In 2015, a Pennsylvania couple spent $50 on a used mixer for a side hustle; years later, their cookie brand grew into a multimillion-dollar dessert company shipping nationwide

Several successful businesses start without a large investment or a defined business plan. Sometimes, a simple hobby can eventually become an opportunity when people discover its potential and continue developing it. That was the experience of Doug and Sara Taylor, whose shared interest in baking gradually became a growing cookie business.

A simple beginning with homemade cookies

Doug and Sara Taylor were newly acquainted and spent time together trying with cookies In 2015. The Philadelphia-based duo wished to recreate a chocolate chip cookie based on a friend’s recipe that Doug especially enjoyed. They wanted to make their version without the use of Crisco.

Sara’s childhood influenced the way she thought about food. She had grown up on a small family farm where they had grass-fed milk and developed an appreciation for real, natural ingredients rather than processed items like sugary snacks.


The couple’s baking project soon became part of their wedding plans. After becoming engaged a year later, they decided to make homemade cookies as favors for their wedding. Making the cookies themselves enabled them to avoid spending money on traditional wedding favors.

When wedding cookies became a business idea

After the wedding, they began selling their baked goods at markets and weekend weddings while continuing to work their regular jobs that includes waitress work and employment at a record label.

The duo also continued using the website they had originally created for their wedding. The response from customers was positive, eventually resulted to the creation of Taylor Chip.

From a $50 mixer to millions of cookies

The original investment was small, but their business eventually needed considerably more resources. Doug and Sara bought equipment and rented a space as they extended their operation.

Doug stated to The U.S. Sun, “We had no idea it was going to get this big, it was a very low investment”.

“Sara thought I should be eating a better thing, and I just loved cookies so much.”

The company’s cookies are currently available online and through a number of shops in the country. They are also sold via platforms like DoorDash.

Different flavors for cookie lovers

The company states its products on its website by citing:

“Our cookies are SUPER dense, rich and big. They have a slight golden brown crunch on the outside for those first-bite feels,”

A business shaped by its approach to ingredients

“At Taylor Chip we TAKE PRIDE in our ingredients because we wouldn’t want others to eat anything that we personally wouldn’t,” the website states.

The company further describes its method citing:

“We want to LOVE WHAT WE DO and who we do it with. We believe satisfaction is found in WORKING HARD and joy comes from SERVING OTHERS.”

How Taylor Chip grew

The company that emerged from that early baking project currently employs almost 80 people and brings in $4 million in revenue every year. Its valuation is around $25 million.

The progression from a small baking project to a multimillion-dollar dessert company was not something the Taylors initially planned. Their story instead developed through a mix of shared interest, customer response, investment and hard work.

From a $50 Facebook Marketplace purchase to a business selling millions of cookies, the Taylor Chip story illustrates how a modest side hustle can grow into a much larger business when its creators continue putting time, resources and passion into the idea.

Source: The U.S. Sun