Her Recipe for a Multimillion-Dollar Brand? Start With Dough.

0:10Hello friends, I'm Ray Latif and you're tuned in to taste radio the leading podcast for entrepreneurs makers, and innovators in the food and beverage industry. Delicious is proof that product obsession and strategic growth can make a small brand big. In this episode, Catherine Bricken, the founder and CEO of Delicious, shares how she turned a London-based cookie dough startup into a global frozen dessert powerhouse now in 6 ,000 U.S. stores, including Whole Foods, Target, and Kroger. Catherine talks about perfecting her signature gelato bites, scaling frozen logistics, securing$5 million in funding, and launching innovative treats like the brand's new banana oat cookie skillet with plant-based collagen, all while keeping quality and joy at the center of the brand.

1:12Hey, folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am supremely honored to be sitting down with Catherine Brickin, who is the founder and CEO of Delicious. Catherine, it's so great to see you again. Hey, Ray. It's great to be here. I'm here at your office, your compound almost, in central London. And I just took a tour of many different buildings, many different offices. You have quite a bit going on. I saw how they make, well, you make the new cookie skillets. And in particular, a banana and oat variety that's made with collagen that's coming to the UK very soon and coming to the U.S. next year.

1:51And my goodness, it smelled good in there. And it took a lot for me not to just grab one of the uncooked skillets and just get into it with a spoon. Because I've tried it. It's amazing cooked. I imagine it's just as amazing uncooked. Yeah. Well, and we want to bake it so the customer has ease, like there's no fuss, no mess. So they can devour straight out, like thaw it out or put it in the air fryer, the oven, the microwave for minutes and have this warm, gooey snack any time of day. Yeah, it's brand new. So new. We just did the capability trials and you saw first production today, which is always like it was amazingly common there.

2:34because usually first production is quite crazy. Yeah. Nothing goes as planned, but hey, you brought us good luck. Everything went as planned. I appreciate you saying that. I would have expected to see it now. I was going to say, I would have expected to see dough on the ceiling and dough on, you know, people's safety glasses. And there was none of that. It was very clean. It was very well organized. And your team seems like they've got everything under control. Seems. I mean, I don't know for sure. I was in there for, you know, 15, 20 minutes, but they seem very, very capable. And I want to talk about your team and how you've built out this incredible staff.

3:06But just backing up for a sec, you know, Delicious is known for its cookie dough and gelato bites. And they are, folks, if you haven't had an opportunity to try them, they are incredible. Go to your local Whole Foods. They're there. Target. H-E-B. Yeah. Wegmans. Fresh Direct. Go Puff. You need that midnight snack? Go Puff it. There you go. 6 ,000 stores in the U.S.? Yeah, we'll be in 6 ,000 doors. at the end of this year, launching in Kroger this month and more Albertson stores. It's nuts, right? You just broke into the U.S. market in late... 2024. Okay. You started this company in 2017. Yeah.

3:46And what were you doing prior? Well, I was in the food business in... I worked for Borden Foods in Canada. Okay. So I graduated from university, went into politics, met my husband, married. He said, we're moving to Toronto. He was taking a job with Bain & Company. So that was when I could relook like, what am I doing in life? What do I want to be doing? And when I got my visa, I applied for a job with Borden Foods and worked on, I was a brand manager for pasta and then moved into product development. So we had a manufacturing factory. That's where I got my first like factory, you know, obsession in Montreal.

4:21And the offices were in Toronto and I helped create different pasta flavors from a lemon pepper linguine and chili pepper tomato, different flavors. Then moved back to the U.S. and worked with caterers, but went into pastry. I had always loved cookies and cakes and knew that I would do something. If I wasn't doing cookie dough, I'd probably be doing donuts or I'd be doing pastries, just like this obsession with the malleability of the dough. When I see the dough rise or when I can poke it with my finger, I love it. Like, I love how it transforms too. It can go big, it can go small, it can go crispy, it can go soft.

