Today we’d like to introduce you to Maya Madsen.
Maya, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Started the business in 2015. Being vegan, I had a hard time finding a gourmet decadent vegan cookie to satisfy my sweet tooth so I began making them myself. My vegan chocolate chip cookies were a big hit with friends and family and soon I found myself baking 20 dozen a week for friends, clients, teacher birthdays etc. I decided to look into turning my delicious cookie recipe into a business and decided that the local farmers market scene would be the best place to start.
After about 6 months, the cookies began gaining popularity and word was beginning to spread among the vegan community. I slowly started adding new creative flavors as the demand increased and have since grown to over 20 cookie flavors. We have developed a loyal following and pride ourselves on excellent customer service, consistent high-quality product and creative decadent flavors.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I was lucky enough to find a great mentor, Jean Richardson – President of Gold Mine Natural Foods – based in Poway to guide me in the beginning. Jean has been a valuable resource and has taught me how to navigate the food industry. Because of Jeans’s guidance, I was able to avoid common mistakes that new food businesses tend to make as well as make educated business decisions.
In the beginning, I had to beg everyone that walked by my booth at the farmers market to sample our product. Now we sometimes have lines, 10 people, deep waiting to buy our product. My customers are very loyal!
Maya’s Cookies – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Maya’s Cookies specializes in Gourmet vegan cookies. We only make cookies and are known for our creative flavors, consistent quality and great customer service. We use only the highest quality premium ingredients to make the best cookies on the market. Our signature cookie is the Marble Fudge Chocolate chip. This is a classic Chocolate chip cookie with a rich fudge batter folded throughout. The fudge is made with pure raw Cacao which makes it taste so good.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being voted as Best Vegan Baked goods in San Diego for 2017!
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