Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Rowell.
Whitney, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Miracle Milkookies is a milk-boosting cookie company that I started when I was struggling to breastfeed my first baby. After trying lactation cookies that a girlfriend dropped on my doorstep several days after my first daughter was born, I set out to make some for myself. I Googled lactation producing ingredients and incorporated them into my go-to oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. The recipe was posted to my blog, so I could share it with my new mama friends. Before I knew it, I started hearing from mamas across the country with breastfeeding success stories as a result of these cookies. After asking my followers about whether they would prefer to bake or buy, I decided to turn this recipe into a business and launched a doorstep delivery service in Dallas in July of 2017. Soon enough, the growing group of Dallas Milkookie mamas started telling their friends and word spread like wildfire from NYC to LA. The doorstep delivery model in Dallas eventually turned into a subscription service, allowing mamas across the US to receive their kookies on a weekly basis. Miracle Milkookies is launching nationally in August 2018 during World Breastfeeding Week, making it easier for mama’s everywhere to get a little boost.
Has it been a smooth road?
Launching a company of any kind is never easy but it’s worth it if you believe in it. I decided to start selling Miracle Milkookies online in July of 2017, just one month before my second baby was due. In hindsight that was the best decision I could have made because I didn’t have time to focus on growing the business through the traditional PR/marketing route (my background), I told myself that if this business is going to grow, it’s going to grow organically, and it did! The day I launched my website, I immediately got orders for frozen cookie dough balls from mama’s in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and all across Texas. Keep in mind this was July! I quickly realized I had NO idea what I was doing. I called my friend who owns a Pokey O’s in Waco, TX and asked how you ship frozen cookie dough and he said, you don’t! Apparently, you have to get freezer trucks to deliver for you. I had so much to learn. I immediately took down my national frozen cookie dough delivery model and re-strategized, the new model became local doorstep deliveries in Dallas. I offered these deliveries on a daily basis. At the time I had a 2 year old and a barely two month old, so you can imagine how much work it was to deliver cookies to mama’s across the city at all hours of the day with a crying baby and screaming toddler in between naps and feedings. I was exhausted, to say the least! Finally The Tot, a high end children’s boutique with stores in Highland Park Village and West Lovers Lane offered to partner and they eventually became the pick-up location for Dallas mama’s. This was a life saver. During this time, I was also approached by an investor who wanted equity in my company in exchange for commercializing the brand. I entertained that offer from January 2017-April of 2018, which took up a ton of my time and resources involving multiple attorneys, consultants, etc. At the end of the day I ended up not taking the investor’s dollars which was the best decision I could have made. Since then, I have hired a kitchen to produce my product and have turned this business into a direct-to-consumer subscription model that has been so beneficial to mama’s looking to produce more milk on a weekly basis. I’ve also met with anyone and everyone in the food/marketing/private equity/venture capital/start-up/ tech world that I can get 5 minutes with to learn, learn, and learn. What I’ve realized from launching a food company like this is that the more I know, the less I know, and I want to keep learning from everyone who is the best. Also, this is a primarily male dominated industry, so having women friends who stepped into this field before me, like Lauren Brundage Mariel of Live Love Pop, has been crucial to my success!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Miracle Milkookies story. Tell us more about the business.
Our ‘kookies’ help breastfeeding mama’s produce more milk!
Something really exciting for Miracle Milkookies is that we have a growing NICU program that allows others to gift Miracle Milkookies to mama’s with babies in NICU. The NICU program was launched as a result of the success from friends delivering Miracle Milkookies to their mama friends with babies in NICU. The incredible stories from the mama’s experiencing a huge boost in supply (to the amazement of many a doctor and nurse) led to this initiative.
We are currently working on a new kookie product that includes a gluten free and vegan option!
Miracle Milkookies are available to order for $24 per box online at www.miraclemilkookies.com. The kookies are also available for pick-up at The Tot in Dallas at 4607 West Lovers Lane Dallas, TX 75209.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our goal is to help EVERY mama out!
First, we hope to hop on the train of the #normalizebreastfeeding movement. It shouldn’t be such a stigma
Second, we want to partner with hospitals around the country to gift mama’s with babies in NICU with Miracle Milkookies through our NICU donation platform
Finally, we see Miracle Milkookies as a larger brand. Many of our mama’s stop breastfeeding around 6-12 months, so we hope to offer additional products that meet them where they are in these later stages.
Pricing:
- 1 box of Miracle Milkookies is $30.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.miraclemilkookies.com
- Email: whitney@miraclemilkookies.com
- Instagram: @miraclemilkookies
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/miraclemilkookies
- Twitter: @mmkookies
Image Credit:
Gregory Scaffidi
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