It’s in the layers: Killer Brownie’s ‘irresistible’ growth

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It’s in the layers: Killer Brownie’s ‘irresistible’ growth

18 Mar 2025

Joanie Spencer

Since 2008, Joanie Spencer has covered the retail and wholesale sides of the baking industry.
Serving associations such as the American Society of Baking (ASB) and BEMA, Joanie is also in demand as an industry presenter on bakery operations and trends. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Rockhurst University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

When she’s not running or playing soccer, Joanie spends her time with her husband and 11-year-old son.

MIAMISBURG, OH — Before it was part of the Irresistible Foods Group (IFG) — actually, before it was a company at all — Miamisburg, OH-based Killer Brownie was simply a decadent dessert found in the box lunches at high-end grocer Dorothy Lane Market in Dayton, OH, where businesses clamored for the lunches in large part because of the brownies.

Today, Killer Brownie is on the cusp of national notoriety while maintaining a mission of joy … and offering a constant reminder that life is short. After unveiling a rebrand and new logo, Killer Brownie is reassuring everyone that it’s okay to live a little.

“We’re really tapping into those moments where people are doing that in their everyday life,” said Chimene Ross, CEO of The Killer Brownie Co. “Whether it’s a family occasion or just living it up with people you love, it’s about embracing life. That’s who we are. There is so much joy, happiness and fun at Killer Brownie, and we can communicate that through our product.”

The brownies weren’t just a product of Dorothy Lane Market; Norman Mayne, Dorothy Lane’s CEO and third generation of ownership — and Ross’ father — helped develop the original recipe and even sketched the original Killer Brownie logo on a napkin. The popularity began in the early ’80s, and at the height of the corporate box-lunch trend, retailers around the region wanted to emulate the treat in their in-store bakeries.

“It was becoming really big in Dayton,” Ross remembered. “The other retailers wanted to [start selling a brownie like this] because there was no other product like it. In-store bakeries really revolved around bread, and desserts as we know them today were a new phenomenon.”

Mayne was willing to teach those retailers how to make it, but Killer Brownie was too hard to replicate. So, the brand remained with Dorothy Lane.

After some hard knocks from outsourcing production, the Dorothy Lane bakery team figured out how to crank out brownies from a 1,000-square-foot space, affectionately known as “the brownie department,” in the basement of the flagship store. Demand finally outgrew capacity in 2013, and Killer Brownie became its own entity led by Ross, first as head of sales and eventually as CEO.

“There is so much joy, happiness and fun at Killer Brownie, and we can communicate that through our product.” — Chimene Ross | CEO | The Killer Brownie Co.

The brand, now its own company, moved from Dayton to a 30,000-square-foot facility in Miamisburg, where until last year, production, corporate offices and warehouse space were under one roof.

In 2019, the company took another leap, investing in a full marketing team. In the five years that followed, while many brands cut back on marketing, Killer Brownie forged ahead, and the payoff was triple-digit sales growth. After bursting at the seams in the original Miamisburg plant, the team acquired two more buildings in the neighborhood. The warehouse got its own space across the street, and the corporate functions moved into a building around the corner, dedicating the original 30,000 square feet solely to operations.

Killer Brownie had cracked the code on having a clear vision of the future while accomplishing a lot when the immediate resources and space might be scarce. After all, this is not an average brownie. Made up of multiple layers, one of which is usually caramel, a Killer Brownie feels almost like a candy bar mashup.

“That comes from the texture of the bite,” Ross said. “And that texture comes from the ratio of the inclusions, which comes from an intentional commitment.”

While social media feeds are packed with images of decadent multitextured brownies, very few of that caliber are being made at scale. Ultimately, it’s the experience that makes this product quintessentially “killer.”

“Everything we make has a gooey bite,” Ross said. “Even the brownies without caramel have it. People recognize a Killer Brownie as soon as they bite into it. It’s hard to make at scale. Honestly, no one in their right mind would try to do what we do.”

Making gooey brownies with three or four layers at scale requires customization every step of the way. That requires extra attention when the bakery makes more than 30 brownie varieties, each with its own tower of decadence.

“Automating the process has been challenging,” Ross said. “But automation is our future. We have to do it. We’ve been through a lot of trial and error, and our vendor partners have been incredible.”

For starters, the process requires depositing technology designed for precision. Killer Brownie uses depositors from Reiser and Unifiller for everything from traditional brownie batter to high-viscosity layers.

Because the brownies can vary vastly in terms of textures, the room’s layout has to be versatile and easily accessible.

“This is a tight space, so we have to keep things flexible,” said Matt Ross, Killer Brownie’s COO. “Depending on the brownies we’re making that day, things will get moved around and reoriented.”

When making so many varieties that each have their own unique method, temperature is critical to perfecting the product, not only in terms of climate control in the makeup room but also how the brownies are baked.

“Some brownies have chocolate chips, nuts or other inclusions, and those textures require specific parameters,” Matt said. “That means oven temperatures often need to vary.”

In a room full of Revent ovens, custom controls dial in each stage of the bake for every type of brownie.

“That ensures an even bake across the entire rack,” Matt said. “Customization has been really helpful.”

Packaging is another area where customization has supported the operation. Four packaging lines are used based on the customer and product type, whether for foodservice, individually wrapped branded, or retail-ready private label.

“The growth we’ve experienced in the past few years has really allowed us to learn about the ins and outs of retail-ready packaging lines,” Chimene said. “The first thing we did when we moved into this space was automate the retail-ready line.”

Recent investments include an automated palletizer from Onexia, robotic case packing from JLS and a Wayne Automation tray former.

“It’s fun to look back at when this was all manual,” Matt said. “It’s a great reminder of just how far we’ve come.”

This story has been adapted from the February | Q1 2025 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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