We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Cooper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Katie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
As a stay at home mom, I always felt driven for more of a purpose than just a full time mom role. During the pandemic, with a lot more free time and help at home, I felt a pull in my heart to start Queen City Crunch.
Years prior, my mom had been bringing her seasoned pretzels to every event. They were a huge hit with friends and family and were requested anytime they knew my mom was coming! Friends pushed me to start a business off of her recipe, now known as The OG. In 2021 I launched in my home kitchen.
I started with her recipe and made several changes to add additional flavors to the mix. Things quickly took off and I moved into a commercial kitchen space, hired staff, added more warehouse space and then more staff. We are now in over 200 retail locations and are on track to be up 40% from last years sales.
As a stay at home mom I was always pushed for more so when I went to hire, I went to our local moms group. It was filled with moms who also wanted something more as well. Giving them an environment and schedule that was flexible for a mom was something important to me. We have created a community that has been so needed for so many people!
Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am most proud of the community that we have created! We have such amazing people that come in to help us in production or bagging pretzels, from college kids, to a retired teacher. We offer a flexible and easy environment for people to jump into when they are searching for more in their life. Friendships are formed and self fulfillment is possible! We also are able to pour back into our community by donating a part of profits to Families Forward Charlotte, whose mission is to partner with families living in poverty. They provide mentoring, education and essential support.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
When starting at home, I started small and began to scale as the company grew. I was able to bootstrap the company, and have been lucky enough to be profitable since day one. I never wanted to take on more than we were capable of, which also can slow growth. The company is now at a point where we will need to gather funding so that we can scale and create a warehouse space of our own. Operating out of a commercial kitchen limits us, and we only have so much space available.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Our clients mostly have come from word of mouth or from trying our products. We have positioned ourselves as a gift, which provides many new people to try our product – without us doing a thing! When i started the business I would post on the same moms page about my products. I made teacher tags and other cute tags for people to buy and gift. Then those people would start to purchase the products, send a gift box or a tin to their friends and clients. The grassroots effort has been super effective here!
Contact Info:
- Website: queencitycrunch.com
- Instagram: queencitycrunch
- Facebook: queencitycrunch
Image Credits
Amanda Anderson Photography