Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Mehall and Melissa Blue.
Melissa Mehall and Melissa Blue have been best friends since they were eight years old, growing up in Waco, Texas. They grew up working on teams together, such as cheerleading, and mission trips- lots of opportunities to work and problem solve! They both attended the University of Texas in Austin and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the McCombs School of Business. After college, Melissa Blue got married and moved to California and got her gemology degree. Melissa Mehall got married and moved to Dallas to attend law school at Southern Methodist University.
Melissa Blue was given the Monster Cookie recipe from her mother-in-law on her wedding day with a Bosch mixer-as if to say, please continue on the Blue family tradition of making Monster cookies for your family. About eight years ago, Melissa Blue’s niece developed a gluten intolerance and Melissa watched her sister struggle to find great-tasting gluten-free treats for her niece. While making the monster cookie recipe one day for her own children, Melissa Blue realized that this family loved recipe didn’t contain and flour or wheat! So there was the business idea- here you have a recipe that has been loved and eaten for our 40 years that just happens to be naturally gluten-free. Melissa Blue then called Melissa Mehall who was practicing law part-time and asked if she would join her in creating Meli’s Monster Cookies. That was the beginning of Meli’s journey to build our brand in the exciting CPG world. Today Meli’s has five products (three dry cookie mixes and three frozen, pre-baked cookies) in approximately 8,000 stores nationwide, including leading retailers, Target, Kroger and Walmart.
Has it been a smooth road?
Melissa Mehall and Melissa Blue have no consumer product goods (CPG) background, so the major challenge, in the beginning, was learning the business. Learning the vernacular along with operational items including distribution channels, inventory planning, manufacturing best practices, and networking to secure introductory meetings with retail buyers. Other challenges, was once we get our product on shelves, how do we get it off shelves and into consumers hands. Letting the consumer know what Meli’s Cookies are, how great they taste, and where to buy them is our major focus. We always celebrate on the evening when we get the good news that we got into a major retailer, then we wake up in the morning thinking “Oh no, now I have to get the product off the shelves into a consumers shopping basket!”
There are so many challenges -it is hard to write them all down. But this is the journey of being an entrepreneur- which we love. We tackle challenges with perseverance and tenacity- and who better to do that with than your life long best friend!!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Meli’s Monster Cookies sells naturally gluten-free ready-to-eat cookies and dry cookie mixes. We have three flavors including, Original, ChocoLOT, and Cashewlicious. Meli’s are made with gluten-free rolled oats, a nut butter, and different chocolate inclusions. Bite’em and we are sure you will love’em! Meli’s is known for being the best tasting gluten-free cookie on the market. Meli’s is based on a family recipe that has been loved and eaten for over 40 years, long before anyone cared about gluten-free. While making the recipe one day, Melissa discovered that this family treat didn’t include flour or wheat – thus, was “accidentally” gluten-free. Meli’s are moist and chewy and taste fantastic! Meli’s are higher in protein than the majority of the cookies on the market since Meli’s first two ingredients are rolled oats and a nut butter, not flour and sugar, like most cookies. We are most proud of how we have grown a company from an idea to actualization and have been able to provide jobs and deliver tasty gluten-free treats across our nation. Personally, learning this industry from scratch feels like a huge accomplishment!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I do think Fort Worth has been a great city to grow a business. The people have been so kind to take in Meli’s and write about Meli’s to help us spread the word. Additionally, Melissa Blue lives in Austin and it is been great to see the CPG community there support Meli’s. Dallas has just started a new CPG forum called F&B/CPG to support local CPG brands. We are excited to get involved with this group and further grow the local CPG community.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melismonstercookies.com
- Instagram: @melismonstercookies
- Facebook: @melismonstercookies
- Twitter: @meliscookies
Image Credit:
Kristen Kilpatrick
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