step back.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We’re always really respectful.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think that’s the biggest thing is that we try our best not to insult each other.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And it’s like a me and you versus the problem rather than a me versus you, which is something that we have really worked on that it’s not us against each other it’s us against the problem and that’s like what I always have to tell myself as I do deep breaths.

Filmosity:
It’s very mature because there’s people always say like don’t get into business with family right? But you guys were able to make it out.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh I wouldn’t do it without like I there like I would do it there’s no one else I would do it with.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think it’s because we’re also very similar in a lot of Like we’re very different, don’t get me wrong.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But I think that honestly helps us.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Like we have very like complimentary kind of attitude, skills.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But in the way that we think is very similar.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So it helps us kind of get on the same page, like super, super fast.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We can make decisions together really quickly.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Because like we almost have like that where we can read each other’s minds.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Like during a meeting, we can just kind of give each other a look.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We’re like, okay, we’re on the same page.

Filmosity:
What was unexpected as you guys were continuing running this business that you didn’t expect when you first started out?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I guess one of the biggest things that I’m always in shock of is when, like I guess you can call our customers, some of them are actual fans of the cookies and of us.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think that’s always super shocking when people like freak out when they meet us or the freak out when they see the cookies.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I’m just, it’s an incredible feeling to know that like something you’ve made and created that people are so excited over.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think that was the biggest shocking thing because we definitely freak out over a lot of various small businesses in Vancouver in the foods industry and to have someone do it to us I’m like that’s crazy.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah or it’s for foodies to say that that they like our cookies or like people who like are really, really into food and just like have that kind of, what’s the right word, validation.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
It’s kind of crazy, especially us being foodies too.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Like we love eating in Vancouver.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We love hitting up all the new spots and trying out all those go to restaurants.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So like seeing us like being one of them is a little bit crazy.

Filmosity:
You guys created a fan base.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah. And people

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
like they are very passionate.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like when we do flavor pulls and Andy does like crazy cookie, usually when he puts banana in there, people have complete meltdowns.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They’re like, what is Andy thinking?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like, how dare you like post this?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like people are passionate about our monthly specials or like even when the Earl Grey Honey.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It was originally a monthly special and people, we took it off the month when it ended, of course.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And then people like were writing in our social media pages, in our email box.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They were getting really mad that it was off the menu.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like at one point it got a little scary.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, we had a death threat from one person.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like one person

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
sent an anonymous email, it’s like, “Hey, I know where you live, bring back their old grey honey cookie.” And

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I was like…

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So now it’s on our permanent menu, yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So I was like, “Wow, okay, yeah.”

Filmosity:
That way you have cops in front of your store now?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Exactly, yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They keep us and the cookies safe.

Filmosity:
How were you guys able to build a fan base?

Filmosity:
Because I feel like some businesses don’t.

Filmosity:
Like, how were you guys able to build these loyal followers?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think…

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I have no idea.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think we’re so grateful for them.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Maybe it’s because I think everything we post is very genuine and authentic.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
There’s no like, we don’t fake things online.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Definitely if you watch some of our day in the lives, you see our struggles that we go through.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And we kind of allowed people to follow along the journey.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So they are a part of it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
The reason we were able to get the store is because of all the original customers.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And we’re super grateful for them.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I think they feel that appreciation, I hope.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, I think we also like listen to our customers, too.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So I think it’s one of the great things about the farmers market is for is that you get a chance to get that face to face interaction with your customers and they really tell you what they want and what they like and they don’t like.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And they yeah, they have no problem sharing their feelings too.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So you really get to hear like what flavors do well what they want to see next for flavors Where we should be selling next like what markets we should be doing next and yeah It’s a great way to just kind of listen to them and you know, we we want to listen to our customers.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We make them like make the cookies for them. So..

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Exactly.

Filmosity:
Yeah going back to you’re saying how You guys either zero or a hundred, you know, you give it all, you know, which is amazing like very hard-working where did that work ethic and and personality comfort was that you know influenced by your parents growing up or where did you learn that you know the attitude?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I actually think it Is derived from our parents like I think a good portion of it is through our dad he was one of those foe people who Kind of escaped the war at a very very young age

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And so I think he came to Canada when he was roughly like around six and he like when I hear he doesn’t talk about it much himself, but when I hear stories about what other people share about his journey across It was like definitely not an easy journey.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And to Come to Canada and just have absolutely nothing and build everything that he did and like, you know pave the way for Andy and I to have the opportunities we do and to go to university here and all of that like, I think that kind of we are so grateful and we always try to like make our parents proud and ensure that they know that all their efforts and sacrifices were never wasted on us.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I think that’s a huge part as well as our mom who’s been incredible and she’s actually a good backbone of our business like you’ll often see her in the windows like helping us out and everything she’s a part of our team now because she loves to be involved and she just always wanted to help out so we like we’re like mom like why don’t we just officially make you part of the team because she’s always around anyways and she’s always doing whatever she can to help so I’m like mom just come join the team you basically are like always around and always supporting us and she like if a delivery doesn’t get done correctly she’s out there doing the fixing the delivery if cookies need to be baked and you know we’re under she’s like um staying up all night making sure we’re getting everything done and just giving us like a helpful hand.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So our mom is also hustling all nights with us um I just think our parents have incredible work ethic that’s been passed down to us so we’re very grateful for that.

