Molly Blakeley of Molly BZ: How Faith and $150 Sparked a National Cookie Brand

What if your homemade cookie recipe became a national sensation? In this episode of The New Pantry, Molly Blakeley, founder of Molly Bz Cookies, shares how she turned just $150 and late-night baking in a small Alaskan town into a thriving national cookie brand now sold at retailers nationwide, including Target. Molly’s journey is one of faith and bold risk-taking - a powerful reminder of what’s possible when you bet on yourself against all odds.

Transcript

Jillian (00:00)
Hello, Molly. Welcome to the new pantry.

Molly B (00:01)
Hi! How are you?

Woohoo! Welcome to my kitchen! I cleaned it just for you. thank you. You look great.

Jillian (00:08)
It looks great. You look great.

Well, thank you. I must confess that I'm going to be working on my interview technique through this process. I have for a long time been behind the camera on the production side and am just now getting in front of the camera.

Molly B (00:19)
Good!

I've got great news. I'm a pretty easy person to interview. We're just going to chat it up.

Jillian (00:31)
This is perfect.

Do you want to start by kicking off and sharing more about you and your business?

Molly B (00:34)
Okay, I will.

Yeah, of course. So I'm Molly with Molly B's Cookies. We do really weird, crazy cookies. I started with my last $150 from a little tiny town in Alaska as a single mom. Had to figure out how I was going to make money to feed my sons. So I started making super bizarre cookies. And in three years, I became a national brand. It just kind of took on its own little thing.

Jillian (01:00)
It's incredible. you mentioned $150 starting out and now you're actually heading into Target.

Molly B (01:03)
Yeah.

Yeah, so they picked up eight trucks in the last couple days and full of cookies. It was 298,000 cookies and um

That's a lot of cookies. so, very exciting. They will be in the Target bakery. So if you go, you know, through the clothes and around the corner and then there's like their food area and they have their freezer area, then they have the bakery area. like on the side of the freezer right there is called Target Bites, Bullseye Bites. They're called Bullseye Bites. And that's where we're at is Bullseye Bites. So everyone go buy all of them. Like when you see them, just be like, Molly, I'm doing you a solid and just like clothesline the whole

thing for me and buy them all. Yeah fill that cart up and then tag me and show me on the socials. Molly BZ.

Jillian (01:46)
Just fill the cart up.

Yeah

when you were just starting out, I did you ever think you were going to get to this point where you were going have national distribution?

Molly B (01:58)
No way!

like a fight-or-flight mode like when you're with trying to feed your kids and you're just trying to pay your bills like You're just gonna do what you have to do And so I was just super excited that people were buying them I started out like a cookie of the month club and I was really pumped that like people were actually buying them and I thought ⁓ Well, that's cool. But then BuzzFeed actually they did a little blurb on me And it was like the top 24 boxes I think of that year whatever I was number three and that made me think this is gonna

be something bigger because in a little tiny town in Alaska nobody had been on BuzzFeed you know what I mean? I'm like how do they even know about me? But that's what kind of gave me the thought of this is gonna be bigger and I had done brick and mortars before and so I thought you know what this business is gonna be a national brand I'm just gonna go for it and Shark Tank had just started like getting really popular and stuff I'm like maybe one day I'll be on Shark Tank but now I got a new goal I'm gonna be a shark on Shark Tank that's my new goal

Jillian (02:55)
Love

I love that. Go big or go home. And you've been open about being on the wrong end of business deals in the past. How did that experience help to lead to where you are today when you decided you were going to go and build something completely on your own?

Molly B (02:58)
That's right!

Mm-hmm.

You know, I'm writing a book on this whole thing. So it's been a lot of crazy things. So before Mollie B's Cookies, I actually started and sold or failed or had a bad business deal 13 different brick and mortars. And so all different things from like roller derby, I did like a bar and restaurant, a hotel, I did a gift basket, a flower shop, like all sorts of different things. And on one of them, actually the most expensive one, that one is the one that got me down to my last hundred.

