We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jasmine Muqbel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jasmine below.

Jasmine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Hi! I’m Jasmine, the founder of For Love And Lemon Cookies. Over the course of a decade, I’ve worked in Fashion wholesaling and marketing, having kick started a lot of awesome woman-owned brands. I fell in love with making designers’ dreams a reality and discovered that great products truly do sell themselves.

I wanted to create a brand of my own that sparked joy. For Love And Lemon Cookies began as a sweet feeling in October 2021.

For Love And Lemon Cookies is inspired by happiness and delight — I love when food pleases both your tastebuds and your eyes. I wanted to pivot from fashion into something sweeter. I dreamt of creating something unique.. something that could even go viral. I knew it would be hard. Magical ideas don’t come from nothing! But I also knew I had hard work in my bones and was ready for a challenge like that.

I’m a first-generation AAPI woman who was raised by two incredible humans. My mother was our hardworking homemaker, feeding us delicious homemade meals and keeping the house spotless. She also definitely gave me my sweet tooth (thanks, mom!). My father was our hardworking entrepreneur, starting his own business at 27 going door-to-door selling home appliances and furniture. I learned from both of them how hardwork pays off. So here I am, putting in the work every day to make them proud.

My menu is inspired by flavors of childhood, I grew up in the suburbs of Long Island where almost all the old school bakeries were Italian. My Taiwanese mother helped me discover the delicacies of Flushing, my Palestinian father always ventured us to Astoria’s Little Egypt. My palate is highly attributed to them both.

I started with a simple lemon curd centered thumbprint cookie. The iconic flower cookie shape is with thanks to my sister Amelia, who told me to make these delicious cookies into something cute and recognizable. The next night I dreamt of an array of colorful flower cookies. After that, it was a matter of recipe-and-development every day of October 2021. It took many tests to land on something edible. And on top of that it took many tweaks, to now offer such a delicious mix of flavors and colors.

I would share with the world what I was doing every day. I created an Instagram, followed similar cookie accounts to learn things, and I allowed my persistence to take over. The consistency in sharing what I was doing helped me gain a strong local following within Astoria, NYC. In October 2022, I launched my website. And in May 2023 I’m now stocked at 4 stores in Astoria, Queens and Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

For Love And Lemon Cookies proudlys create beautiful flower cookies using naturally. colorful ingredients. My cookies are handcrafted and freshly baked in small batches, packaged and shipped from my home kitchen. Everything is naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, always. You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook at @forloveandlemoncookies for product updates and positive shares.

I hope a box of flower cookies add some smiles to your home. Enjoy!

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?

My name is Jasmine Muqbel and I’m a flower-loving New Yorker who loves to satisfy her taste buds. Born in Queens and raised in Long Island, I’m a first generation Asian-American with parents from Jordan and Taiwan. I studied psychology and French and graduated from Fordham University in 2014, and after years of working in fashion wholesale/marketing, I pushed myself to create a brand of my own in October 2021.

For Love And Lemon Cookies is a unique brand of delicious colorful flower cookies that ship nationwide. The menu consists of my favorite flavors in the cutest flower cookie form. On top of being pleasing to the eye and taste, I aimed to keep the ingredients as simple as possible. I’m really proud to have such an offering. All cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, and gum-free, which is hard to find!

Why naturally colorful? A lot of your favorite colorful desserts have the strangest number of artificial dyes that I personally like to limit from my lifestyle. Europe bans a lot of these dyes, but the FDA unfortunately still allows them here in America. Scary!

Why Gluten & Dairy Free? While I do not have any allergies myself, I do have a slight intolerance to both gluten and dairy now that I’m 30. It comes with time! I wanted to create a simple cookie that didn’t have weird replacements. Instead of all purpose flour, I use California Almond flour. Instead of butter, I use Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. These real ingredients provide the most delicious bite. While growing my business, I learned I had a lot of clients with Celiac Disease, who adore these gluten-free cookies! I am so glad I am not only a substitute, but a favorite among this audience.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media can be daunting when you’re starting a business. I feel this way in almost any category. There is so much competition, so much to already look at online, it feels like anything you share won’t be seen.

But I promise you, some people will see it! And maybe they’ll tell a friend or two. While my Instagram following isn’t off the charts, I’m proud to have such an authentic and organic community there. Consistency is key, you need to post what you are doing regularly for people to discover you.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Pop-ups are such a fun way to organically meet clients! I love my cookie monsters (you know who you are)! There’s only so much you can convey in your website, social, and captions. Who you are, and how you present your product in real life is important, too!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://forloveandlemoncookies.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/forloveandlemoncookies/