![]() Luckily the actress Busy Phillips heard about our situation and tweeted about it to her 2.2 million Twitter followers. So there we were, stuck with a ton of cookies. We had baked 25,000 cookies to prepare for the South-by-Southwest festival. That’s very easy to leave behind as you grow, but it has been a critical part of our branding. It was our business, and we needed the income, but it was also an opportunity to talk to people one-on-one. That’s why we started at a farmer’s market because we had just moved to the U.S. No matter how good your display is, it is about promoting and talking about the product, its benefit, and what it will do for people. Often the expectation is, “I’ll have my product on the shelves, and everyone is gonna be excited to buy it.” That doesn’t happen. Schrei: Many people don’t understand that a new product needs pushing. We knew how to meet our sales targets and how to explore an opportunity. We were brand managers for those businesses in Latin America. I worked for Beiersdorf, the skincare company. The key is knowing your limitations and strengths.īandholz: Your cookies were a big success here in Austin. When you mix those two, you start trusting each other. I’m a people person who loves making connections and selling. We work well together because we’re the opposite in our qualities. Luis Gramajo: I have been good at selling since I was a kid. We sold everything in Guatemala, loaded up our dogs and two suitcases, and started doing farmers’ markets here selling our cookies. So that’s why we decided to immigrate to the U.S. That, for us, was very new and refreshing. We saw queer couples with kids everywhere. We drove along the coast from San Diego to San Francisco. But getting married in Guatemala was not going to happen. People can feel your passion when talking about your brand, providing credibility. I am not outgoing, but the business was an excellent opportunity to talk to people. It became therapeutic and part of my identity. I built a pink box and got behind the counter, selling my cookies at our physical store. Starting Wunderkeks was my creative outlet and a way to express myself, which I couldn’t do because being gay in Guatemala is not ideal. Over time, we got our cookie dough in Costco and Walmart in Latin America. I was about to throw in the towel, but he came in and helped. It took a while to be successful, and it was a lot for me to handle. The name means “wonder cookies” in German. Then folks began telling me, “You should sell these.” Those became my Christmas gifts that year. I had 30 days of time off from my job, so I decided to bake one type of cookie from my mom’s kitchen for every day of Advent. Hans Schrei: In December 2011 I was living in my home country of Guatemala.
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