We were lucky to catch up with Pamela A Dobbins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Pamela A, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Back in 2005, while I was still working in the educational arena, I got this crazy idea to open up a bakery. At the time my last name was from my previous marriage. Without going through the gory details of how things ended, I arbitrarily named my business “Cole’s Confections.” Within six months of opening the business, I had to close the doors. At the time, I did not fully realize the power of words and the impact they had over everything in the earth! I had cursed my business with a name that brought nothing but heartache and pain to me the entire time I was married to my son’s dad. I knew that baking was a part of my heart and soul. I promised God that if He gave me another opportunity to open up a business, I would do better overall. Fast forward to 2017 and I was presented with my second chance. While I was considering retiring from teaching, I would bake only on the weekends as a stress reliever. I got the urge to start selling my products at the local flea market. I began the process of starting up another baking business. Before I came up with the name I actually sat down and started jotting words down in a notebook. I came across the word “delight.” I decided to do a search of the word on the Bible app on my phone. I discovered that the word “delight” is found in the Bible over 80 times in scripture. I followed my heart and decided to name my business at the time Delightful Treats. In August 2017, I obtained my business license and started on a new journey, baking from home. I was operating under the Cottage Food Law, selling my products to customers and just enjoying the idea of bringing smiles to people’s faces. After I fully retired in 2018 from a 25 year teaching career, I decided to explore the idea of opening on a full time basis outside of my home. When the pandemic hit and we were in quarantine, my husband shut down his brick and mortar business in July 2020. He asked me if I wanted the space and I immediately said a resounding “yes!” I was elated and nervous all in the same breath. I was blessed with a grant to proceed with renovations, which occurred over the span of five months. In January 2021, I opened the doors of Delightful Treats Cookies. I decided to focus more on cookies and becoming a cookie processing facility. People started requesting more than cookies because I used to bake cakes, cheesecakes and pies. When I started selling my cookies, one of my main goals was to reach as many people as possible. I focused on selling my cookies through four channels- wholesale, retail, online, and vending. As I continued on my journey, and word started getting out about my cookies. my biggest challenge was that I was making three different flavored cookies– ALL BY HAND!!! To say I was exhausted was an understatement! As I pushed on through, making thousands of cookies by hand, the vision of a “cookie machine” came to me in a dream. After a voracious search on the internet, I found ‘my’ cookie machine in New Jersey. I reached out to the company, discovered the cost of the machine and put my faith into action. This occurred in October 2021 and on May 31, 2022 my cookie machine was delivered! During the transition of acquiring my cookie machine, I went through an upgrade with my business, changing my business structure as well as a name change. I changed from Delightful Treats Cookies, sole proprietor to Delightful Cookies & Treats, LLC. Since that time, I’ve been able to increase my productivity, gain more wholesale accounts and customers as well as keeping a smile on the faces of my customers.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am Pamela Anderson Dobbins, the eleventh child of Hosey and Corine Anderson. My life ended before it really got started according to the doctors report back in 1967. I was born with a hole in my heart and the doctors told my parents I wouldn’t live to be 6 years old. Little did I know that in just 5 short years my life would change forever. At the age of four, on July 5, 1972, my daddy passed away from an inoperable tumor around his heart. If that wasn’t devastating enough, just one month later on August 10, I turned 5 and my mother passed way on August 11, 1972, from a cerebral hemorrhage to the brain. Both of these life-changing events took place almost 56 years ago. As we all know, in life what doesn’t break you will most definitely make you stronger. I chose the path of strength. I had no choice.
I got into the baking industry on a dare from one of my siblings back in high school. I gravitated toward science at an early age and when one of my siblings dared me to bake a cake using mayonnaise as one of the main ingredients, I was intrigued by the science of the process and not so much with the baking. Needless to say, I was bitten by the baking bug once I baked the cake and discovered the moist outcome.
After the cake experience at such an early age, I realized that I loved baking as much as I loved science. Once I got into my teaching career, I used baking as my stress reliever and would bake different treats just for the fun of it. My co-workers became my taste-testers of the creations I made and some of them convinced me to start selling my baked goods. After much thought and consideration I decided to open a bakery in 2005, while still teaching full time! Talk about jumping out the plane without a parachute!! I went all in back in 2005, selling cheesecakes, cake and pies. Six months later I had to shut down my business. I was down for a little while, but not out! During the short time my first business was open, I created and connected with a lot of loyal customers.
