Cooking should always be fun and educational, especially for children. We loved hearing from Carola about the fab ideas coming out of Cookie Crumbles and their journey from kitchen table project to thriving business!
Tell us the story of your business. How did you come up with the idea?
Cookie Crumbles started out in the early nineties offering children’s cooking classes and parties. My belief is that children should be encouraged to develop a better understanding of food and nutrition by actively getting involved in the kitchen. I believe that children can become better eaters, develop their motoric skills and, best of all, have great fun cooking and baking. That’s why I developed baking mixes that are as natural as possible on the principle that they provide great nutrition for the whole family. Our products are bursting with fantastic ingredients like wholegrain, seeds and dried fruit essential to our daily diet.
I was trained as a chef in Paris before trying my hand at Patisserie and then studying journalism in Paris. I landed my first job at a renowned German Food magazine before moving into Woman’s Magazines as a food editor. I soon realised with my own kids that nobody ever encouraged children to have fun in the kitchen and get messy. I started dedicated pages in the magazine with child- friendly recipes before deciding to set up Cookie Crumbles.
What's the most exciting thing about being an entrepreneur?
The most exciting thing is that if you have an idea you can just try and make it happen. There’s no need to go through lengthy meetings and discussions; I just go and try and make my idea into a concept or product.
What challenges have you come across?
Many – financial, conceptual, logistical, staffing, you name it. As a startup I was covering and exploring areas that I had no expertise in -which in my case seemed to be many. I think one of the main challenges was the tendency to get on with familiar, manageable work stuff and ignore the areas that are unknown. However, as time goes by you become more confident and get more connections- generally speaking other entrepreneurs are happy to share their experiences.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own business?
Be realistic and know your own limitations.
What kind of business support do you want to receive or wished you had received?
Entrepreneurship can be quite a lonely existence as you often have to answer your own questions which can be tough. I would have like to tap into a service where advisers for different areas could give you some feedback.
What would you like to see in a food hub that showcases new producers?
It would be great to be able to share experiences, contacts and stories with other producers.
What do you think about our big ideas and what we are trying to achieve?
I think it’s a wonderful idea and much needed!
If you're interested in Carola’s idea and want to find out a little bit more about these yummy kits, head over to the Cookie Crumble website here, or find them tweeting away @CookieCrumbs_UK.
Are you an Amazing Artisan who wants to be featured on our blog? We'd love to hear from you- drop us a Tweet @KitchTablePro with the hashtag #AmazingArtisan or send us a message to hello@kitchentableprojects.com
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