Not Your Bubbe's
To scale a student-founded nonprofit into a nationwide DTC CPG brand, I led brand voice development across packaging and advertising initiatives, reimagining a polarizing dessert as a joyful, socially conscious treat.
My Role
As NYB has expanded, I have been able to shift from operational growth strategy to more actively shaping and maintaining NYB’s brand image. I still make time in the NYB test kitchen to lead new flavor development and to manage a team of bakers.
The Challenge
Buttery, sugary, slightly crisp on the outside, and overflowing with a generous scoop of filling homemade from scratch, hamantaschen are the world’s greatest cookie. Objectively. So much so that I was confident they would be tremendously lucrative if pitched right.
But we were up against a wall of preconceptions. Most community members, particularly those who were not Jewish, were unfamiliar. The transliterated Yiddish “hamantasch” looked dauntingly foreign and was not a great candidate for word-of-mouth publicity. On the other hand, even community members who were familiar with hamantaschen tended to think of the store-bought version: a powdered sugar-doused, overcooked biscuit stuffed with a little knob of canned jelly, boasting the congealed-Jello texture of stale deli cookies and the appeal of the glamorous Red #40.
We had to reposition hamantaschen as a fun, indulgent, socially-conscious dessert that college students could afford.
Then we had to deliver on our promise without breaking the bank.
Discovery
Novelty attracts
Traditional hamantaschen are filled with prune or poppyseed paste, which Gen Z views as geriatric (at best, and at worst, aperient), while the store-bought sort lean toward chocolate chip or ambiguously fruity artificial goo. Our team facilitated brainstorming sessions to develop exciting new flavors including Apple, Peach Cobbler, Lemon Lavender, Bananas Foster, Salted Caramel, Pumpkin Chai, S’mores, Strawberry Pistachio, Cappuccino Pecan… the list goes on.
I questioned whether the size of the menu would be an immature business decision (resulting in food waste, overwhelming the consumer, or diluting our brand), but focus groups and tests suggested if per-item cost were low enough, consumers actually would spend more to try all the flavors than they would if the menu were more limited. Informed, we moved forward making the outrageousness of our flavors and menus the cornerstone of our brand.
Cause and convenience both matter
Our initial target was Boston college students—a demographic that tended to be frugal with spending except in two cases—when highly convenient (e.g., Insomnia Cookies, The Scoop N’ Scootery) and when supporting social causes.
To empower students to rally around social causes, we assigned a charitable organization to each flavor to receive half its proceeds. We made these assignments fun and relevant (i.e. salted caramel for ocean cleanup, apple for teachers, etc.). We operated in facilities on and just off the Tufts University campus and set up a dorm delivery service for students who wanted to order but not pick up in person. This gave NYB extra buzz among roommates and neighbors who saw deliveries show up.
Competition engages
You don’t have to walk far on campus to find competition in an election, an athletic tournament, a protest, a class debate, or a coveted internship application. Some healthy rivalry fosters active participation.
We established an annual flavor contest for three reasons: (1) to drum up personal investment, (2) to create intrigue by modifying our menu each year, and (3) to ensure the flavors we have in circulation be highly desirable! We currently receive about 100 submissions each year, for the favorite 10 of which I oversee recipe development, and boxes of test flavors are shipped out to our NYB tasters around the country to convene virtually and determine a winner. Our panel now includes some original student co-founders, family, and friends, as well as Food Network professionals, culinary educators, and a James Beard award-winning confectioner.
There's magic in ugly
To maintain aesthetic standards and room for error, one in every four hamantaschen we make is unfit to sell at market price. Rather than discard these misshapen—but just as delicious—misfits, I rebranded them the "Uglies," which we could sell by weight at a discount on rare occasions.
We do not promote the Uglies widely, romanticizing being "in the know." Word still gets around, but the tone isn't desperate—instead, it's that these are worth waiting for, driving a sense of urgency to secure a spot. Would there be a line around the block at dawn if customers thought there weren't a rush to beat? Probably not. But since they do show up, there is a rush to beat, and we routinely sell out in record time.
Results
$4000+ monthly revenue
press coverage in Edible Boston, OMFG, Kosher Like Me, and more
What I learned
Dealing in fresh goods requires strengths in short and long-term financial planning, inventory management, and a healthy amount of spreadsheet wizardry. When the product itself is widely unknown, the brand has to be that much more creative, constantly leveraging consumer insights to maintain a pulse and drive growth.
Is a 3D-printed hamantaschen press viable?
The technique involved in folding hamantaschen poses a barrier to further scaling operations. To begin exploring solutions, I CAD-designed and 3D-printed a robotic hamantaschen press that could enable less experienced bakers to maintain quality standards.
Reactive Marketing
Valentine's Day
I doubled-up this love-centric campaign on social and OOH channels, partnering with queer-run and queer-allied influencer partners and networks. As in all religious circles, members of the LGBTQ+ community are more likely to feel ostracized. NYB filled the niche of "liberal Jewish cookie", taking a humanitarian stance with a bit of tongue-in cheek humor.
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Effectiveness—moderate. While metrics did not enable us to trace orders to these directly, they did boost upper-funnel KPIs and grow NYB's following, particularly on social media.
Super Bowl
With audiences captive during the Super Bowl, already munching on snack food and likely oscillating between their phones and the TV, this clever nod showed NYB had its head in the game.
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Effectiveness—off the charts. Several large orders came in within an hour.
Proactive Marketing
What makes for a thumb-stopping post? Indulgent carb overload, action shots of products being sliced or split open, peeks behind the scenes, expressive faces, and plenty of heartstring-pulling.
Flavor Contest
Everybody loves a friendly competition, especially when there's a sweet prize involved. We highlighted it with a "backstage tour."
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Effectiveness—strong. Students and locals alike flocked to submit whimsical flavor ideas. And while they lingered on the site, many bought a box of hamantaschen, too. In fact, flavor contest submitters tended to purchase bigger orders, presumably inspired to taste the variety.
Dancing Menu
This was the first of a few social media assets we ran as an experiment emulating by Crumbl Cookies, social giant and masterclass in baked good publicity. The subtle animation catches the viewer's eye, as quality brands tend to have the post-production wherewithal to animate text-based graphics. I published this to the NYB Instagram story about twice a week, experimenting with times for maximum impressions.
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Effectiveness—strong. Worked best when posted first thing in the morning as a reminder to those who hadn't yet ordered. Orders tended to spike after posting the menu, but at low frequency so saturated followers would not fatigue and/or mute our story.
Tap and Hold
Crumbl riff #2 we used sparingly. While it invited interaction—a major plus—the interaction is not detected by any sort of metric. It's fun nonetheless, and it demonstrates the breadth of our selection.
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Effectiveness—fair. No sales spikes, but many followers would message us (or their friends) what flavor they landed on.
This or That
I launched six iterations of this second Crumbl-inspired Instagram story feature, pitting flavors of competitive popularity in past years.
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Effectiveness—strong. Not only because it boosted sales, but because it generated buzz. Both solidarity and contention breed passion, in this case either reaffirming one's order or spurring them to try another because their friends all like it.