Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Keith
Hi Will, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hey there! My name is Will Keith and I am the founder of Saint Claire’s Cookie Dough.
I’m a 28 year old guy who quit his corporate 9-5 job, moved back in with his parents and started selling my mom’s chocolate chip cookie dough with no previous baking or food experience. If you think I am joking… I’m not!
It all started when I was a kid. My mom, Claire, is an avid baker and always made the best chocolate chip cookies. She would make a batch of cookie dough, roll the dough into dough balls, and freeze them. That way we could enjoy fresh cookies, warm out of the oven, on demand! Talk about being spoiled growing up…
All my friends, neighbors, and family loved these cookies. From a young age, I saw the power that something as simple as a warm, homemade cookie had to bring people together. It didn’t mater the age, background, etc. because this visceral experience of enjoying the delicious creation that is a chocolate chip cookie was something that everyone could relate to…
I grew up, went to college, moved back to San Diego and got a corporate 9-5 job. I was living life by the book and everything was looking good… well at least it looked to be that way. But on the inside, I was left feeling unfulfilled and I started to wonder if this is what the rest of my life was going to feel like. I started to question if I was living a life true to myself or if I was living the life that others expected me to live. I had so many thoughts going on in my head…
It was around this time that I standing in the grocery store in the cookie dough section. I was CRAVING cookies. But when I looked at the options, I was really disappointed. The ingredients were horrible (seed oils, artificial flavors, bioengineered, etc.) and the cookies tasted even worse! I was truly missing my mom’s homemade cookies. Then a light bulb went off in my head and the sky opened…. I am going to quit my job and start a cookie dough company based off my mom’s cookie recipes!! A week later, I did just that…
I walked into my boss’ office, heart beating out my chest. I was so nervous. You should have seen the look on their face when I told them that I was not only quitting but I was starting a cookie dough company. I might as well have looked like I was an alien. But I left the office that day with a strange calm over me. I was restless in the known and was now at peace in the unknown that lay ahead.
So I started working right away on this cookie dough company. I first needed a name. I was thinking about Claire’s Cookies but there’s a million and one other Claire’s Cookies out there. It hit me one day that I was going to call the company Saint Claire’s Cookie Dough because my mom is truly my saint in my life. I just knew in my heart that I found the perfect name. So I then created a logo, dialed in the recipe (after baking hundreds of cookies), and got packaging to put the dough in.
The next step was to see if anyone would buy it! So, I started selling to friends and family. People were loving it! Then I had to do the real test, will people I don’t know buy it?? So, I started selling at farmers markets. Strangers were loving it too! Ok, I thought to myself, we might be on to something! From there, we steadily grew from one farmers market to now three.
Then, we got interest from grocery stores. We went from one store to now ten all around San Diego. To be able to see my mom’s cookie dough on the shelf of grocery stores was a surreal experience. This is what I started this all for! To be able to walk in to a grocery store and buy my mom’s cookies whenever I needed that fresh out of the oven cookie fix. It was a true full circle moment.
Today, we are a little over a year into this journey. We are still only in San Diego (in our farmers market and grocery store locations) with big plans ahead. We think 2025 is going to be huge for Saint Claire’s and I can’t wait to see where we can go. Our mission has remained the same from the first day, to bring the joy of a warm, homemade cookie to everyone!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been anything but smooth!
Funny enough, I just got home from a demo that I was supposed to do at Seaside Market. I had gotten all set up and went to plug in my oven that I use to bake cookies. It wouldn’t turn on! It was broken… time to pack up…
I drove home, after a morning of dealing with packaging issues from our supplier, and thought to myself, ‘what is this all for.’ But I always have to remind myself, like a am now while I type this, that all these things are apart of the journey. It’s not supposed to be easy, or everyone would do it! I sometimes get so focused on where I want to be, that I forget to enjoy the everyday journey. And all that it comes with, including that broken oven!!
I have countless stories of challenges that I have had a long the way. Here a few others:
Rolling close to 100,000 dough balls in 2024 (and probably having carpel tunnel because of it)
No off days. Weekend? What’s a weekend? There is no such thing as work life balance when it comes to owning a small business. Your work life and your actual life are one!
Having to throw away $1,000 of dough because the new bowls we mixed them in were leaching a black residue. It’s a long story…. that involves going into the kitchen with my mom at 3AM!
Not paying myself a single dollar. I have not taken a single dollar out of the business since I started it. All the money I have made has been reinvested back into the business. So much for disposable income…
Having no connections in an industry that is all but built on connections. I am the poster child for an outsider to this industry and it makes navigating the complexities of running a food business even harder. I am hoping one day I get invited to the cool kids CPG club!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Saint Claire’s Cookie Dough is a local San Diego cookie dough company that sells frozen, ready-to-bake cookie dough at farmers markets and grocery stores. We specialize in making the worlds most delicious and convenient homemade style chocolate chips cookies. We have two flavors: Classic Chocolate Chip and Nutty Chocolate Chip. Both are the same exact cookies but our Nutty Chocolate Chip has walnuts and pecans added in.
What sets us apart is our ethos: Tradition, Ingredients and Convenience.
Tradition – Nothing beats time. Our cookies have been refined over many generations, bringing out the true meaning of homemade goodness.
Ingredients – We believe that there is no substitute for using high-quality ingredients. Our cookies are made of thoughtful ingredients to create a harmony of complex flavors that bring you a truly authentic cookie experience.
Convenience – Frozen?! Isn’t that bad?! Think of freezing cookie dough like you would think of marinating a piece of meat. The freezing process allows the ingredients more time to fully incorporate giving you a more complex flavor, an inviting color and a fuller texture. It also allows for storage in a convenient ready-to-bake format for an extended period of time without added artificial preservatives.
I want your readers to know our story and let our cookies speak for themselves. We want to redefine the cookie dough category in the grocery store by bringing high quality cookie dough, with no BS ingredients, that is delicious as well as convenient to the masses!
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Take the leap. Just do it. Stop thinking. You will survive and the world will not end.
There is no such thing as failure.
Everything in life is an experience.
Our time is limited, make it count.
Ponder this statement, “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” If it rings true for you, make a change! Like now.
Pricing:
- Classic Chocolate Chip – 12 cookies – $11.99
- Nutty Chocolate Chip – 12 cookies – $11.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://saintclairescookiedough.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saintclairescookiedough
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@saintclairescookiedough
