Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Long.
Jack, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Born and educated in the UK. Graduated in Law at University of Leicester (England). Started own telco which was bought by MCI (now Verizon). Marketing Director at MCI until 2005.
In 2005, emigrated to the US with my family and bought a Cookies by Design franchise in Fort Myers Florida
CEO Cookies by Design corporate 2011 until present.
Has it been a smooth road?
There are always challenges and risks associated with running your own business, from raising capital to managing a profitable enterprise and scaling that enterprise.
Working at a multi-national company (MCI) was supposed to be a more solid, risk-free proposition but the company went into Chapter 11 and so nothing is a given.
Returning to running a business (Cookies by Design) suits me because I am able to make (hopefully) informed decisions and see them through.
We are a franchise but having owned one of our franchises first I am fully adept at our operation and totally understand the detail and challenges our franchisees to encounter.
It always pays to fully understand your business at a forensic level so that any decisions are made with knowledge of what impacts those decisions make a t a micro and macro level.
Being able to lead and to establish our brand both locally and nationally is exciting.
The US Gifting Industry is extremely competitive with some notable national brands who have a competitive market advantage due to their very size. At Cookies by Design, we have to be able to attract new customers because of our value proposition and unique product offering.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Cookies by Design is a Gifting Company that specializes in delicious freshly baked hand decorated cookie gifts. We are the Original Cookie Bouquet company, started in 1983 by Gwen Whilhite who had the idea of creating cookies that are arranged into a stunning gift.
Everything we do is baked to order with same day delivery of our cookie gifts available in most areas.
We have 65 shop locations across the US (4 in DFW) and also a 12,000 square foot production facility in Plano which services the DFW market and from where we ship products daily nationwide via UPS.
We offer cookie bouquets and gift baskets for all occasions as well as offering personalization and customization so that customers can create a truly original gift. We also sell a full range of gourmet cookies, cookie cakes, brownies and chocolate truffles.
Our recipes are proprietary and regarded as the most delicious in our industry.
We have seen significant growth in our corporate sales over the last 2-3 years with our ability to create cookies which have edible corporate logos on them, which are ideal for promotional items, and to celebrate corporate events and of course staff recognition and anniversaries.
Our franchisees all must pass our Cookie College, a 7-day training program held here in Dallas which takes them through the entire business model, including production, IT, finance, marketing, HR, etc.
We recently began a partnership with Build-A-Bear where we have combined the best of both products into bouquets with full-size keepsake cuddly bears. We are also licensed to produce gifts for the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.
We have developed a range of Gluten Free items for retail and wholesale.
Our whole focus is on product quality and customer satisfaction. We long ago stopped listening to ourselves and now are mostly guided by customer feedback and suggestion. We have a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +79 (scale is -100 to +100). +70 is regarded as world class. This is derived from customer responses monitored by a third party.
At Cookies by Design, we are all passionate about what we do and love our business.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Dallas is an extremely attractive place for our business. It is affluent, diverse, expanding, forward thinking and has no state income tax.
On top of all this, we are as perfectly placed as we could be for logistics in that we are so central which is key for sending and receiving goods efficiently and cost-effectively across the country.
I would most definitely recommend DFW to any entrepreneur for the above reasons and also because most cities here have incentives for businesses that can demonstrate job creation. These cities offer advice to fledgling businesses too which can be invaluable as you set about creating a sustainable enterprise.
Pricing:
- Our Gifts range from $12.99 to over $100.00
Contact Info:
- Address: 1865 Summit Avenue #607, Plano, TX 75074
- Website: cookiesbydesign.com
- Phone: 972-398-9536
- Email: jlong@cookiesbydesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cookiesbydesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CookiesbyDesignHQ
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cookiesbydesign
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/cbdcookiegifts/
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