50 bucks because it was like a multi-million dollar deal and they didn't pay me they fraud me and so I learned a lot then like don't ever sign a building off to somebody without getting paid things like that it's just hard lessons you know and I just you know I'm really big about my faith that really drives how I do everything in my life and I knew that I was gonna be taken care of and I knew they were gonna be taken care of so and they were and I was so there you go

Jillian (04:05)
I love it. It sounds like there's such a trust, in a higher power and also trust in yourself as well too.

Molly B (04:12)
Yeah, yeah,

no, I'm my higher power for sure is God I love me some Jesus and there's scripture on my packaging like it's really been something that's driven me and helped me years ago, ⁓ back in ⁓ I well about eight or nine years ago I I I wasn't that way and I I ended up going to church and I had a really intense eye disease and I was supposed to go blind and I got prayed over and my eyes were healed and so from that moment on I was like this Jesus thing is for me and so that's that's always what I do and so just really follow about

faith and you know that sort of thing and I love my church and it's been really a good driver. I pray every single day several times a day and and that's what actually helps me get in visions and ideas. It's how I came up with the boba doodles. It's how I came up with the air fryer cookie all in visions. So I think it's definitely a divine thing.

Jillian (04:59)
That's amazing. So in those early days, your son was watching you mixing and baking and delivering what was that like? Did he just believe also right away

Molly B (05:08)
You know, I've always said my son Luke was like raising a 40 year old man. He always just kind of goes with the flow. you know, I would tell him, my gosh, we got like four dozen cookie orders today. Like, that's great, mom. You know, he was just, he was like my hype guy for sure. And he would help. We, you know, the one time when everything went on, once we went from 20 boxes a week to 45 boxes a day and we had to move into a church kitchen, I pulled him from school. I'm like, you got to help me. I don't know how I'm going to bake all these cookies. And you know, he was just as

excited as I was because we could see that this momentum was happening but then he was like can I go back to school this is like a lot of work so I got friends to help me and he was only 10 or whatever but you know now it's so funny because I'll be like oh my gosh Food Network gave me a shout out on something or whatever and he goes so and I'm like what do you mean so? He goes mom that's just so normal for you now

And I'm like, it's never normal. Like it's never normal for me. It's not. Every single win is such a huge win for me and I get so excited and he's just very mellow, you know? So I want him to be hyper, but he's not like me in that way. He's very chill.

Jillian (06:15)
It sounds like both he and yourself are grounded and appreciative of the moment and keeping it real along the way.

Molly B (06:21)
Yeah,

absolutely.

Jillian (06:22)
at a certain point, demand outpaced your local capacity and you moved production into North Carolina. So that's a big shift. And how did you navigate that while maintaining what you were wanting to build?

Molly B (06:31)
Yeah.

kind of

a backstory there. So I moved to the big city of Anchorage and I got one bakery to help me then two, then three, then four. And then COVID happened and all the bakeries shut down. And so they like literally put my boxes of cookies, which I didn't have any preservatives at the time. I didn't even know how to do it. And so they all, they put all the cookies in the back of my car and were like, good luck. Girl, I had like 1500 cookies in the back of my car. And I thought, what am I going to do? So I went on Facebook and like, who wants cookies? I was driving them all over the land.