Fast forward to 2017, I began a new venture selling the same products as my previous business, in addition to home baked, traditional gourmet cookies in four flavors-chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter and tea cakes. These products were sold at my local flea market, but I felt like I could reach a larger market. In January 2018, I started selling my cookies and treats at the local farmers market. My customer base grew even more and I knew I wanted to get my cookies and treats out to more people. I continued to build my customer base up until March 2020 when the world shut down. It was during this time I used to rethink, rebuild, and re-image my business from a different perspective. I had always wanted another store front, but I knew I needed more funding to make my dream of business ownership happen. I took the initiative to seek out funding through grants and some seed money of my own to fund my dream! By August of 2020, after being notified that I had secured a $10,000 grant, I began to proceed the five month renovation project to turn my newly leased space into what would become Delightful Cookies & treats.
One of the main takeaways I would like for my customers to know about me is that I have nothing but gratefulness, gratitude, and appreciation for all of their support over the years. I truly believe in reciprocating all of the positive vibes and energy that they release to me each and every time we have an encounter with each other! I truly enjoy creating my cookies and treats for each and every one of them, And I thoroughly enjoy bringing a smile to each their faces.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
Currently, Delightful Cookies & Treats, LLC is designated as a food processing facility. The main focus of the business is to manufacture, package, ship (when applicable) and serve our fresh baked, preservative-free, gourmet cookies.
When I took this idea into consideration, my goal was to get these products into the mainstream market– grocery stores, convenience stores and micro markets. I knew that in order to get these products into those types of environments I would need to meet the following criteria: professional, tamper proof packages; a top notch, attractive front label and a thorough detailed nutrition label. In addition to the previous list, I knew I would need a UPC code for my products in order for them to be sold in stores.
In the midst of renovating my leased space over a five month period and being under quarantine, my computer and the internet became my best friends. I researched many companies to provide me with the most top notch goods and services I could find. Prior to venturing off into the manufacturing sector, I had no clue about this arena. All I knew was I wanted to bake gourmet cookies, provide my customers with a great product and present to them a product that would be appealing to the eyes and their tastebuds. The approach I took was a page from my scientific background. I first looked at the big picture and began to narrow down to the basic details. I took a look at what was around me in my home. I started studying the nutrition labels of all the products in the cabinets and pantry in my kitchen. This got my mind to thinking how I would structure the nutrition labels for my own products. After much note taking and research, I finally found a website that allowed me to create a nutrition label for each of my cookie flavors. I also found the company responsible for assigning all of the UPC codes to products in every industry. My final discovery was the cookie bags that would package my home baked gourmet cookies.
Once I made my final decisions about each one of these components to this manufacturing puzzle, everything came together
to create four perfect home baked gourmet cookies! One of the many lessons I’ve learned along the way about manufacturing your own product is that it is not as difficult as some people think. It is a tedious process, but well worth all of the time, energy, and effort I put forth in creating my Delightful Cookies & Treats!!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My life did not start out like the typical childhood in that I lost both of my parents by the age of five. When I was old enough to understand what was going on, I realized that I was in a very unique situation. By the time I was old enough to attend school and being from a small town, everyone knew about what had transpired with my family. I was teased and bullied relentlessly by the other children.
Even as a young child, I always knew I was different. As with anyone, especially a young child, during that time, I didn’t fully comprehend the enormity of how my life had been impacted by events that were beyond my control. As I transitioned into my teenage years, life got rough. There were all sorts of things going on around me, trying to derail my life, but the grace of God kept me on my path. Thankfully I graduated high school, earned an academic scholarship and was able to go off to college. I truly feel that the experiences from my life from a youngster has been and continues to give me the resilience I need daily to face each day in building and maintaining my business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://delightful-treats-cookies.square.site
- Instagram: @cbo_dct
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbodelightfultreats
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/pamela-a-dobbins-10bba459
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@pameladobbins2736
- Yelp: https://delightful-treats-cookies.square.site/s/order