Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Keith Dunigan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Keith thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Within the baking industry, I feel as if recipes are usually a secret. Which I can completely understand. Some recipes have been past down through several generations. Some businesses keep their recipe a secret to avoid their competition stealing them. However I learned to bake from watching YouTube videos and baking shows. Youtube channels like “Cupcake Jemma” and “Preppy Kitchen”, strongly motivated me to start my business, Cop A Cookie.

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 story begins in my very tiny apartment 5 years ago or so. During covid, I started watching YouTube videos and then attempted to bake what I’d just watched. Initially I was not very successful, but as time went by my skills continued to grow. I mostly made cakes and cookies, but the cookies turned out to be the best.
As time went by, my love for baking grew. It was stressful at times but for the most part, it was very calming for me. There’s nothing like putting on some music and then going to work in the kitchen. Prior to selling my cookies, i’d hand them out for free. Mostly to my coworkers and friends. The feedback was always very positive and people would always say “ You need to open a bakery”. I obviously haven’t reached that point yet, but maybe someday.

So what makes these cookies so special? If you ask me, I simply follow the rules of the baking world and ask people for their opinions. All of my cookies are made with fresh flour from a local market, unsalted butter and caster sugar. The fresh flour makes a huge difference in the texture of the cookie. The Caster sugar, blends well with the butter in my opinion and my cookies are rather large. Each cookie is weighed out to 125g. The dough is frozen over night and before I actually bake them I sit the pan in the oven while it pre heats. This way, you get a soft cookie on top and a little crunch on the bottom.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective way that I’ve grown my business has been social media by far. I have over 20k followers on Tik Tok and over 6k on Instagram,. I’d say roughly 85% of my business comes from theses two. People really underestimate the power of social media, in my opinion. I’ve shipped cookies to every state and the majority of my customers have heard about my cookies from others posting about them. The best part, is that it’s totally free. My business is approaching over 60k in sales for the year and I have not spent a dime on advertising. I am constantly researching trends and viral sounds to add into my videos/reels. It won’t happen over night and it takes a lot of consistency, but in the end it’s worth it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’d say a lesson that I had to learn or unlearn, would be that everything won’t always be perfect. At this time, I’ve baked over 10k cookies and I STILL mess up batches at least once a week. There may not be enough baking powder in the dough. I should’ve used two eggs instead of three. I needed to use two sticks of butter instead of a stick and half. I am a perfections and very OCD. I have to remind myself that things won’t always be perfect and that I’m constantly still learning with each batch.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://copacookie.com
• Instagram: Cop_A_cookie