Watch: Tate’s CEO Believes in ‘Power of the Cookie’

Don’t underestimate the power of a cookie. Especially a Tate’s cookie, according to Maura Mottolese, the CEO of Tate’s Bake Shop.

In a talk at NOSH Live in New York last month, Mottolese, who joined the Long Island-based company in 2014, discussed how companies can best transform consumer awareness and momentum into rapid growth. Speaking from her experience in building Tate’s into a category leader, , she explained how the company transformed from a small regional brand into a national one by reevaluating its marketing and sales operations, as well as its personnel and resource allocation.

“I like to say I found an organization that didn’t have a lot of organization,” Mottolese said. “But I knew no matter what that I couldn’t mess with the power of the cookie.”

Mottolese also advised brands to be strategic about their growth and in picking their “must-win battles.” For Tate’s, those battles were to optimize an existing distribution footprint and ramp-up brand awareness, in part by having a bigger impact on shelves. But, she added, Tate’s top priority has always been quality, which will continue to be a guiding principal as the brand continues to scale.

“At the end of the day, the original Tate’s product really was successful based on the product itself,” she said. “The ‘sacred cookie’ is the thing that got Tate’s where it is today and will also be the thing that gets Tate’s to the next level.”

To check out Mottolese’s complete NOSH Live presentation, watch below.