RBA Member Spotlight: Ellen Pignatiello of Cookie Cupboard Gourmet Dough
In the RBA Member Spotlight series, we'll be profiling valued members of the Retail Bakers of America.
This month, we spoke with Ellen Pignatiello who bought The Cookie Cupboard in 1995. She revamped it from a retail company with more than a dozen locations to a wholesale bakery manufacturer, focusing on clean ingredients without sacrificing taste.
“There are easier ways to make gourmet dough, but no better way.”
That phrase has guided Ellen from the moment she started working with a long-time Cleveland baker who had been the superintendent at Hough Bakery for over 25 years. He agreed to mentor her newly purchased Cookie Cupboard business for 12 weeks. Ellen and her team never veered from that motto. It’s a big part of why Cookie Cupboard’s many grocery store and bakery clients trust them to provide custom orders that meet or exceed their own standards.
What does the “better way” look like for Cookie Cupboard?
It isn't just the raw materials, it’s Cookie Cupboard’s percentage of inclusion (which is high) and the way they combine the ingredients.
“When a client of ours has three locations, we're going to work as hard for them as our grocery store chain customer that has 15 locations. In fact, they're going to think they're our only client. If I've done my job right, you think you're it.”
“But we also don't want to sell to them once. It's incredibly important that if we put something on the table for them, that we pay attention to why it sold well or didn’t sell. And maybe we should tweak it or drop it from the marketplace and do something else that is more desired by that geographic location for the palette. Different areas of the country want different things.”
Giving back
Source: Cookie Cupboard Gourmet Dough Ellen and her team are most proud of their program, Cookies for Coats. They take the remaining 9 pounds of dough that results in a day of production and is still perfectly delicious (just not perfect enough to present to their clients) and swap it for anyone who comes to their Cleveland location to drop off coats, hats, gloves, or anything else a houseless person can use who is part of the Metanoia Project.
How it started (even before 1995)
Source: Cookie Cupboard Gourmet Dough How Cookie Cupboard became what it is today Ellen started her career in the executive search industry–working for the person who created the entire concept in the 1960s.That’s where Ellen learned the fascinating skill of identifying the right people for the right role.
Her boss encouraged Ellen to become a business owner herself. So when a small Ohio cookie bakery came up for sale, Ellen decided to buy it.
They started with only eight recipes in 1995 and now have hundreds, including custom recipes for their numerous clients.
“When I joined RBA, I had a problem with a recipe I couldn't figure out myself. I put it in the [RBA Connect] message board, and a number of people responded to it. I thought they were incredibly gracious to take time out of their busy days to help someone they didn't know in a different part of the country and give me some guidance on how to fix my problem.
Ellen said that’s when she decided an RBA membership could be beneficial to her long-term, and that has proven to be true over the years.
Interested in learning more about becoming a member of the Retail Bakers of America? Click here.
Current RBA members, email Marlene O’ Connell (marlene@retailbakersofsmerica.org) to learn how you can be featured in an upcoming member spotlight.