Sara Leand, CEO and owner of Sara Snacker Cookie Co., first experimented with her baking business in her dorm room at the University of Arizona. On Monday mornings, Leand would deliver batches of plastic-wrapped cookies she baked over the weekend to storekeepers around campus. Each cookie had the distinctive Sara Snacker Cookie Co. logo, which became the name of her startup three years ago.
Leand was an entrepreneur even before she had a college degree, creating recipes that catered to consumers who enjoyed classic flavors with a twist. One of her favorite recipes was the chip”™netzel, which is a potato chip and pretzel shortbread cookie that tastes both salty and sweet. Leand said one day she decided to crush pretzel bits and use it as a peanut butter substitute. Mixing the pieces into shortbread dough, she decided to add the finishing touches by drizzling chocolate on top of the baked cookies.
Soon, Leand shelved her cookie business to focus on school. After Leand graduated, she moved to California to work in television industry for the next 10 years. She decided to explore her baking ideas after getting married, having her first child, and moving to Rye.
“I started baking again because I was stressed trying to figure out what I wanted to do next,” Leand said. “I always thought I”™d come back to baking as a grandmother.”
As Leand became more serious about starting her own cookie business, she learned about the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, a nonprofit business trade association that helps roll out new enterprises. She entered a contest to win a spot in the association”™s Fancy Food Show ”“ a twice a year event ”“ at which entrepreneurs can publicize their brands, receive critiques on packaging and branding and get advice on how to put their products on store shelves.
Afterward, she began to go door-to-door asking storeowners if they were interested in selling her line of cookies.
The business has grown rapidly and she now sells to over 100 stores in New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia. In Westchester, Leand”™s cookies are sold in the Rye Country Store in Rye Brook, all D”™Agostino stores, Balducci”™s in Scarsdale and DeCicco’s in Armonk.
As a child, Leand thought very highly of Zabar”™s, a gourmet epicurean store that was across the street from her old Manhattan apartment. On a whim, she asked the owner years later if she could distribute her cookies there, and when the owner agreed, she said it was a “little girl”™s dream come true.”
Leand recalled how much she enjoyed tweaking ordinary recipes as a child to add a twist such as creating vanilla milkshake cookies instead of plain vanilla and s”™mores cookies instead of just chocolate chip.
“When I was little, I would start with the basic recipe and always throw in something extra that wasn”™t supposed to be in there or throw something on top,” Leand said. “As I got older, I got more creative with the experience and knew how to structure recipes and what to put in more of to give it a palatable flavor profile.”
Leand came out with a new cookie this year: the peanut butter oatmeal chippy, which is made with peanut butter, whole grain oats and chocolate chips. Her original line of cookies includes the original chip”™netzel, the dark chocolate chip”™netzel, lemonade cookie, vanilla milkshake cookie and s”™mores cookie. The cookies are made without artificial flavors, colors, additives or preservatives and are Kosher. Leand said she plans to add one new flavor a year. She will also begin selling jumbo-size cookies next year.
But business is not the only thing that”™s growing quickly. Leand”™s family has grown, too.
“I had three kids in the last four years,” Leand said. “Fortunately, I run a family business. My husband is my partner, but he”™s also my CFO, and my kids are my cookie testers. It”™s great I”™m able to do my job and also be close to my children on a daily basis.”
Leand said while it”™s difficult to obtain shelf space for her product, she”™s optimistic as she has already doubled her distributors from four to eight in the past two months. As she thinks about her next strategy for growth, she”™s writing a cookbook. Within the next five years, Leand said she plans to open a brick and mortar store. Right now, she gets most of her business through the distributors and online sales at sarasnacker.com.
“We”™ve always been a distributor-based business,” Leand said. “But I would love to figure out how to generate more of our business. Our factory is in Long Island, and that”™s the only space we have to create our products right now. If I had a brick and mortar, I would bake the cookies in the store and sell them fresh on the spot.”
