Who taught you to bake? I actually learned to bake because my mother (who never baked and really was never passionate about cooking) inspired me to make cookies because I loved to eat them so much as a child. If I wanted to have a good homemade cookie, I had to learn to make it myself!
Why cookies? Because they were absolutely so much more exciting than TV dinners and frozen fish sticks!
Have you always loved cookies? I have. I love the fact that they are easy to make, and I just love the smell when they are baking in the kitchen. Of course, the best thing about cookies is the ultimate experience of eating them hot right out of the oven. The only thing better than fresh cookies is sharing them with others!
When did you come up with the recipe that you baked in your first store? It was an evolution. I started baking when I was a teenager, and I just kept changing, adapting and adding ingredients until the recipe was perfect. If I was going to share my fresh-baked cookies with family and friends, I needed to create a cookie that was absolutely the very best.
When did you decide to turn your passion for cookies into a business? It was never my intent to go into the cookie business. But when I was considering careers, I got one of the best pieces of advice from my dad. He said, "True wealth is found in family, great friends and absolutely loving what you do." The one thing that I absolutely loved was the making and sharing of cookies. So it was luck, my dad's advice and my love for cookies that enabled me to open my first store when I was 20.
What sacrifices did you have to make to get the business off the ground? It never really felt like I was making sacrifices. As I was starting the cookie business, I was driven by both my passion for cookies and a desire to figure out my future. In the beginning, people around me kept saying that it was an impossible dream. Despite this, I felt that the greatest failure that I could possibly ever have was not pursuing something that I believed in. Once I decided to start a cookie business (with not much more than a recipe and a good attitude!), I became determined to accept the challenges and do what was necessary to make things work. I don't consider any changes I made "sacrifices," but rather, pure "commitment" to my dream.
Get Mrs. Fields' advice on entering the 30th Anniversary Cookie Search contest.