5:01There's just so many ways to change the dough for your liking. And I don't think, I don't recall if I had seen many brands doing a novelty frozen dough or a frozen novelty cookie dough. And when I first saw Delicious, I'm like, this is kind of a no-brainer. Why hasn't anyone been doing this? Was that the sort of light bulb moment for you? It's like, hey, there's actually white space in the frozen novelty category in that I have this idea that nobody else is doing. So as you know, we already made the dough. So we started as a ready to bake dough. And then I was obsessed with ice cream sandwiches.

5:41I'm like, I'm gonna make an ice cream sandwich. I actually bought in machinery to try that would press down the dough. We would bake it, then we'd load it with ice cream. Then we would put another layer on top. it was messy. It was messy for us. It was messy for the customer. There was no way I could scale it up with the space I had. So I had a machine that made these beautiful pucks that were dinner party proof. And I was like, hmm, I think I can tweak this machine and I can take the dough and wrap it around the ice cream. So I started in 2019 making that recipe and in 2021 it was done. It was the hardest recipe for me to nail.

6:18I can't even tell you how many times I would get really excited. It would taste fantastic. And then I would put it through the machine and it would tear, put it through the machine and it would crack upon freezing. So I would go, I'd have to start the whole process from making the dough, wrapping it around the ball, and then wait to see what happens. And so many times it was an epic fail. So I remember the one weekend when I decided I was going to nail this and I made my husband and my son eat a lot of dough and I would freeze it, take it out, melt it, freeze it back and forth. And I nailed it and came to the factory.

6:52And I said, let's run a capability trial. Let's scale it up. It scaled beautifully. And I looked at it, I cut it open and it was gorgeous. But on the outside, it looked so ugly. It was like, oh, it needs something. Nobody's going to want to buy it looking like this. So then we decided it had to roll into something. So what would it roll in? Cookie crumb. So now our cookie crumb can be everything from a freeze dried powder to chunks of chocolate, sprinkles, cocoa powder with chocolate bits in it. So whatever will complement the dough and the gelato. I'm just blown away by the fact that this was only four years ago.

7:31Yeah. So this is like, look at it. It's like an ice cream sandwich. Yeah. For some reason, I felt like the brand or at least the brand of the products that I know from Delicious had been around longer, but you've grown so fast. Yeah. But we were growing the dough across the pond. Okay. So while you were thinking about other ice cream sandwiches, we were growing the dough in Europe and abroad and showing the UK that this American girl could make this amazing cookie dough. It is amazing. I just had your salted caramel mini. It's so good. Yeah. And the outside is these crumbs that we make. So it's almost like the crumb topping and it's a caramel biscuit crumb.

8:15It's so delicious. And it's easy to see why you've grown or at least you've developed this following for delicious as quickly as you have. And why retail buyers are hungry for products like these. But again, going back to the fact that you've grown as quickly as you have, you know, in four years, until now, four years from the inception of this product until now, there's been a lot that you've had to do. You've had to decide or determine that this is a product that you're going to make in house, that you're going to have to bring in people that are going to help you scale the production and scale the business, scale the brand itself.

8:55What's been the most challenging part of building this brand over the last four years? I think frozen logistics, those two words are very, very difficult. You know, we pick the right partners to get the product from one place to another. And we trust that it's going to get there in perfect condition because we take such pride in everything we do here. But sometimes, you know, we get let down, like the temperature won't hold, which then the product ends up on shelf and it's not the ultimate experience for the customer, which is very upsetting, especially when so much care goes into every piece or every gelato bite.

9:33So it looks beautiful, which is why I'm really excited about the skillets, because they will not be as temperature sensitive. And when they go into Whole Foods this month, nationwide in the U.S., the customer's going to see it. They can thaw it and eat it. They can stick it in the microwave. Like I said, the air fryer, and they can just enjoy it. I thought you were going to say when it came to the most challenging part of the business, that it was finding the right people internally to help you build the brand because you were on your own for so long. I mean, how many, how many employees did you have in 2021?

10:10Oh, 2020, probably 15. 15. And now we have over 50. And that's between production and... Yes, production and sales and marketing. Marketing. I often talk to entrepreneurs who are successful or build successful brands, and they say it's really about the people. Yeah. I think I've been really lucky though. Super lucky. Like today you've met people that have been with me for six years that run the lines. So they know the process in and out. They've seen how far we've come. They've helped me grow the dough. And then I've been really lucky, like in the US too, we've had people come to us that see the brand and are passionate about the brand and want to work to grow this amazing business I've built.

