BOSTON — Interest in “little treat culture” and sustainability are growing in popularity, especially among consumers who prefer to splurge on snacks that fit these criteria. Boston-based Fancypants Baking Co. intends to answer the evergreen question, “How can I have both?” with its crispy cookie product line.
Research from Puratos USA’s “Taste Tomorrow” report found that 45% of consumers have an interest in products made from upcycled ingredients, and a recent Mattson study revealed that 99% of consumers see food waste as an issue. These findings, in addition to data from Circana that indicated center store cookies grew 27.5% in 2023, unveiled an avenue for Fancypants, which uses upcycled oat flour, to flourish.
The company’s founder and CEO Maura Duggan started Fancypants in 2004, selling decorated shortbread cookies to local in-store bakeries (ISBs).
“I started with cookies because that’s something I had always baked with my mother and grandmother growing up,” Duggan said. “I loved the tradition and the nostalgia of baking cookies.”
The brand’s goal was to provide an indulgent, “fancy” moment with each cookie. Duggan started with fresh bakery departments because she felt bright, vibrant cookies would stand out among the bagels, muffins and breads in the product cases. Sure, the cookies were labor-intensive, but the risk paid off when customers kept returning.
After a year of baking cookies in her Boston apartment, Duggan moved production into a 1,000-square-foot commercial kitchen. While the decorative shortbread offerings remained the brand’s main product, Fancypants began experimenting with recipes for a crispy version of the cookies for ISBs. After initial trials, Duggan started selling smaller quantities of the crispy variations alongside her original cookies.
As business for both cookies remained steady, production struggled to keep up in the commercial kitchen. This led to the transition into a 20,000-square-foot space eight years later.
“It seemed far too big and empty the first couple of years,” Duggan said. “But over time, we’ve filled it up as we brought on more people and housed more equipment.”
“If you’re lucky enough, someone is going to grab your product off the shelf, and that’s a huge win. But if you want them to buy it twice, three times — forever — it really has to be the best.” — Maura Duggan | founder and CEO | Fancypants Baking Co.
In 2020, when nearly every foodservice and retail bakery felt the impact of COVID-19, Fancypants experienced a drop in sales for decorative cookies but simultaneously had an abrupt increase in how many crispy cookies were sold.
The consumer shift toward buying only the essentials — and the potential Duggan saw for Fancypants’ crispy cookies in this space — solidified the process for the brand to begin moving away from the ISB segment toward center store CPG and focus solely on manufacturing crispy cookies at scale.
“I realized that the decorative cookies were not as scalable as a CPG line,” she shared. “I was confident in Fancypants’ ability to be even more successful in center store.”
The CPG world is high risk/high reward. The 18-month R&D process brought an abundance of challenges that didn’t always result in the perfect product.
During those initial days of developing the crispy cookies, the R&D team created several versions of the formula. Their trials — and errors — involved changing the types of chocolate and the amount of salt, sourcing nut-free ingredients, converting the size of the chocolate chips, and determining the proper moisture level and density.
But perfection was always the end game.
“If you’re lucky enough, someone is going to grab your product off the shelf, and that’s a huge win,” Duggan said. “But if you want them to buy it twice, three times — forever — it really has to be the best.”
In January 2024, Fancypants launched its new cookie line with six flavors: Birthday Cake, Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate, Oatmeal Raisin, S’mores and Salted Caramel.
At the core of every successful CPG brand is the ability to prioritize innovation and remain receptive to consumer feedback. Fancypants considered the increase in consumer demand for indulgent, gluten-free treats and released its first Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip flavor just six months after the initial launch.
The crispy cookie producer also conducted market research and began early R&D to incorporate traditional fall flavors in its seasonal product line. Fancypants tested numerous variations and created two additional flavors — Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and Ginger Snap — all within the brand’s original debut into CPG.
This story has been adapted from the October | Q4 2024 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