One way for a dozen cookies, you know, I was selling them because I didn't want to lose them So I just sold them, you know a dozen at a time and one of the ladies that I went to her house She said have you ever thought about being on QVC and I was like, well doesn't everybody like of course, you know I want to be on QVC and she said well I have a friend that does like compact butters on QVC. Maybe I'll give her your number and I said sure so she gave me your number I Talked to this gal named Deborah and she ended up saying well you have to send me cookies cuz I'm not gonna give you my guys number

they're not any good and I said okay so she gave me I sent her cookies and then she said she they I passed the test and so then she gave me her friend Frank's number or her broker Frank and Frank said these are great and I said great he said who who's manufacturing them for you and I'm thinking nobody

I'm like, ⁓ I'm in the middle of working on that right now, you know, and I just learned that you just say yes and pivot Yes and pivot yes and pivot and so I said well, let me work on that for you. And so I googled Cookie factories thinking I need Willy Wonka fast, you know I found out about co-packers and I called a hundred co-packers and I told them some of my cookies have bacon some have fruity pebbles and this is before crumble So they all thought I had lost my mind. They're like nobody does that. We're not touching that So then the next day I called all

100 of them again. They all told me no again. And then the third time I went and called all of them again and like the 60th call was this bakery in North Carolina and they said, fine, we'll do it. Just stop calling us every day. And I said, perfect. So I launched on QVC in November, 2021.

They did my cookies. And actually they've done my cookies for four years and they now are starting their own brand. And so ⁓ we've pivoted. now have around eight different co-packing partners that we work with now, which is super fun. Yeah.

Jillian (08:46)
So has there ever been a moment where you've said, this has become bigger than I've ever imagined?

Molly B (08:53)
every day. Every single day I wake up and I'm like, how is this my life right now? Like, and I, the things I say, like they've used our cookies for the Emmys, the Grammys, the Oscars, then now they're using them for movie sets. My cookies are going to be like eaten by movie stars during a major motion picture, like actually five, I think. I don't, I can't wrap my mind around how this is all happening. Truly. It's a God thing. It really truly is.

Jillian (09:17)
It's incredible. Target would be a dream for many founders. And what do you think it took to make that happen?

Molly B (09:22)
Yes!

man, so you know what has been so big for me and I think it's how we met too is LinkedIn. LinkedIn has been such a great catapult for me meeting people and they, know how on LinkedIn is a different kind of platform because it's like you may know this person or someone that you know is commenting on someone that you don't know and you're like, they do butter. I'm going to be their friend because they have a lot of butter and I need a lot of butter, you know, and so that's kind of how it is. And so that's how it works both ways. And so I actually got

out to this amazing brokerage and all they do is work with Target and they said do you want to be with Target? Now side note Target is the first big box store I was ever in back back in I think 2022 and we launched in the Target cafes and we did really really well but they were remodeling all of their Target cafes and they had us in the back a lot and so people go and look for cookies and couldn't find them and so they finally said we want to bring you back when our cafes are completed.

And we said, okay, well, in the meantime, we ended up getting in all kinds of other stores and kind of forgot about Target a little bit, which, how do you forget about Target? But I just thought, you know, one day we'll get back in there. And then when this gentleman and his partner, Steve and Marcus contacted me, I was like, I would love to. That was so exciting. And so the timing was so perfect. And it just was another divine situation in my life. So I'm really grateful for that.

Jillian (10:45)
So when shoppers walk into Target and they see your cookies on shelf for the first time, what do hope that they feel?

Molly B (10:50)
Yeah.

I want them to feel joy. I just want them to be like, what is this? Straight fire the cookie, the snack master. This cookie has potato chips. Like what is going on here? Oh my gosh, three kinds of chocolate with sea salt. That sounds amazing. Like I want people to be excited. Oh my gosh, I want us a big roasted marshmallow on it. What is happening? You know, I just want them in their bright colors and fun names and I just want them to feel joy. So, you know, and we just were asked to do a holiday one too that will be in the very front of the store. And right when you walk

and you know the little bins, 135 bins, we're gonna be in there doing two different, a naughty and nice cookie. So it'll be a hot chocolate, like peppermint hot chocolate and the Mexican hot chocolate with a little bit of spice. So it'll be so fun and yeah, that's launching in November. So I just, it's amazing. I'm really excited. Yeah. I'm telling you what, it is.

Jillian (11:41)
That's so fun. You have so much to look forward to.