10:51And I also, I want them to share in the love so they get equity. Like they are partners in crime. Like we have to do this together. So I win, they win, we all win. I've asked other founders this question, which is, do you hire for capabilities? Do you hire for passion? Do you hire for alignment with your own personality? You had a great story that you shared with me about one of the heads of your production, who is an incredible person from Romania, who you found at a hardware store. Yeah, that was the Canadian in the hardware store. The Romanian was a temp. Oh, okay. So I'm getting this confused.

11:30But I mean, however you found these folks, what did you identify in these people that made you think that they could be the right fit or a good fit for your company? Yeah, probably smart. You know, I could think out of the box. And I I think that if you're smart, then you can, you have the ability to learn different trades. And then also passion, truly believe in me. Like, so they, they understand what I'm doing, why I'm doing it and where my goals are. And I, I constantly every day talk to the team about, you know, we strive for greatness. If something's fine, it's not good enough. Like it has to be perfect, amazing.

12:04And that's how we're going to break through all the noise because there's a lot of products out there. Right. So for us to become known and grow the brand, we have to do something exceptional. So every day needs to be exceptional. Do they know your vision? Does your vision evolve? I mean, do you have a definition for what delicious is in five years? Do you have an idea of what you expect it to be? And do you share that with your team? Yes, and probably not enough. I mean, they know that my goal is to bring our products to the masses and make everybody happy. Like I started this just to make people happy.

12:42I'm not saying that, you know, you eat a gelato, but it's going to make you happy. We find joy in things, right? A lot of us find joy in food. And there's a lot of food out there. And a lot of people will eat a protein bar just to get the protein because it won't taste good. But I really truly believe that people that eat delicious find joy. And that's what we want to emote. We want to emote joy. And I think there's a lot of things out there in life that aren't very happy. So if I can bring that little piece of joy to somebody, then I've succeeded. When you started working with Whole Foods in the United States, they came to you, right?

13:17Yes. Yeah, we were so lucky. And I think it takes a lot of hard work and luck. And that's what most brands will say. You know, they've had that lucky moment, but it's also they had a stellar product and they work really hard. So we were lucky that the incoming CEO of Whole Foods came to visit our factory and And we showed him our products and how great they were. And he said, we need to get this in the U.S. And within two weeks, I had phone calls from foragers in the U.S. and working hard to get it into four regions. And then after those four regions, we went nationwide. So again, just like a wow moment that I look back at.

13:56And I think it's just timing and luck and this epic product. He didn't just happen upon your factory, though. Yeah, he came over as one of his visiting tours. And I got a call from Whole Foods UK, which was one of my first retailers. So I've known the team. And they said, hey, we know you have a factory in London. Can we come visit your factory? So I had no idea what I was getting into. But I was like, sure, come to the factory. We'll show you a good time. So I had no idea what it would lead to. I guess sometimes you go into situations that are unexpected. and they turn out to be the best. Maybe if I would have stressed and I would have overthought it, it wouldn't have happened.

14:38But did you want to be in the U.S.? Absolutely. Like that was always, I mean, being an American, living abroad, my goal was always to bring my product to the U.S. And this just opportunity happened upon itself. And you said, okay, this is the spark that we needed to make that leap. Yes. Again, it was a lot faster than I think you may have realized or certainly that I would have expected going from, you know, a handful of Whole Foods stores into now being 6 ,000 doors in the U.S. Growth strategy is tough for folks in that sometimes you have to figure out, okay, especially if you own your own manufacturing, what's the right lead time for certain things?

15:17How many stores can we commit to? Can we deal with exclusives? You know, how many new products should we add to the mix? Do we need to enhance or change the flavors for a different audience? were you unnerved by the opportunity as much as you were excited by it? Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's hard, like you talk about different flavors. So we did a blueberry frozen yogurt that was so good. And if anybody goes to Target and they are able to get before it sells out, our countdown to Christmas calendar, it's in there. It is so beautiful. It's fresh and yummy. And we put it in Whole Foods and it didn't do well.

