IamA entrepreneur, eight years ago my wife and I sold everything and bought a 90ft tunnel oven to make cookies. Today we’re shipping 1 thousand pounds a day. AMA!

have you ever made a gigantic cookie just because?

yes, pizza size. we had to run it through the oven 3 times to get it perfect. Everyone here shared it!

Oh man I remember that AMA. Thanks for doing another one!

How do you guys keep the price so low while providing the best cookies? I looked at the site and these seem very reasonable.

Keeping the price within reason is very difficult especially because in the beginning overhead is high and productivity is low. If I had it to do over I'd have begun with more money as money can buy you productivity. Every month we try to increase our throughput WITHOUT affecting quality.

Typically, stores make: 40% Distributors: 20% Brokers (sales reps.): 5% and freight is a KILLER.

I think we're going to do a Kickstarter deal in a few weeks.

Thank you!

my pleasure

thank you

thank you!

Is the reddit special available for shipping outside the US?

no, very sorry

Have you ever played cookie clicker?

never heard of it... but then again, I don't tweet either

I have been playing around with the idea of selling cookies at my local farmers market. What is the most important lesson that you learned when you started your business?

strongly identify what makes yours unique. Use the highest quality ingredients you can find - let everyone about your ingredients (lots of people cut corners)

What exactly makes your chocolate chips "no-compromise"?

BELGIAN chocolate, REAL butter, FRESH eggs, REAL vanilla, and of course our ideals, the love we put in.

And we want to prove a point.

And we want to prove a point.

Which is what?

that a relentless small company can compete successfully against big companies . Everyone before us (Famous Amos / Mrs. Field's, etc.) have had to sell out for various reasons. We won't do that. It's the greatest challenge of my career.

Crap chocolate, vegetable oils, artificial vanilla, commercial eggs slurry, pre frozen all make for a crap product. Really glad to see OP do this. Hope I can order some from kickstarter.

I'll let everyone know when we are on KickStarter. And, YES, you'll get cookies (and t-shirts)

Are your cookies hard/crunchy, or soft/chewy?

all-natural, golden-brown, deliciously-crunchy, Belgian-chocolaty

I bought some last time he did a reddit appearance. They are small and crunchy. They are pretty good too!

thank you!

Are you guys in any way affiliated with the muffin man?

no

what's the absolute key in running your own business?

1.) Provide the highest quality product and service. (be better than your competition) 2.) Have a vision of your business in 5 years. 3.) Be relentless (work harder than your competition) 4.) Take one day at a time. 5.) Make good decisions, always go towards the best alternative, don't hesitate to drop something that doesn't work.

I find it interesting that you shell out for real vanilla when almost every article I've read says that if you're baking your end product, the kind of vanilla you use (artificial extract, real extract, or pure vanilla bean) is completely irrelevant - nobody can taste the difference.

Here's two articles that illustrate the point:

http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/12/taste-test-is-better-vanilla-extract-worth-the-price.html

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/taste_tests/455-vanilla-extract

What are your thoughts on this? Do you honestly believe you (or any of your customers) can legitimately taste the difference in vanilla when culinary experts self-admit that they cannot?

how many people can tell the difference between an original Picasso and a print? Taste is subjective but none-the-less we need to know that we're doing the best for our customers. Unapologetically.

How difficult is it to be an entrepreneur in America?

gets more difficult every year BUT, it will never be easier than it is today!

Your cookies are all natural, so do you encounter problems with freshness? What do you do to ensure the cookies reach the customer in good shape (i.e. not moldy or stale)?

we bake and ship immediately -no warehousing. To protect the butter from oxidation we developed a special method of packaging.

Do your cookies go better with whole milk, skim milk, or chocolate milk?

ANY milk and the BEST with coffee and on ice cream. We'll introduce "Dunkers" in 6 months.

What made you decide you were going to go into this? Sounds like you took a big risk to start your company. (Those cookies do look delish though.)

The biggest risk you can take is NOT taking a risk. Fear stops lots of people but my mother was inspirational & told me that I could do anything. It's all about taking BABY STEPS... it's not really a plunge if you do that.

If you can make a living doing something that makes people smile, life is good!

Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies? -We make the BEST -unapologetically!

You only live once (so far as we know)

Where can we buy them?

I just set up a Reddit Special on my website: http://www.bartsbakery.com/

GO TO "ALL PRODUCTS"

Scroll down to the "REDDIT SPECIAL"

Use this promo code at checkout: GOLD

We pay the shipping and you'll save 20% as well

only in LA or our website: http://www.bartsbakery.com/

we have a reddit special: use this code at checkout: GOLD

you'll save 20% and get free shipping

How did you afford to buy all the machines and equipment?

saved for 19 years. I knew I wanted to do this since 1988, when the original Famous Amos cookie went defunct.

How long did it take to become what you would consider "successful?" How did you manage to work through to this point, especially if it took a while?

Depends how you measure success: I have love and Judy, Jordan & I love what we do. Financially we have less than we had 20 years ago. We literally sold everything and lived in our BUS in our parking lot for 18 months.

Our bus: http://www.bartsbakery.com/uploads/images/images/Busbest.jpg

As long as we're moving forward I consider myself successful.

We'll have money in the bank in 24 months! (then I'll consider myself truly successful)

Do you guys ship? I'd love to try some!

I just posted a REDDIT SPECIAL on our website: http://www.bartsbakery.com/

Go to the "all products" section on the menu bar: SCROLL DOWN TO THE REDDIT SPECIAL.

Use this special code at checkout: GOLD

it includes shipping AND the code will save you 20%

ENJOY!

Just bought a batch. Proof: http://imgur.com/jVH6cIj

Will post review when they arrive. :)

thank you!

Thanks....I just purchased some...can't wait until they arrive.

thank you! ENJOY!

Thank you! :)

my pleasure, seriously

What made you decide that this was the product you were going to invest your time and money into? It must be a damn good cookie. But still, did you go through trials to try and find the perfect product or was this something you already had and then decided to market? How long did it take to make past the initial investment? Sorry if that ones too nosey, I'm young (25) and considering going into business for myself.

I'll have to think on that.

My advise: plan that whatever you do will require 3x more money than you project and take 5x longer. Then you'll keep your sanity!

I'm reading this as I'm working a miserable job, filled with politics and job uncertainty. What motivated you guys to take the risk?

a dream, confidence and love. my advice: End the suffering.

Oh nice, I actually just shortened up a mesh belt on one of those about a week ago and added some insulation to reduce hot spots along with some damper adjustments.

Our company mainly deal with large scale bread baking equipment but occasionally we see some pastry lines and cookie lines.

You would be amazed by the production increase that a loader and simple conveyor system can provide, but like you said, those things can get expensive quick!

What kind of mixers and dough dividing system do you currently use? Not that I'm trying to sell you anything, I just have a general curiosity about the baking industry and different methods used.

Peerless mixer

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I'm the ORIGINAL cookie monster