What's the flavor that you recommend people try first?

Molly B (11:50)
My

favorite flavor is Big Joe and that's because I love coffee. So you know Joe like a cup of Joe. So it's a big cup of Joe. It's a big cookie. I'm su- I love puns. You will learn that about me. Anything like when you get a box of cookies from me it says to bake your dreams crumb true. Like I love any kind of pun. So anyway, but the Big Joe recently we partnered with this amazing company called P-Rex Coffee in Arizona and they actually they are partnered with ⁓ Seeds of Hope out of Thailand.

And they help bring families into, give them a place to live and they give them a job, so I'm getting the coffee or whatever and they're,

They rescue them from trafficking and all these things. So that's our coffee partner. It's just so big that so that is a coffee with a purpose. And so I thought and they're actually friends of mine from high school. And so it's just kind of went full circle. I'm really excited about my friends. They moved to Thailand from Alaska and then they introduced me to their friends, P-Rex in Arizona who roast their coffee. And yeah, so it's just a great thing. And they are so delicious. Those that's my favorite. So get a big job.

And you know, is that the point of like trying to start a legacy for your families, like to help other people, you know? And so that was just like a no-brainer. We've been approached by other coffee companies and stuff, but this just was a no-brainer for me because it's literally helping save kids and families out of slavery. Like who says no to that?

Jillian (13:11)
so switching more to on a personal note, you went from survival mode to national recognition almost overnight. How do you protect your energy in the middle of that shift?

Molly B (13:20)
Protect my energy. Well, I have animals and I love them. I have a...

130 pound Alaska Malamute. So his name is Walter and he's the best. And then we have a little Spitfire Sparks who is our Pomeranian that we love. I, you know, my husband, I'm married to my son's dad. He and I actually, it was so funny, right before I launched the cookie business, he and I had divorced and then four years later we got remarried. And so that's good. He and I spend time together. He's my, he's very, very grounding for me and very steady. And then our son is in his senior year of high school and he's a football player. So

I am the loud mom in the stands loving life and being excited about all that. So, you know, there's always something. But also my church life is really important to me. Getting in that secret place with the Lord is really puts me in such a comfort. And I, you know, he promises that he'll give us peace that surpasses all understanding. What that means is you could be having a whirlwind of problems, but you'll have peace and you don't understand why. But that's what it is. It's that promise that he gives us. And I have that in my heart. So it's pretty it's very handy.

10 out of 10, highly recommend.

Jillian (14:25)
I love that. And so your cookies, they bring comfort to now thousands of people, right? What is your source of comfort when you need it most?

Molly B (14:27)
I agree.

Yeah.

Well, would again I just hop back to the my source of comfort is just prayer and spending time with the Lord. That's absolutely put God first and everything you do and you'll be at peace and that's my theme of my life. again, that I'm just going to keep going back to that. That's what I recommend. Highly, highly recommend. You know, for a long time I was I was really into like energy and the universe and you know, all of those things. And but I still always had a little bit of anxiety now that it's just gone. So it was just

so amazing for me and I like I say it's like if you haven't tried it ten out of ten.

Jillian (15:09)
That sounds very freeing.

Molly B (15:11)
It is

so freeing, yes!

Jillian (15:13)
And so prayer is an important part of your day to day and how you reset. What does a typical morning look like now? Are there any rituals that help you stay centered in addition to that prayer?

Molly B (15:24)
I don't think they're on purpose, but I can tell you exactly how my day goes. So basically I'm in Alaska. So we're four hours from the East Coast. So I will wake up and then I will start looking at my emails when I wake up in the morning from bed and I will because it's, you know, 5 30 or six in the morning is like 10 in the East Coast. And so the first thing I do though, is I pray. like, thank you God for another shot at this. I hope I do good. And I just, really grateful, you know,

and I pray for my family, pray for my company, and then I check my emails, and usually in the mornings...

