The Cookie Department offers fortified traditional cookie flavors like Chocolate Chip and Ginger Snap with “functional” ingredients like Fair Trade coffee, rBST free whey protein, superfoods, antioxidants and detoxifying spices. Pour your milk-alternative and open that bag of Nookies and check out this new campaign on Wefunder. The Cookie Department has raised over $82,857 from 84+ investors, surpassing its minimum goal. All eyes are now focused on securing TCD’s maximum goal, $600,000 Custom Convertible Note.
Founded by CEO Akiva Resnikoff, Oregon-based The Cookie Department raised a modest $13,140 on its Kickstarter raise in 2012. Now, nearly 7 years later, the startup now touts $1.84M in total revenue, with the expectation to increase sales by 40% over last year.
Funding from the campaign will be used to expand The Cookie Department’s retail presence through grocery as well as non grocery related retail establishments like college campuses, gyms, sporting goods stores, smoothie bars and coffee shops.
“Focusing regionally initially to effectively manage growth, we will then expand throughout the west coast, followed by progressive eastward expansion. We do have some scattered business throughout the US at this point, though this plan will allow us to conquer extensive market share that is as of yet untapped,” clarified the platform on Wefunder. “We will invest in product marketing and consumer education to highlight the superiority of our taste and functionality over that of our competitors.”
The cookie brand also plans to enlist brand ambassadors and enhance retail broker presence in key markets, including e-commerce.
“With the upcoming launch of our new website and the recent hiring of our Social Media Manager, the sky’s the limit!” added TCD. “We will continue to launch new products with expanded flavors and functions, as well as additional product configurations.”
The Cookie Department sees its niche in this statistic: Mondelez International (Parent company of Nabisco, Chips Ahoy, and Ritz), has seen a revenue decline for the 11th quarter, while the functional foods market is projected to increase from $300 billion in 2017 to $440+ billion dollars by 2022.
Kosher and eco-friendly With neither artificial ingredients, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, palm oil nor parabens, The Cookie Department currently offers the following flavors:
- Snap Back- key ingredients include real ginger and milk thistle
- Tough Cookie- peanut Butter cookie
- Chocolate Chip Nookie- made with the Peruvian root Maca
- Awaken Baked- features the caffeine equivalent of one cup of coffee with chocolate chips and natural sea salt
- Great+Full- vegan, made with anti-oxidant rich sweet potatoes, oatmeal and cranberries.
- Mint Condition- double chocolate mint cookie launching soon.
Cookies may be ordered online or purchased A2 Cafes in the San Francisco area. Online sales account for less than 4 percent of current revenue. The company shared its plans for growth on the campaign:
“At a Whole Foods or a Safeway, for example, customers are going to buy one or two individually packaged, single cookies. The box will be on the shelf next to the protein bars, and customers can pull out individual cookies. To our wholesale warehouse customers, like Cash and Carry, who sell to other retailers, customers would buy full boxes of cookies to then resell individually at their own retail locations.”
The standard retail price for The Cookie Department cookies ranges from $2.49 to $2.99. The startup indicated that the prices at climbing gyms are usually on the higher level of that range, at $2.99, while at juice and smoothie bar chains, they’re usually $2.49. The hotels are considerably higher, ranging from $2.99 to $3.25. Airport stores will probably sell them for around $3.25. Manufactured outside Portland and fulfilled in Southern California, food service distribution is direct, but mainly done through distributors including UNFI, Vistar, Reliant, Ben E Keiths, Canteen and Green Earth Beverage.
What is the ultimate goal of TCD team?
“…to be acquired. Potential acquirer’s are mainstream global brands like General Mills and Hershey’s who are buying more natural boutique brands to compete in the natural market. Another option is to sell to a company that is already in the functional snack space, as we could become another product line offering to their existing customer base.”
Tasty investor perks include, what else? Cookies! For $100, investors each receive a 5 Pack Sampler box and a 25% single use discount code. At the $25,000+ level, investors receive two boxes of assorted or single flavor cookies of their choice once per month for 12 months, cookies for friends, 2 lbs of Fair Trade coffee beans, an assorted box of 12 cookies to five people during the holiday season with a personalized card from the founder, the opportunity to join TCD’s tasting panel and cookie naming team and a 25% discount code on all future orders.
For more details on The Cookie Department’s Wefunder campaign, click here. The raise is set to close on 26 February, 2019.
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