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

Tanya, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have always enjoyed baking. From a young age growing up in the Bronx, I would go to my grandmother’s house on the weekends and watch and help her make carrot cakes that she would sell at church. I would recipes and make things for my family and friends. I moved to Florida 4 years ago and didn’t know many people and would always look online for things to do on the weekends. . I was looking one weekend as I normally do and stumbled across a cookie decorating class being held at a local craft store. I had never really heard of or seen cookies decorated as intricately as these and was really curious. The ad said it was a beginner class with a Christmas theme so I signed up. The class was great and for my first attempt at decorating cookies it really was not too bad. A few weeks later I made decorated cookies for a family Christmas dinner. They were Christmas stocking shaped with everyone’s initials on them and I used them as place settings at the table. Everyone thought they were purchased from a store. When they found out I made them they were shocked and said I could sell them. I didn’t think anything of it and chalked it up to family just being nice. Then a few months later the pandemic and lockdown hit. Everyone was looking for something to do to occupy their time. I went down a You Tube rabbit hole one night and stumbled across a cookie decorating video. I though this could be something good to keep me busy during lockdown. I started soaking up as much information on cookie decorating as I could and became obsessed. I watched dozens of videos and joined online cookie decorating groups to learn techniques. I accumulated countless cookie decorating tools and cookie cutters, started baking and decorating and mailing off boxes of cookies to my family and friends. They started sharing all of the things I was making and kept telling me people were interested in how they could purchase cookies. I kept saying they were not for sale I was doing it to make people happy on lockdown. I was shocked that people wanted to buy them and really never thought of it as a business. I started giving them to neighbors and local people I knew and a big influx of inquiries started coming in where I couldn’t deny that this would be something that could be profitable AND make people happy. I looked into what I would need to start the business and went from there. I never ever thought it would lead me to where I am today. I look back on that 1st set of cookies and see so far I have come in my skill level and business growth in such a short time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I first got into this as a hobby to give people a little bit of happiness while they were on lockdown. It grew through word of mouth to be much more. I still do make people very happy. Clients come to me not knowing exactly what they want. They may send an inspiration photo or give a little bit of detail about a theme they would like and then I take if from there. It makes me so happy to receive messages from clients that I have exceeded their expectations of what they thought the cookies would be. Baby showers and weddings especially are so important to people that they want every detail to be perfect. I’ve had customers that have cried once they saw their cookies. Sometimes they are not “just cookies” to someone but have special meaning to them. I sometimes make what I call “favorite things” sets where a dozen cookies will represent 12 of the persons favorite things they like. A gift like that is thoughtful and personal and means a lot. I love when a customer gives me a theme then gives me creative freedom over it. People come to me when they are looking for a unique gift for a special occasion and I make sure I not only deliver a beautiful product but also one that is delicious. The taste surprises so many people they think cookies like this can only be pretty to look at. I took time to perfect my recipe so they not only look good but taste good. My cookies are soft and delicious and that’s what sets them apart. I’ve turned the biggest critic of sugar cookies into repeat customers.

My biggest accomplishment to date is that last year I received a message from someone saying that they were casting for a cookie show on a major television network and would like for me to try out. I thought it was a scam and wasn’t going to reply. Also, if it wasn’t a scam and was real….man that imposter syndrome will have you questioning a lot of things. I decided to call back because if this was not a scam I thought of how important it was for others who looked like me to see me on TV doing this thing that not many people of color do. Yes there are African American bakers but the decorated cookie path is not one that many of us pursue. I made it through several rounds of interviews and decorating challenges for the show and made it to the very last interview but did not get the final call. This is still my biggest accomplishment because although I really wanted it, it was a validation that YES I can do this and I am good at it. Someone noticed and came to ME! I look forward to auditioning again next year.

I want potential clients to know when choosing me they are getting a personal touch of responsiveness, professional service, beautiful designs and a great tasting cookie!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Word of mouth. More so than anything that social media has done for me, my biggest stream of clients have been word of mouth. When someone goes to an event and sees my cookies as a give away or at their place setting they 9 times out of 10 ask the host “where did the come from?” I have clients that continually recommend my services. They continually tell me that the cookies are too pretty to eat and sometimes people don’t think they are real. My motto is always “take a picture, eat the cookie”. Sometimes they like to hold on to them for souvenirs.

Also, great customer service goes a LONG way. Be responsive, be personable, be a little flexible. I have a no refund policy but sometimes things happen. That mom that wanted the cookies for their baby shower, but then unexpectedly went into labor before the date……still make the order if she wants them later and add in an extra cookie with the birth announcement on it. Make an extra personalized cookie for a bride and put it in a nice box. Those are the types of gestures that customers remember and tell their friends about.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

My favorite marketing story is when I decided to sell cookies at markets. I felt like I had just gotten a good grasp of gaining steady customers and being consistently booked but wanted to see what it was like to have a booth at a market. I signed up for a holiday market and didn’t know anything about having a booth, what the setup would be like etc… I especially did not know how many cookies to make because I had no clue on the amount of people that would be there. Would these cookies even sell? Who would buy them? I put multiple posts up about the market on my pages to build up momentum and gain customers that would come out. The posts yielded crickets. No one was responding or interacting, no one said they would come. I was so disappointed not to mention nervous about being in front of so many people and I had sunk so much money into market fees, a tent, tables, chairs ingredients etc…I kept marketing anyway whenever and wherever I could. The market was for 2 days and I decide to make 300 cookies. I figured for 2 days that was a good number but was still so disappointed by the non-interest on social media. I set up my booth with no real expectations. The market was from 10am to 5 pm. By 2pm I had sold all but 10 cookies! My booth was so busy that I had to call my niece, my mother and step father to come help me man the booth! There were times the line was so long people had to come back! I didn’t even have enough product to come back the next day. I have now become an expert at markets and continually sell out. I used to think that social media responses and marketing were the end all be all determinizing factor in your sales but I learned that people are still watching even if they don’t respond. Don’t stop posting, don’t stop advertising. Someone is paying attention!

Contact Info:

• Website: tjscookiekitchen.com
• Instagram: tjscookiekitchen
• Facebook: tjscookiekitchen
• Other: email – tjscookiekitchen@gmail.com

Image Credits
For the standalone photo of me credit goes to Jennifer Alyssa the other photos are mine that I took on my own