Around 70 emails I have to go through and then I go downstairs and make coffee, visit with my husband a little bit and then get on my computer and start answering all the emails that I have and then start appointments. This week has been a lot of week, a lot of appointments. Like we literally just landed Kroger and so we've been working on that. So exciting. All the Northwest, all the Western states. So and it's like I think I have like seven subsidiaries.

like Smith's and Fred Meyer and all so we'll be in all of those so excited and And so we're working on that plus we're gonna go to a couple expos coming up and that'll be next month so working on that and and then you know now that we've got a new Dubai play that we're doing with the Dubai cookie as people are going bananas over that and we're like we can do that so we're working on showing people that and Every day is just another blessing to find the next fun

thing, you know? So we're just really... and what's funny is, so production stopped in Alaska because they couldn't keep up, and then for me to be able to ship stuff back to Alaska from the Lower 48, which is what we call you guys the Lower 48 states, that was really expensive. And so I live in Alaska, but you could not buy my cookies in Alaska for the last three years.

And so people are like, now who are you? What do you do? Because they don't really know because I'm, you know, I'm just in my house and I zoom all day. So we just got with a new distributor in Alaska that's going to put us in all the stores here in Alaska. And that's going to happen probably in a couple of months. I'm super excited about that. And because we got with Kroger and Fred Meyer, they're also putting us in the Fred Meyer here in Alaska. So more than anything, my dad's going to be very excited about that because he's really proud of me, but there's nowhere to buy my cookies.

You

Jillian (17:43)
Well, he will be able soon. it's super exciting. looking back at that woman with $150, what would you tell her now?

Molly B (17:45)
Yeah, this is exciting! Yeah.

Don't give up. It's coming. Hold on tight. Buckle up. Tie your shoes tight. You're gonna be running.

Definitely. mean, there were days that like with my son and I, like I couldn't afford to even feed him. Like, and so I would just get a box of rice-a-roni and mix it with corn and call it a casserole. And that's what we would have for dinner. And, you know, and but we never lost the joy. And, you know, never once did our lights get shut off. We never got my car repoed. Like it never got to that place. We always were just covered. And so it was I'm really grateful for that. And those were some of the best times.

Honestly, we had to sell the TV off the wall, but we had a projector, so we didn't just put the projector on the wall, and we would watch TV from that. It was a blast. You know, just make with what you've got and make the best of it. you know, if I could tell my... I wouldn't have believed myself if I would have said, girl, in just a few years, your cookies are gonna be in thousands of stores. I would have been like, mm-mm. Give me a break. So, it's exciting.

Jillian (18:53)
so where can people try Molly Beezy and or follow along your journey

Molly B (18:58)
we're on it's MollyBZ because I didn't want to be MollyBs. So I'm MollyBZ on Instagram and all the things. You can follow me on MollyBlakely on LinkedIn. Or we have a MollyBZ on LinkedIn, but I didn't know I needed to have a MollyBZ LinkedIn. So there's only like 400 followers because I was like, what? They're following me. It's cool. I'm telling them everything I'm doing anyway. And then Facebook is the same. TikTok is the same. So yeah. So you can follow me on all those things. And if you want to buy cookies, go to MollyBZ.com or

can go to any of the world markets. We're in Hux. We're in some Walmart's national launch with Target, Costco, all the just keep looking. We're gonna be in Kroger, all the things. Just keep watching. Yeah.

Jillian (19:38)
Keep your eye out.

I love that. Is there anything before we head out that we didn't get to cover that you want to share?

Molly B (19:45)
I don't think so. just, I'm so grateful that you asked me to do this. It was so much fun.

Jillian (19:50)
I appreciate you. Thank you so much for being here and.

Molly B (19:52)
You did a great job interviewing. Way to go!

Jillian (19:57)
Thank you for the support and I'm so happy we did this. Really appreciate the time.

Molly B (20:02)
Absolutely, thanks so much.