Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Kollatz.
Hi Jessica, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! Growing up, I loved getting to eat a yummy, decorated sugar cookie. I loved baking and would dabble making cake pops, cakes, and sugar cookies. I went so far as taking a Wilton cake decorating class at a local craft store. It was just something fun for me to do. When my son was born, I ordered custom sugar cookies for his first 2 birthdays. By his 2nd birthday, my daughter was born, and my husband thought I needed a better hobby than shopping at Target. I fell down the rabbit hole on YouTube of cookie decorating videos and thought, maybe I could give this a try. After several dozen attempts, I started to get the hang of baking cut-out cookies, getting the right icing consistency, and overall figuring out how to decorate. I started practicing more and more, bring in the treats to work and giving away to friends. People started to order from me, and then it became more and more frequent. I made a page on FB & IG, made a website, got an LLC. It was pretty official. What started as a therapeutic hobby turned into a full-blown business. I’ve now started teaching Cookie & Sip Classes where people can come together for a fun night of cookie decorating and teach at a few local spots near my home. I own more cutters than I’d like to admit.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
With any business, you have many ups with a few downs. Imposter syndrome is a real thing, and sometimes there are days where I question if I am good enough. When I get feedback on my orders about how delicious my cookies are and how pretty they are, it makes me feel good! Some of the downs I’ve experienced comes from the science behind royal icing. I’ll finish a beautiful set, but if it’s too humid out or I accidentally over-saturated a color, it can create color bleed, which is only bothersome to most cookiers. Other items, like butter bleed, which seeps into the icing causing discoloration, is frustrating when I am just trying to create a beautiful set.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a cookie artist, I work on my business what feels like full-time, but it’s a part-time gig for me. I work full-time in HR in a corporate setting and work on my business every night after my kiddos go to sleep. I feel what sets me apart is that not only do my cookies look “too pretty to eat,” as many say, but are also pretty tasty! I am most proud of accomplishing 2 very big orders for Uline. I had an order of 2500 cookies in 2022 and 2200 cookies in 2023 for a large company local to me. During my time in this business, my husband has taken on responsibilities as I continue to grow with orders. My husband will make my dough, cut out the shapes and bake for me so I can focus on interacting with customers and the decorating part.
What matters most to you? Why?
Customer experience matters most to me. They are coming to me to help make their special announcements, parties, and holidays a little extra special with custom cookies that are relating to a particular theme for them. I want them to love their cookies and get them excited to have their guests be excited over them. With customer experience, I get to help create their vision in cookie form.
Pricing:
- My custom cookies start at $52 per doz.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BoardwalkCookieCo.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/boardwalkcookieco
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/boardwalkcookieco
