Carly Kilgore creates cookie delivery company on campus

After witnessing her affinity of baking transform into a revenue-generating business over the summer, Carly Kilgore will introduce a cookie-delivery company to the University of Richmond next week.

The company, Carly’s Cookie Company, is a spinoff the business she created over the summer, Carly’s Creations, Kilgore said. While Carly’s Creations focused on custom orders of nearly any baked good, Carly’s Cookie Company will primarily deliver cookies on campus.

Carly’s Cookie Company will begin delivering on Sept. 29, Kilgore said, and are guaranteed to arrive within twenty minutes to an hour of ordering.

Kilgore, a sophomore, began baking relentlessly during her senior year of high school. While baking in her parent’s home in Westchester, New York over the summer, she decided to turn her hobby into a business, and Carly’s Creations was born.

Customers will have the option of ordering chocolate chip, sugar and snickerdoodle cookies, Kilgore said. Bulk and custom orders are also available, but must be ordered five days in advance, she said.

Although Carly’s Cookie Company has yet to officially open its doors to the general public, Kilgore has been marketing on campus throughout the semester. The company donated 100 cookies to the Kappa Kourtside event, which resulted in many participants posting photos of the cookies on social media sites, Kilgore said. Kilgore also tabled in the Tyler Haynes Commons with a Google student ambassador earlier in the semester, serving cookies that emulated the Google Chrome logo while distributing the company’s information to potential clients.

Kilgore began baking for her family and friends while she was in high school, and quickly developed a passion for it, she said. After starting numerous businesses, such as a gourmet dog treat company, creating revenue from baking seemed like the next logical step, Kilgore said.

Many of the social media marketing strategies that were used over the summer will be incorporated into the campus business, Kilgore said. Generating views on the Facebook and Instagram pages are paramount to the company’s success, she said.

Much of Carly’s Creations social media activity over the summer targeted Facebook groups that mothers created within their neighborhoods, Kilgore said. Mothers then ordered baked goods for their children and referred their friends, she said.

Kilgore said she hoped Carly’s Cookie Company would follow suit by expanding into the network of Richmond parents, who she expected to order custom items for their children on special occasions.

Kilgore will be the only employee during the company’s first few months of business, she said. She will make the dough, bake and deliver the cookies, track the business’ finances and identify market trends.

Once the business is established on campus and shows trends of when the most cookies are sold, additional employees will be hired to deliver and bake the cookies, although Kilgore will exclusively make the cookie dough, she said.

While expansion, employees, an app and large returns are in Carly’s Cookie Company’s future, Kilgore said she was initially focused on reaching her goal of selling 100 cookies during the first week of business. 

Contact reporter Hunter Ross at hunter.ross@richmond.edu.