Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancy Wadsworth.
Nancy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Having been an actor for many years and a Yoga instructor also for many years I thought I could take these creative skills and create a business. Cookies have always been my favorite treat – I am a cookie foodie. So, Delicious Yogini was born. Our mission was to offer an awesome cookie while showing consumers that food can be delicious and compassionately purchased. This meant only free-range and fair trade ingredients and no factory farmed ingredients. Cruelty-free food.
We opened our cookie company baking with organic free-range eggs and family farm butter. Several years of great reviews for our gift cookie department had us wanting more. Testing and tasting our vegan recipes we discovered that the vegan line was awesome and butter and eggs weren’t necessary. In May 2017, we became a VEGAN cookie company.
As well as being vegan, we have continued to bake with Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance organic chocolates and sugars and use sustainable palm oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil thus protecting the environment and the native orangutan. We are non-GMO.
Baking with thoughtfully purchased ingredients is something we will never compromise. Delicious Yogini is proud to be part of this shift in food production as we all move forward and improve our treatment and compassion toward all living beings.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road is just now smoothing out. My life had always been a creative one and I did not know a thing about business – not a thing. I was extremely naive about the business world and learned everything on the fly and the hard way. That being said, I wouldn’t change the personal growth for anything. After several years and finally understanding that in my business, along with a great product, sales are the lifeblood.
I do have some advice and starting points for anyone considering or incubating a food company. First, see if there is a demand for your product. Do the legwork and check what is selling in your category and also where there is a need for your product. If you can fill a need with your product you are on your way. Do not do everything yourself. If you are starting on a budget, barter services. Can someone help with the things you cannot do? A simple example would be your website or social media. Both are important, time-consuming and need attending to. If money is stretched reach out to friends and family with the skills you need and trade either your product or another skill you have. I was lucky as I traded not only my product but also private Yoga classes. Take webinars in your field – they are free and you will learn. Don’t be afraid to ask for money for your product – you and your product have value and you deserve to be paid.
If you are 51% woman-owned and managed, I suggest becoming certified by the SBA as a Woman-Owned Business. I am just now finishing that process and it will open many more sales channels. Please go directly through the Small Business Association (“SBA”) for this as registration and certification are free. There are many companies that will help you but they charge $500 and more for something you can do on your own.
Please tell us about Delicious Yogini.
Our name says a lot about our product. Delicious (obvious deliciousness) Yogini (a woman who practices Yoga). Often when teaching yoga, I use food adjectives to describe how great an asana is – delicious, yummy, scrumptious. This name/brand also fits into our mission of compassion.
Delicious Yogini is proudest of our ingredients. We source Fair Trade and are very particular with our flavors. We do not use extracts, so all of our flavors are from the whole food itself. We are non-GMO and have begun the process of becoming verified. Our cookie labels proudly proclaim “Vegan” which draws ingredient reading shoppers garnering comments about how good, clean and healthy our ingredients are.
We offer unique flavors and have high ratings for quality and taste.
Who have you been inspired by?
There are so many interests and careers in my life that I need to shorten the list broken down into categories.
Acting: Bette Davis, Lucille Ball – talented, funny, beautiful
Yoga: Geeta Iyengar and all of the many over-90-year-old women still teaching and practicing Yoga (check out YouTube)
Delicious Yogini: All of the women baking and cooking alongside me at the Chefs Center in Pasadena. This is an incubation kitchen where many food businesses start. We all lifted those huge bags of sugar, flour, chocolate and baked/cooked on our rented tables in this shared space. The Chefs Center was very inspiring and supportive.
Contact Info:
- Address: Delicious Yogini LLC
Business Address Only (not a store)
5062 Lankershim Blvd., Suite 136
North Hollywood, CA 91601 - Website: https://www.deliciousyogini.com
- Phone: 818-943-9449
- Email: [email protected], [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deliciousyogini_cookies/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deliciousyogini
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeliciousYogini
Image Credit:
Nancy Wadsworth
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