We recently connected with Rachael Tran and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachael , thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

“If not now, when?” When I started The Cookie Crew, it was to fill a void. It was something for me to enjoy. I surely never saw myself preparing to open a store 2 years later. I kept this idea of having my own store to myself for quite some time, afraid to give it power. Then one day I said to my husband, what if we opened a store? He looked at me and said, “Funny, I’ve been thinking the same!”
Opening our first brick and mortar was one of the biggest risks I’ve taken. Terrifying doesn’t even come close to describing it! We put everything we had into making this dream a reality, and when we opened those doors, we knew that was such an achievement in itself! I wish I could tell you how it turned out, but we continue to live through our mission statement “Creating Community Through Cookies”, and open our doors everyday to welcome this amazing community of people who support us!

Rachael , 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?

Born and raised in the midwest (go Cards!) I found myself in sunny California at 20 years old… I started my baking journey in 2010 when I was burnt out on traditional college and asked myself what I was going to do… what brings me joy? Baking! That same week I found the closest culinary school and walked out enrolled. You’ll see through my journey I’m a jump and think later sort of gal. After graduating culinary school, I was lucky enough to work in some bakeries in Orange County. Then came babies and my baking was put on the back burner. I continued doing cakes for friends and families. Fast forward to 2020, I just had my 3rd baby, and like everyone else, stuck at home baking. Again, I got a wild idea to start a cookie business and within the week had made myself a logo, instagram, and was creating cookies left and right in my kitchen. The response was amazing. Friends and family supported my business, and I supported their cookie habit. Before I knew it, I had an amazing community supporting me and my dreams, and it’s something I’ll never forget or take for granted. I pinch myself everyday when I walk into the store, and I know I wouldn’t be anywhere without my amazing customers.
I want people to know I take pride in trying to make the most unique flavors, using quality ingredients. I’m not just another franchise, I’m a sweets enthusiast and a mom who’s trying to fulfill a dream for herself and her family.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I’d been baking for friends and family for ten years, so when I started The Cookie Crew, I never imagined where it would take me. My business started quickly and on a whim. While I was testing out my cookies I asked friends and family to try them for me and in return post on social media. I started selling in October and was shocked at the support! In February I started doing a monthly local bazaar, and I really credit a lot of my growth on that market. Sold out, month after month, hundreds of cookies made. It was a labor of love, but man did I enjoy every minute! It allowed me to get to know the amazing community I was in. Nobody rallies like the small business community. Like I said before, I really didn’t allow my dreams to live anywhere outside of my head, until one day I shyly mentioned to my husband…”but what if we took it further, what if we opened a store?” To my shock, the dream had been living quietly in his head. To say we got from point A to point B without struggles (and a lot of tears), would just be silly. We have no investors, we live paycheck to paycheck, we had turns at every corner, having our potential locations being beat out my bigger franchises, banks declining us. Sept 10th, 2022 we opened the doors to our first brick and mortar. Is it a daily struggle? Absolutely. Do I stand in my kitchen everyday with a grateful heart that my side business brought me here? Absolutely.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

No dream comes without some hiccups right? I could roll out a list of set backs longer than Santa’s nice list. I’d say one of our biggest, that we know can laugh about, is our beloved water heater. We had ordered our water heater with a projected arrival date that gave us 2 weeks wiggle room before inspection. We sat, day after day, seeing our arrival date get pushed back and pushed back. Call after call. We found ourselves the week of inspection and opening weekend, without a water heater. Two days before inspection and I am on a mission to find this thing. Well, I found it, sitting on a truck in Arizona. It had been there for about a week. After some begging and crying, they agreed to take it off the truck and I sent my husband and his friend off to a round trip ticket to Arizona. (Did I mention he also brought White Castle back?) It was installed in the morning, inspection in the afternoon, and opening day 2 days later. Phew!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecookiecrewco.com
• Instagram: @thecookiecrewco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecookiecrewco
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-cookie-crew-temecula

Image Credits
Jordyn Mooney Photography