We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alison Kuo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

We manage our social media ourselves instead of hiring a professional social media team to manage it because we love engaging and interacting with our audiences ourselves!

Having a professional team will definitely be easier for us since they study the algorithm of social media platforms. However, having a direct interaction with our customers is extremely crucial for our growth as a brand: listening to their feedback and answering their questions allow us to observe from the customer’s perspective and correct our mistakes.

And that is why we do not plan on hiring any professional social media team as for now.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Here at SALT butter cookie we focus on classic, timeless and quality products with modern twists. Our butter cookies are made with top quality ingredients only with no artificial flavorings/ colorings. We believe good food shines within its original self.

I started SALT butter cookie because I want people to understand that using minimum high quality ingredients is all you need to make amazing products. And I named my brand “salt” because people tend to underestimate the importance of salt in desserts, but when used properly and carefully “salt” plays a big role in every dish including sweets!

Our packaging is simple and minimal so customers can focus on the products with no distraction

Have you ever had to pivot?

I remember I decided to go to pastry school and get a job at Ladurée when I visited the shop on Champs-Élysées in Paris back in 2010. Making pastries and becoming a pâtissier was all I ever wanted. So it was a very difficult decision for me to leave my job at Ladurée in 2019. But I knew I had to leave my comfort zone and explore the possibilities; possibilities outside of Ladurée, outside of the pastry world, and explore myself.

I thought I’d travel the world and see what’s out there after leaving my job. But unfortunately, COVID happened.

Covid happened, then the pandemic happened, and the world was in lock down. I had no other options but to pivot my plans: I got a corporate job that allows me to WFH so my income was steady, and then I decided to create something of my own: a small business. Starting a small business calmed me down during the pandemic because it was something I have control over. It might be small, but it’s mine.

Looking back to the pandemic and everything that went down I feel grateful. I was fortunate enough to not lose anyone for COVID and fortunate enough to start my own business. The pandemic reset the world and I’m glad it pushed me to start something I never would have.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

We were very eager to collaborate with other businesses when we first launched SALT. From influencers to local cafes to retail markets. We wanted to promote our brand and thought being associated with “big names” will bring us success. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as we planned.

Many times we’d set up meetings with other businesses that seem to share the same values and visions. We’d meet, talk, and exchange ideas only to find out that it is very difficult to collaborate 2 businesses because there are numerous details to coordinate and compromise. Things were only amazing and magical before we talk numbers.

After countless frustrating business meetings we have decided not to rely on collaborations as much as we did in the beginning. We learned that we don’t need to sell ourselves short to make business deals happen. If it’s meant to happen it will happen.

We understand our values now.

Contact Info:

• Website: saltbuttercookie.com
• Instagram: @saltbuttercookie