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

Hi Betsy, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I come from a big Italian family with our roots in New York. When the pandemic started I was a stay at home mom to three kids- a two year old and four month old twins. Traveling home to NY was out of the question due to the pandemic and my heart ached so much for my loving family. In July of 2020, shortly after my sister Christina moved to Columbus I decided to make a batch of Italian Rainbow Cookies. Italian Rainbow Cookies were a Christmas staple every year that we devoured in my Grandma Angela home. In our family food is love and these cookies said “love” ten times over!
After making that batch of cookies for my sister and I, I felt a burst of inspiration, a new calling, a spark of excitement that I hadn’t felt in months! I turned to my sister and said- “Let’s sell Rainbow Cookies!”
My background and well as my sister’s in in restaurant admin and management. It was a no brained that we could handle all the aspect of starting a business! Our concept was unique- no one else was doing anything remotely close to this!
We put our heads together, created a Facebook and Instagram page, composed a Google sheet for taking orders and sketched out a plan for baking and deliveries! By the beginning of September we had launched Angie’s Rainbow Cookies! My sister has since left the business and returned to the corporate world but is still involved and helps as needed!

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 have worked in restaurants my whole life- I started as a sandwich maker and worked all the way up the management chain. I spent time in both the corporate world as well as the local small business arena. I had twins in November 2019 and didn’t return to work after they were born. I longed for a way to use my experience and finally had the opportunity when the idea for Angie’s arose! The business is named after my grandmother Angela who was the matriarch of our family. She hosted all the holidays in her tiny home in the Bronx, NY. She taught us about traditions and that heritage and family was the most important thing in the world. She passed away in 2010, but we think about her everyday. Naming the business after her was a non negotiable!
Angie’s Rainbow Cookies puts a fun and modern spin on the traditional Italian Rainbow Cookie. Traditionally the cookies is composed of layers of red, white and green almond cake sandwiched with raspberry jam and topped with chocolate. We experiment with seasonal colors, flavors and toppings!

How did you build your audience on social media?

The first thing we did since we were in the middle of the pandemic was create a Facebook and Instagram page. Being familiar with both platforms we quickly started reaching out to local influencers and businesses to get our name out there! We posted and posted and posted pictures and stories and gained followers. We delivered samples to all our favorite people and businesses and they posted about our new business and more orders came in. Two months in we were blown away by the traction we had gained. We hosted giveaways and engaged in all the Facebook communities and groups and continued to grow. We continue to this day to use social media to its fullest extent!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Our biggest holiday ever was Valentine’s Day 2021. We marketed our little hearts out on social media and through email blasts. When we opened ordering for the holiday the orders literally poured in. We had not had a holiday like this yet and definitely bit off way more than we could chew but four of us delivered 120 orders around Columbus that weekend!

Contact Info:

• Website: Angiesrainbowcookies.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/angiesrainbowcookies
• Facebook: Facebook.com/angiesrainbowcookies.com
• Yelp: Angie’s Rainbow Cookies