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

Hi Julie, thanks for joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I have been making decorated cookies for 9 years. It started out as a hobby and slowly grew into a business. During Covid, I realized that our individual item was what people wanted. We did what we could to service people during that time. Taking all precautions and delivering. Our product literally put smiles on faces of people during a unprecedented and uncertain time. While we did what we could to provide a safe product, our customers did what they could to support our small business.

That time period catapulted our business into the largest growth we have experienced. Our business grew because of the word-of-mouth of our faithful customers.

Our business continues to grow and will soon be expanding into Sweet Dee’s Cupcakes in downtown Winter Garden.

Julie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I began decorating sugar cookies 9 years when a friend asked for a colorful dessert to take into a Ministry opportunity in New Orleans, La. What started off as a hobby, quickly grew into a side business. Once moving to Central Florida, the demand for our product grew. It pushed me to try new techniques, new flavors, and new designs. Our business was just getting off the ground here in Florida when Covid hit. I thought it was over. We made extra steps to individually package and deliver during that time. People responded! Delivering our product to front doors and porches across the area quickly became the highlight of my day! And again, our customers responded. Text and social Media message started come in expressing great thankful for the happy cookies that were delivered. We delivered for drive by baby showers, wedding showers, and birthdays. What I thought would end our business, actually took it to another level.

We hand make each and every cookie with great care and detail. We can copy most any image or design that a customer has. From invitations, to party plates, corporate logos, and photos from Pinterest. We take each order and create a product out of love for our customers. We do what we can to make each and every customer feel loved and appreciated.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Recently I donated some cookies for our area MOPS kick off. A lady who owned a bakery in the area had our cookies at this event. She contacted me that night to tell me that our cookies were “phenomenal “! What encouragement that brought me from an established business in the area. And from an established baker! I was thrilled! We love donating our product when we can. This time, the donation turned into a business expansion.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I love people. I do what I can to support people and organizations/non profits in our area. We donated hundreds of cookies a year to non-profits and ministries. I love putting smiles on peoples faces. And when that happens, our customer spread the word. I am so thankful for all those who call their “Cookie Lady”. Our business has grown because of the love we put into our product and the word-of-mouth advertising from our customers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Sweet_Life_cookies
• Facebook: Sweet Life Cookie – Julie Stewart
• Other: Google Business search: Sweet Life Cookies Winter Garden

Image Credits
The photographer for headshots: Viviana Pereria