This week in our ongoing Meet the Maker series, we’re going behind the scenes with sister duo Ali and Lauren Borowick, co-founders of the contemporary gourmet food brand Fatty Sundays – a line of deliciously decadent (and incredibly fun) chocolate covered pretzels. Yes, please… Welcome, Ali and Lauren!
LBC: What inspired you to take your leap as an entrepreneur?
Ali + Lauren: Our Mom’s chocolate covered pretzels were the original inspiration behind Fatty Sundays. Before we got started, I was working as a graphic designer for Equinox, and my sister Lauren was supposed to work for Ernst & Young as an accountant. We couldn’t shake our idea of re-inventing and modernizing chocolate covered pretzels. The challenge and thrill of starting a business from scratch (with no culinary background!) and sharing our crazy pretzel idea with the world was what pushed us to take the leap as entrepreneurs.
LBC: When you first got started, how did you envision your business would be defined?
Ali + Lauren: A sister-run, family business selling modern-day chocolate covered pretzels. The go-to company for sweet + salty indulgences for all occasions.
LBC: How would you describe what you create?
Ali + Lauren: Fatty Sundays makes gourmet, fun-flavored chocolate covered pretzels. We’re re-inventing and modernizing everyone’s favorite sweet + salty treat with unique flavors and eye-catching packaging.
LBC: Where can we find your products?
Ali + Lauren: Online at www.fattysundays.com and at gourmet retailers like Dean & DeLuca, The Plaza Todd English Food Hall, Foragers, and Handsome Dan’s, to name a few! For all of the New Yorkers reading this, we’re also at the iconic Union Square Holiday Market from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It will be our 5th year there, come visit us, rain or shine!
LBC: Walk us through your typical work day.
Ali + Lauren: We subway, walk or bike to our offices in Brooklyn. We usually eat breakfast at our desks and scan a bunch of emails while talking about a few things that have priority for the day. After that, Spotify gets turned on! Lauren leads production, so we’ll typically discuss the schedule for the day and any other important orders coming in. The rest of the day is werk, werk, werk, werk, werk! On any given day, we’re working on a wide variety of projects, sales initiatives, social content, marketing campaigns, packaging projects, etc…As a small biz, we wear lots of hats! Lunch time comes and goes, and before we know it, the day is over (some nights later than we’d like!) Of course, we can’t forget snack time somewhere in there – we always have broken chocolate covered pretzels laying around (“rejects,” as we lovingly call them!)
LBC: What are 3 things makers should think through when they initially decide to start a business?
Ali + Lauren: 1) Is there anything else like your product out there?
2) Do you stay up at night thinking about the idea?
3) What’s your Plan B?
LBC: When you’re overwhelmed, what brings you back to focus?
Ali + Lauren: We remind ourselves that we’re making and selling chocolate covered pretzels, and that our ultimate goal is to make people happy with a delicious sweet + salty treat!
LBC: Tell us about a few of the best business decisions you’ve made to date.
Ali + Lauren: • Taking the leap to start Fatty Sundays.
• Building out our own production and office space.
• Ultimately trusting our gut in everything we do.
• Taking Pina Colada pretzels off of the flavor list!
• Talking to a variety of mentors along the way for advice.
LBC: Please share one mistake or obstacle from your business experience. How did you bounce back/overcome it?
Ali + Lauren: Mistakes?! We don’t make mistakes… just kidding! In the bigger picture, one of the biggest challenges for us was figuring out how to make it ALL happen. When we started Fatty Sundays, we were literally making every pretzel while simultaneously mopping the floors, designing all marketing materials, and reconciling our bank account, among many other things! As we’ve grown, we’ve overcome that feeling of having to “do it all” by learning to prioritize and focus on what we are good at, and what we want to be doing. We’ve made it a point to find the best people to outsource certain things to. It’s no easy task, but something that we’re continuously working on as a growing business!
LBC: Is there a cause or organization that you contribute to that you’re particularly passionate about?
Ali + Lauren: For the month of October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) we sell hot pink pretzels and donate a portion of sales to Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This is a cause near and dear to our hearts, and we do this to honor our Aunt Laurel, who passed away from breast cancer two years ago.
LBC: What are 3 essential resources in your business toolbox that you can’t do without?
Ali + Lauren: 1) Google Docs and Dropbox.
2) Our big wall calendar to see what’s ahead.
3) Quickbooks.
4) Our team! …That’s more than three, but this list could go on and on!
LBC: Suppose we had a time machine. If you blasted ourselves forward a few years, where would we see your company?
Ali + Lauren: In everyone’s pantry and all gourmet shops in the USA and Canada. We also hope to expand to England and Japan. We’d love to do more pop-up markets (like we do in New York City at the Union Square Holiday Market) in different cities.
LBC: What’s one thing you would eat, if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life?
Ali + Lauren: Chocolate anything!
LBC: Your musical playlist is full of…
Ali + Lauren: Mostly pop music, sprinkled with some moody Kings of Leon and Billy Joel oldies. We’re also newly obsessed with listening to podcasts in the kitchen!
LBC: Share one of your guiltiest pleasures.
Ali + Lauren: Dipping a Fatty Sundays pretzel into a jar of peanut butter.
Thank you, Ali and Lauren, for sharing your talent with us! We absolutely love what you’re doing with Fatty Sundays, and we look forward to all the wonderful things ahead for you and your company. We’re cheering you on!
Want to see your brand featured in our continuing “Meet the Maker” series? Drop us a line: hello AT luckybreakconsulting.com. Please use “MEET THE MAKER” as the subject line and be certain to include your web address. We look forward to hearing from you!