This week I was able to do an e-mail interview with the busy owner of Stay Weird Cookies and new momma, Chelsea Rivkind! E-mailing seemed to work the best so she could answer whenever she had some spare time and it was fun getting to know someone that I've met before in a deeper and more involved capacity! You can tell she is passionate about her business and loves her life as a mom, I'm so excited to see Stay Weird Cookies grow!!
Tell me a little bit about yourself as a person: Well first, I’m a new momma to a 5 1/2 month old baby girl Camilla, we call her Mila for short. When I’m not hanging out with the babes you can usually find me working out. I LOVE to lift weights. During nap time I’m cooking/ baking at home to feed other people. It’s seriously an addiction. These past few weeks I’ve been on a bread kick. I also love to hike and travel. If I can combine those two it’s a great vacation. Just in the last few years I found a love for travel that I never knew was possible. I’m definitely the person that chooses mountains over beaches or if we’re in a city you bet we’re going non stop and eating EVERYTHING.
Tell me a little bit about yourself as the owner of a cookie company Well its just me so I have to keep myself accountable in all aspects. Naturally I’m not a very organized person so its something I’ve had to really work on to make sure all my tasks are completed on time. I try to keep everything I do with Stay Weird fun and funky. I personally love crazy food combinations so I carry that over when I come up with flavor ideas for new cookies, cakes, brownies, cheesecakes - literally anything.
Tell me about your company, Stay Weird Cookies Stay Weird Cookies is a custom cookie company. You tell us what you want in your cookie. We start with your dough flavor, mix ins and if you want your cookie stuffed. It’s something I personally love - think frozen yogurt bar but cookies! Did I mention our cookies are 5oz each?! I started this business idea while visiting a friend in CO, November 2018. Over the next few months it all began. A lot of my instagram social media at the time was desserts and fitness. I remember following a cookie company that started out of their at home kitchen and thought, “I could do this!” So I did.
What sets Stay Weird apart? We like to do cookie combinations that arent usual, like our “Everyone’s Favorite” - vanilla dough, marshmallows, footloop cereal and white chocolate pretzels. Our customers also enjoy that they can come up with their craziest combinations and if we can find your ingredient we can make it!
Why cookies? Who doesn’t love a thick, soft but chewy cookie? But really, cookies are easy to ship, low production cost, have a good shelf life - we like to suggest freezing to keep your cookies fresh longer and you can do so many different combinations. There are literally hundreds of “normal” cookie flavors out there.
Why “Stay Weird”? I’m not sure! Coming up with a business name was SO hard (I feel this pain!), I had so many. I guess looking back it could mean to stay true to yourself.
What difficulties are you facing juggling a new baby and a business? What about when pregnant? So many. We had Mila late october and I took September- February off. Everyone said it would be so easy - ITS NOT. I’m not sure how having a baby sitting in the kitchen while making orders of cookies seems easy to people. To start, while pregnant, I had MANY food aversions. One of them was sweets made me very sick. That meant no taste testing cookies. Actually the smell of cookies made me sick. Making deliveries, having your car smell like a cookie shop sounds great, nope. It was truly awful. Also for some reason flour smelled like a dirty pond. Before we realized it wasn’t spoiled flour it was my nose I threw away multiple orders of perfectly fine cookies and HUGE bags of flour. Right now I’m trying struggling to find the time to work part-time as a waitress, bake for the diner I work for and bake for my customers. We are currently trying to figure out how to do this best.
What challenges did you face when you first started the business? Not knowing anything about business. I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do for college so I took a year off but ended up continuing to work. I took the time and went to the small business center at a local SUNY college, sat with my bosses and picked their brains and looked to friends who own their own businesses. I had to learn about taxes, health department rules and regulations, figuring out who has better pricing on ingredients, SHIPPING COST. This is huge. Shipping is expensive and we don’t make money on it and its hard for customers to understand that as a small business we aren’t price gouging shipping to make money. It’s truly what it cost.
Most rewarding thing about doing what you do? I LOVE feeding people. When somebody raves about food you’ve made it always makes you feel great.