15:55Like who knows why. It does really, really well in Switzerland. It does fantastic in some other countries, but it just didn't take off in the US. So we switched it out and we launched the chocolate raspberry. And in our minds, we thought that it had to be indulgent lead. So we were thinking that the blueberry was just too fruit forward. So bringing in indulgent lead, so starting with the outside being a dark chocolate. So it's dark chocolate with raspberry gelato in the middle, or a white chocolate or some more indulgent flavors was where we needed to be as a cookie dough brand. But it's just, yeah, a lot of it's learning and, you know, there's going to be some wins and some losses and you just have to try to figure out what works for what country.

16:40How are you speaking to that consumer? I know you talked about indulgence as being really important, but you and I also talked earlier about needing to break through the noise and making sure that not only is your message clear, but that your message is actually getting to the consumer. What's been successful? What's been less successful in making sure that people know who you are and what you're about? Yeah, I think like food porn, showing them how delicious it is, getting the right influencers to talk about our products, using it in different situations from snack hacks. So if they want to make a, one woman took a, made a little protein oat bowl for breakfast and then put it on top.

17:23And that was her gooeyness and her milk on top of the protein pot, which was fantastic. Like seeing how people take our gelato bites and use them in different applications. Some people slice them up and put them in with raspberries. There was a girl that on a podcast and talked about like how her body started to like convulse because the chocolate truffle was so good. And it's crazy. Like it's like, you know, this, I'll have to share that one with you. Yeah. It's really good. And then, I mean, people like to take the chocolate truffle and dip it in peanut butter because then, hey, like who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter together?

17:59So I think that getting people to think out of the box and how they love our products, but then also having it as just this perfect snack any time of day. And then on top of that, knowing that it's gluten-free, there's dairy-free options and better for you ingredients. But it all starts with indulgence. It all starts with getting people excited about the flavor. Yeah. I mean, we want to eat to feel good, right? Like if I eat something that doesn't make me feel good, I want something else. Like I'll keep on trying for that one moment. And it might be the smallest bite of something that tastes good, but I'm the type of person that I literally live to eat.

18:36Like I think about food all the time, but it has to be satisfying. If not, I'm not going to enjoy it and I'll keep on looking. Yeah, I think you're very, you're not a typical person, but I think you're typical in that people want to eat good food and they're, in most cases, willing to pay a premium if it is really good. And sometimes all it takes is, at least for an introduction to a brand, great packaging. And you undertook a rebrand, I want to say it was two years ago. Yeah, 2024, beginning of 2024. Okay, so it was more recent even. Yeah. And your packaging is just so stunning. And, you know, you look at a freezer aisle and I mentioned this before, everything starts to feel or kind of feels commodified right now.

19:27Everything is looking and blending together in a way that this doesn't really stand out. And then you see delicious. And it's bold. It's bright. It's mouthwatering. It's everything that you would want a package to be in that aisle for it to stand out. How did you think and how long was that process? How did you think about the rebrand? And how did you make sure that your vision for the package was met by and created by your designers? Yeah, well, if you saw my first package and you would have died because I was like my favorite color is white. Like I love white houses, white countertops. Like I'm a very streamlined, one color, monochromatic person because then I can always add color in when I want it.

20:15Right. So my first packaging was so natural and we were actually organic. Our first products were organic. And I remember sampling at Whole Foods and I would be standing there and somebody would be like, oh, my God, I love it. Like, where do I get it? And I'd be like, oh, right there, right above the yogurt. and they'd walk down there and they're like, where, where? And they couldn't find it because it blended in with everything. And, you know, think of all the dairy products, they're white. So when we did the rebrand, which as you've seen our old logo, which was barely visible, like you couldn't really even see delicious.

20:49You have a package right behind you. It's kind of hard to read. It certainly can't read what's underneath. The London Dough Company. Right. But at the time, I just never knew where I was going with this. Like I didn't know that the growth would happen so quickly. And for me, in the beginning, it was just a hobby until I really started to grow. It was fun. I mean, it still is fun, but it was just probably more fun then because I didn't have so much stress. So then we had the opportunity to go into the U.S., which we knew would be our most important market. We didn't have the trademark. So we had to get the trademark and it was not easy.