Filmosity:
Your parents were huge support and huge inspirations for you guys.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yes. Initially they were not huge supports.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Huge supports now.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I’m gonna call them out on that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
If they ever watch this?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They were haters.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
She was like annoyed at you guys using her pot?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think she was annoyed that like the entire first floor of our townhouse was like either like dedicated to cookies covered in flour, just like cookies everywhere.

Filmosity:
So they weren’t supportive at the start?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
No, and I think like also like Asian parents, like kind of the stereotype is they want you to like be in business or a doctor or something like that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So when I was like, yeah, I’m going to sell cookies.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They were like, what?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like, what do you mean?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like I sent you to university, like you went to business school, like you need to apply for like jobs and, you know, like don’t get your brother involved with this.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
He needs to go to university.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like you are crazy.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like she thought I was just doing a bake sale, but I always had the vision for bake to be what it is today.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And they didn’t quite see that vision at that time because they wanted more of like a professional job or like a corporate job.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And so yeah, at first they were very anti but I think now they see the vision.

Filmosity:
The vision now.

Filmosity:
Okay so I asked Instagram, people on Instagram, what questions they have for you.

Filmosity:
So rapid fire segment, just answer this short and sweet.

Filmosity:
Okay first question.

Filmosity:
Any plans for a mint chocolate chip cookie anytime soon?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh, I think March has unfortunately already passed.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think that would be like the prime time to do it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So maybe not until next year, but it’s not off the books.

Filmosity:
What’s the biggest size cookie you’ve ever tried to make?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We made a 15-ouncer.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, we made a 15-ouncer.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
There’s one time we tried to make like a whole, like a baking sheet, like what, 18 by 26 inches.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We tried to do like half a cookie in that and try to like make one big one.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So about like 26 by 26 inch, it did not work.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
but it was a cool attempt.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We tried.

Filmosity:
What happens to the leftover cookies?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
We have a big team.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Everyone loves to take home cookies to their friends and family.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We have a lot of friends in the community here.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So Steve’s Poke right over there.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Noodle Box and…

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
The Captain’s Oven Pizza.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Everybody loves sharing around here.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh, and Bump Physio too.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like we just all kind of our community here and ourselves.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, that makes sense.

Filmosity:
Any thoughts on protein infused?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh my gosh, we get this asked all the time.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I would say the peanut butter is like halfway there.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
There’s a good amount of protein in there.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Just don’t look at the carbs or fat.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, just don’t look at the total calories.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But yeah, maybe one day we can get it to taste good.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Because I hate putting out a cookie that doesn’t taste good.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Which is why we haven’t done gluten-free.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
We’ve managed to make a vegan one that tastes good.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But yeah, if it’s in the pipeline, I would say it’s off the table.

Filmosity:
What’s your favorite thing about each other?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Wow, I’ve never been asked this in my life.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think my brother’s tenacity and ability to work incredibly hard and how talented he is in problem solving. I think he’s really like I cannot believe that he went to UBC the entire time in like a difficult program at Sauder.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
He has two specializations, he killer gpa, also was involved in volunteering and growing the business alongside me all at the same time. Like I have no idea how he did it but he, you did it.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Wow, dang.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think Jess has an incredible vision.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
She can imagine what she wants and she’s like, “I’m gonna get there no matter what it takes.” I think it’s that crazy drive, the vision, and honestly, her gut, she can make the best gut calls that you’ve ever seen with our pricing before.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I don’t know how she nails it every single time, but everything she just kind of has a feeling about, she nails it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh, that was sweet.

Filmosity:
So sweet.