Who all is involved in your company? Is it just you? Yup, just me. BUT, I do have so many people that I bounce ideas off of, confide it when things get stressful and people to go to when I need advice on my next step. My mom, boyfriend of 7 years and best friends have all stepped in to help me out when I have a timeline to get a massive order done or have a event to get ready for.
Do you have a physical shop people can stop in, do you sell them in stores, or is it an out-of-your-home business? Once I started baking back up after the babe we decided to start baking out of the diner I work at. Brian's USA Diner, right outside of Letchworth State Park. I was baking out of a community center but this is easier for us. As of right now I just bake for the diner and sell my own flavor combo cookies there as well. Soon we will open the website back up for orders. My new favorite thing to make for the diner is cheesecakes. They sell out so fast.The most recent one that was a customer favorite was a carrot cake cheesecake. I took carrot cake batter, layered it with cheesecake batter and poured that over a carrot cake oreo crust!
What’s a typical day look like for you business-wise? On the days I bake I come up with my list of things we need to make for the diner for the next few days and go from there. Usually I start with the cheesecakes since they need the most oven time and then move onto cookie ingredient. When somebody orders a cookie with cake or brownies I’ll make that to add to the cookie dough. After the cookies are chilled, baked and cooled they get bagged and labeled. When we have orders to ship they get boxed up that day or the day after baking and then off to the post office they go.
Favorite creation that you’ve created? ITS SO HARD TO CHOOSE! I've made so many combos. I think my ultimate favorite was a cookie and cream base, brownie, peppermint bark Oreos and Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolate pieces. I loved eating them right out of the freezer. Gosh do I need these in my life!
What about your favorite that a client created? I had a personal trainer order a cookie with a Oreo truffle center which is ball of Oreos blended with cream cheese. That was a game changer! I've now tried with ALL sorts of Oreos. So good.
A combo you thought would be amazing but wasn't? And/or One you thought would flop, but turned out great? At first I thought anything would be great with marshmallows. Its not. And they are a real pain to bake with. I have a customer that LOVES to fill her cookies with things like caramel and hot fudge. I thought the filling would bake out but it stays put.
Are you taking orders during quarantine? We are not taking any orders during quarantine. If you have any questions for after quarantine contact me by social media - stayweirdcookies on Instagram or email - stayweirdcookies@yahoo.com
I see that you ship, where do you ship to? We ship to all 50 states using USPS Priority Mail. 2 day shipping.
Biggest order you have ever done? 7 6 packs for a customer of customs or about 100 for a baby shower last year of the Birthday Sex cookie- vanilla dough, cake, sprinkles and white chips.
How long did it take you to perfect your cookie recipe? About 2 months and then I tweaked it again when is I started working with different ovens.
Is this your only job? If I didn't have my baby I would have taken the leap last year and opened up our shop. We found out we were pregnant two months into the business making me reevaluate how to go about things. I’m now a part time waitress so I can spend time taking care of Mila. I never thought I would choose to not work but i’m glad I’m taking this time to spend with her. I usually will bake for the diner and myself 1-2 days a week and waitress 3-4. I try to bake on the days I waitress to condense time.
Any partnerships with other local companies? Just the diner I work for. Sam, my boss, has been amazing during this whole process with letting me test my waters by selling my products there.
Do you offer options for those with dietary restrictions? I try to accommodate to taste dislikes but not to dietary restrictions. These are full fat, all sugar cookies. No keto, gluten free, vegan, paleo, grain free, egg free cookies. The best kind in my opinion- yummers!
Any advice for those trying to get their business off the ground or how to be successful? Don't be afraid to start! Seriously. As soon as I had the idea I started to google what I needed to do to conduct business legally and just got to it. Surround yourself with supportive people who will encourage you. And finally talk to the ones in the field you are looking to enter into. They will have the best advice on how they got started and mistakes they made.
Purchase Chelsea's Stay Weird brand Cookies and other treats (like her delicious looking cheesecakes!!) at Brian's USA Diner: 5524 Mt Morris Rd, Mt Morris, NY 14510
Visit https://www.stayweirdcookies.com or check out the company's Instagram @stayweirdcookies
**photos taken from the Stay Weird Instagram account with permission from Chelsea Rivkind**
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