21:26I mean, we still don't have delicious.com, but we kind of like that we have.co.uk because this is the mothership. I mean, eventually I think the U.S. will be our second mothership. But we decided that we needed to get the trademark in the U.S. So we looked and looked and we were actually barking up the wrong tree. And then finally, when we did get it, we were super lucky because we got it for a really low price, which was completely unexpected. And then once we got the trademark, we knew that we were off to the races and we could do a brand glam design. But it's never inexpensive. I mean, they do consumer research.

22:03They look at other products. It's, I mean, it took us about eight months to come up with the logo that we have today. And it's so beautiful because I was talking to you earlier about how it's malleable and it actually moves. So when they showed me that logo, which I had looked at probably like 10 before that, and I just didn't, I didn't feel anything. And when I saw that and I saw it moving with the dough going up and down, it was this moment like, okay, that's it. Like that is it. And then now we have our own font, which is bespoke to us. And yeah, I feel, I feel really good about it. Like I absolutely love it.

22:41And when I see it on shelf, I know that it was probably the best money spent. I think other brands say that too. People will tell you that it's the hardest check to write but the best check you'll write after the process. Quick break. If this episode has you thinking about what's next in food and beverage, explore BevNet and Nosh Insider, our subscription platform with deeper insights from the BevNet team. Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more. One place where you're not necessarily behind a freezer door is Expo West. Oh, yeah. People know my opinions on Expo West. I've definitely stood in a soapbox and said some things about that trade show.

23:22But you love Expo West. I look forward to it. And we've already started planning. And it's March. Yeah. Well, Expo was a big show for you because it helped you land some really important partners for the brand. Financial partners, retail partners. What did you do there? I mean, how did you elicit excitement, exposure, awareness for the brand? Because there's just so many. Yeah. I mean, how many different booths are there? Thousands. Thousands, yeah. It's all about the taste. You know, we just share the product. And sampling is so huge for us. Once people taste our product, they're hooked. Unless you just really don't like cookie dough and gelato.

24:00But hey, who doesn't like cookie dough and gelato, right? And we use gelato because it has less fat, by the way, than ice cream. So you'll never have that film in your mouth. Like it just, I always want everybody to have that really clean bite, clean feeling, and just love it. But yeah, so Expo West, we give away a lot of product. We want everybody to taste it, try it. That's when you'll know you'll love it. And then we share coupons that people can go get it. We're not a big merch brand. I mean, we just, we have some merch, but we haven't taken the time to give away a lot. It's probably because we're still small and scrappy and, you know, watching costs.

24:36Yeah. I think probably investors appreciate that. And you met an important investor at Expo West who led your most recent round. It was a$5 million round that you closed or announced in August. And again, I think that conversation started at Expo West, which is kind of surprising. I mean, if they were interested in the brand, I would have thought they would have reached out prior to that, but they got to meet you in person. Yeah, I think Brian came by every day. Yeah, Brian from Rich's. Yeah, Rich's Product Ventures. And just a great guy. Just hit it off, talked and saw the love of the product.

25:11And he loved the product and introduced us to his team. And it moved quite quickly. And then he introduced us to the Angel Group, which, again, is just an amazing team. They're smart. They're strategic. They're helpful. And I think that's what we want in investors. I mean, everybody does, right? Yeah. You want those people that literally understand you, what you do every day and the product and see the growth potential. And it's hard, right? Because now like we were fantastic, we're indoors, but it's just growing that brand awareness. But they know that. And having somebody realize that your velocity is at a certain point right now, but seeing what it can be in a year with strategic health is massive.

25:56So obviously they did their due diligence, but when they were evaluating the opportunity to invest in Delicious, what was most attractive to them? Was it you as a founder and your vision for the company? Was it the product itself? Was it the innovation pipeline? Was it the potential to really dramatically expand your presence in the U.S.? I think it was all of those. So it was me. That was a leading question because I knew you were going to say all of those. I think it was me and my passion. And my husband, Dan, that now, like this weekend, we've been married 30 years. Congratulations. Thanks.