Filmosity:
What advice do you have for someone wanting to start a business?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think it’s super cheesy.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It’s like the Nike slogan.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
You just got to do it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Because for me, for so long, I’ve always had an itch to be an entrepreneur, especially one in the food industry.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Food has always been my passion and something I love being surrounded with and also enjoying eating.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But that’s something I’ve known deep to my core.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I’ve had so many ideas that have the same formula that we use for BAK’D to be where we are today.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But I was always so scared.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I was like, oh, I have to like finish my university degree.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I have to get a job.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I have to get experience.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I have to like do all these things before I could ever start my own business because like I don’t know what I’m doing.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I just think the most important thing you could ever do is just start because then you’ll just figure it out as you go.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And you’ll always adapt and you always have to be agile and you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t work.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But you will never know until you start.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So I think the biggest thing is just to start.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And even if you don’t have the perfect products, like you should have seen the things we were producing back then.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They’re really ugly.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
They’re on our Instagrams.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like our cookies and cream was not that cute back then.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It’s way nicer now.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I like, we got that feedback.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It’s like, you guys need to make this aesthetically, more aesthetically pleasing.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I’m like, okay, like good to know.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And now we’ve adapted.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But I think just like putting yourself out there with a minimum viable product and just starting allows you to just kind of continue to figure out where you need to go to get to what your version of success is.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Yeah.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think for me, my piece of advice would be to like, choose somebody you want to work with to start it up with you.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think like I couldn’t have done this with anyone else but Jess.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And I’m really lucky that we kind of both wanted to do this.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And I think, you know, picking who you do your business with is a very, very hard, but very rewarding choice as well.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And not only that, but even like with your team, everybody on our team is like the friendliest people on earth.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
They’re all people that I think would be genuinely, we’d be genuinely friends with outside of work too.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So just having like a supportive people around you and having that as like the working environment really, really keeps you going.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Even though like the hardest times I think it’s perfect to just yeah keep you going and have that kind of backbone support.

Filmosity:
I feel like a lot of people are can get afraid to start though do you have any advice on like how to overcome that fear you know they hear yeah like just do it but it’s it’s scary to start you know like how do we how do I just do it?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Honestly I understand that fear because I had that fear for so long and I was very lucky that somehow like the pandemic kind of pushed me into a corner with my brother.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I just think you just kind of have to be delusional a little delulu and just be like I’m just gonna put myself out there and let others say no to me then rather than say no to myself.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think that’s a big thing I’ve done um all throughout my life is that I always say no to myself and I’m like why like why limit myself to that and let like the people tell the public tell like if they don’t like it they’ll let you know that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like we’ve had bad selling cookies before um that’s like our shamrock shake if you ever if you’re thinking of one it was it was ugly it was didn’t sell but it’s like you know people will let you know and we’ve never brought that cookie back since like uh we’ve launched it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But like that I just think if you put yourself out there then that’s the only way to get your business going and to reach the level of success just be a little delusional believe in yourself and know that you know if you just start you will get there

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think like even if you’re having any troubles with even that even first step to having somebody to just kind of give you a little shove. To be like, “Hey, you’re starting now.”

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Because I think for me, I’m like a little bit more introverted.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think Jess is like 120% of an extrovert.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But for me, it’s a little bit harder because I find it very hard to talk to people or at least at first.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
And so having Jess to kind of just be like, “Hey, you’re out there now. You got to start now.” was really helpful for me because it just kind of forces you to speak up and kind of put yourself out there even if you really, really don’t want to be.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Yeah, just having somebody to kind of just give you that gentle push or maybe even not so gentle.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
It was gentle.

Filmosity:
To end the show, I have a tradition where the previous business owner has a question for you guys.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Oh, okay.

Filmosity:
And this is…

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I’m nervous.

Filmosity:
That question.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Okay.

Pressing Matters:
I think my question for the next business owner would be if your business ended today, what would your next venture be? Would you continue on in the same field that you’re currently working in? Or would you take what you’ve learned and start something completely different? Or would you just go get a job working for somebody else?

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
I think I would probably do something in the same industry.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Honestly, we’ve always thought about doing like donuts.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
So like not even that far off.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Like I love donuts, so I don’t know if I can compete with like the big guys out there like Mello or like Cartems.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
They’re there. Like they have such good donuts.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
But maybe like, yeah, if I was one of them, that would be super, super sick.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think quite similar to Andy, I would definitely, I already have like five other ideas down the pipe.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I need to slow myself down.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I have a lot of ideas that I really want to do.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like Andy says, I have visions.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
And I already have like four that I’ve like kind of flushed out.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I just have to finish up with BAK’D and kind of see where this goes first before I am able to do that.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
But I would like to do those ones.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
So, yeah.

Filmosity:
And what question do you guys have for the next business owner on this show?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
I think my question would be is how do you define success for yourself?

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Like what would be your moment or if it’s already happened, what was your moment of, holy crap, I’ve made it.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
This is success.

Filmosity:
There you go.

Filmosity:
That’s a good one.

Filmosity:
Thank you, Jessica.

BAK’D Cookies – Jessica:
Thank you.

Filmosity:
Thank you, Andy.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Thank you for having us.

Filmosity:
There you go.

Filmosity:
If you want BAK’D Cookies, come here to New West.

Filmosity:
Look at the gooey cookies.

Filmosity:
You know, the s’mores, it’s so good.

Filmosity:
They have many more other flavors.

Filmosity:
If you liked this video, smash that like button.

Filmosity:
If you have any questions or comments for Andy or Jessica, make sure to leave a comment down below.

Filmosity:
And if you want to see more videos with amazing business owners just like these two, make sure to hit that subscribe button because we’ll have many more videos coming soon.

BAK’D Cookies – Andy:
Woo!