How a cancer diagnosis helped create a ‘cookie dough tycoon’

After Lauren Castle graduated from college, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare cancer that affects the body’s lymphatic system. Although Castle is now cancer-free, her diagnosis has changed the way she views food.

Castle began studying nutrition and took cooking classes to learn how to eat the most nutritious foods possible. It was her sweet tooth that made her realize that there were no packaged baked goods on the market that were truly delicious and made with the best ingredients that she liked. So, Castel did her job.

In 2009, Castle began baking in her studio apartment in New York City and selling her produce at local farmers’ markets. That’s when Sweet Lauren was born. After years of perfecting the recipe, Castle introduced her product to Whole Foods and quickly distributed it to more and more retailers.

It is now the No. 1 brand in the natural cookie dough category and No. 3 overall, according to the company.

“I thought about how we do this using whole grain flowers that still taste amazing, healthier oils so they’re dairy-free and less inflammatory, and over time I tweaked the recipe and went through hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of batches,” Castle told Food Dive.

The CEO and founder’s goal was to create cookies that everyone could eat. The recipe is free of the top nine allergens and contains ingredients like cane sugar, rolled oats, palm oil, sea salt and fair trade chocolate chips.

Convenience still comes first

While Castle’s initial priority was perfecting the recipe, in order to get the product onto grocery store shelves, she needed to supply what retailers wanted.

Castle met with the head buyer at Whole Foods in New York, who told her that cookies taste best when they’re fresh.

“We looked at bakery mixes, pre-made cookies, cookie dough — and settled on pre-made cookie dough to give people the best experience,” Castel said. “After studying the food industry, I realized that there are only two main brands that sell ready-made cookies. dough, and none of them contained natural ingredients, so there was a huge opportunity.”

Ultimately, the U.S. consumer still prioritizes convenience even as they seek higher-quality products, Castle said, so Castle settled on a product that would still feel and taste fresh, but didn’t require a lengthy preparation and cleanup process.

“It took seven months to determine the factory, design, packaging and finalize the recipe. I tried it at Whole Foods and then at the first meeting I brought it to Publix and Kroger,” Castle said.

Sweet Loren’s is now sold in 30,000 stores nationwide.

From natural cookie dough to food brand

Over the past year, Sweet Loren’s has expanded into four new categories—puff pastry, breakfast cookies, pie crust and pizza dough.

When it comes to whether a brand is classified as “good for you” or not, Castle says it can be frustrating to label foods that way, but ultimately she’s always been about “getting the crap out of the US food system.” ”

The company’s top priority is to remove anything harmful from its ingredient lists—artificial colors, flavors, and chemicals that have been linked to cancer.

Sweet Loren’s then strives to create convenient packaged foods that use the highest quality ingredients and that people find delicious.

“We’re better for you in the sense that we use whole wheat flour, for example, and we can add some fiber to our products. We also use oils that are naturally less inflammatory for the body, so our products are easy for most people to digest,” Castle said.

However, the company ultimately creates decadent products. “These are the things that light people up and make them happy—you don’t eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” she said.

Sweet Loren’s expansion into new categories is in the works. “What people don’t realize is that I can make a delicious puff pastry product in my kitchen that’s dairy-free and gluten-free and everything else,” Castle said. “The problem comes when you try to mass produce it so it’s sold in thousands and thousands of grocery stores.”

It took the company almost seven years to grow its portfolio to where it is today.

Castle said her top priorities for the next few years include doubling brand awareness and pursuing new innovations.

“We want to double, even triple our consumer base. We have a cult fandom of people who had no other choice until we came along, but we want to win the loyalty of more everyday consumers who just want to eat better.”