Loren Castle started baking cookies after surviving cancer in her early twenties. Five years later, Sweet Loren’s refrigerated cookie dough was generating just $350,000 a year. But instead of giving up, she listened to customers, and reinvented the dough without gluten, dairy, eggs or nuts. That transformation turned a small regional business into a national brand sold in more than 30,000 stores.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
- How surviving cancer at 22 inspired Loren to rethink her career and develop a passion for healthier food.
- What working at New York’s Levain Bakery taught her about the enormous appeal—and profitability—of cookies.
- Why Loren decided to sell ready-made cookie dough instead of cookies
- Why she was totally unprepared for her first Whole Foods meeting—but went anyway
- Why raising her first $1 million from friends and family was much harder than she expected.
- Why hundreds of customer requests revealed an unmet need for allergen-free cookie dough.
- Why growing slowly may have saved the company.
- Why Loren isn’t rushing to sell Sweet Loren’s
