There are a lot of people there Feel stuck Their Work full timewaiting for divine intervention or Perfect moment Jumping ship. An entrepreneur survived after graduating from college, which gave them the courage to become their own boss.
In 2006, Castle of LorenCEO of the Refrigerated Cookie Dough Empire Sweet Lorenis an unrecognizable 22-year-old who just graduated from the University of Southern California. But three months later, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma: a cancer that originated from the lymphatic system. While chemotherapy is being done for six months, the Castle is solving a healthier diet while figuring out what its career will look like.
“After (recovery), my doctor said, ‘Go to normal and get a job.’” Castle recalled wealth. “I was like, ‘I can’t be normal anymore.’ Life is really precious and I wanted to make sure I found something that I was very passionate about.
After four years of working, she couldn’t meet the jobs in the company and restaurant industry, and she finally discovered that passion and turned it into a thriving million-dollar business. Today, her healthy refrigerated cookie dough brand has laid aisles in 35,000 supermarkets, including chains like Whole Foods, Target and Costco.
Sweet Loren’s total sales in 2024 reached $97 million in total, with a target rate of staggering $120 million in operating rates this year.
Courtesy of Sweet Loren
“The goal is to take over the entire refrigerated dough section and truly be the number one player in the space.”. “While the big guy fell asleep on the steering wheel, we know how to talk to millennials and Gen Z, which is the shoppers of the future…I’m really passionate about it because it starts with personal needs.”
Quit her “real job” to serve health-conscious cookie lovers
The New York-based castle wasn’t inspired by her love of baking because of her love of baking, which she actually had hardly done before the diagnosis. When her friends went out for a party, her illness forced her to change her lifestyle, including the way she ate.
Castle has a big-ticket sweet tooth and is disappointed with the lack of a wholesome cookie dough brand. So she took cooking classes and learned nutrition on the day without cancer treatment, chose “super powered” healthy foods, and formulated her own healthy sweets.
“I started making my own recipes, practicing hundreds of batches. Finally, I (made) these recipes I thought, ‘Wait a minute, like, this is the best cookie I’ve ever had,” Castle said. “This turned a truly terrible negative period of my life into a superpower.”
After a healthy batch of cookies, the castle began testing batches while working on other jobs. During those years, she worked for a boutique PR company, helped manage restaurants, and played a role in the wine business. She bounced between characters that didn’t realize her. But, surviving cancer – wanting to turn the nightmare of disease into something positive, is the driving force she needs to eventually start her own business.
“Life is short. I don’t want to regret it. I’m very keen to be aware of how I feel. If I don’t like something, it’s really hard to get myself to do that,” Castle said. “At that point, ‘I don’t like my boss, I don’t want to make money from him.'”
After three years of attempts and failing to find a job she likes and is passionate about, Castle pulled the plug and turned to entrepreneurship at the age of 26.
Now, initially as a personal necessity has become a game changer for a wider audience. Castle has achieved great success by craving healthy sweets, especially among consumers with allergies or dietary restrictions. Sweet Loren sells nut-free, dairy-free and vegan biscuit dough, pie crust, crispbread and pizza dough, reaching a bigger sport.
Promoting Sweet Loren’s $120 million success
Castle has accumulated a bunch of cookie fans from testing batches from friends and family. But her real big breakthrough came in 2011, when she participated in a baking competition in New York City: the next small brand competition for cooking genius. She swept the competition and won the People’s Choice Award and the Judge Award.
Sweet Loren’s is officially on the map, and suddenly, hundreds of families send weekly emails to brands, asking for new diet-sensitive options. In addition to the healthy cookie dough she produces, they also need nut-free, gluten-free, vegan sweets.
“Once I launched allergen-free (product), they became our number one overnight,” she said.
Courtesy of Sweet Loren
Castle said her brand is now the number one natural cookie dough brand in the United States without private equity support, venture capital or flashy billboard advertising.
“It’s not that we’re pouring $50 million into Super Bowl ads and so on. I think it’s just that we really solved the problem,” Castle said. “They just like the quality of the product and tell their friends and be a fan of it. Because we’re improving what packaged foods can taste, and what the ingredients look like. It’s more of a quality.”
