Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Carlton.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ashley. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Not As Famous Cookie Company was founded with the mission of supplying delectable gourmet products. Our freshly baked products are made with only the finest of ingredients: real butter, fine chocolates, select nuts, etc! We invite you to taste our various offerings. The experience should be tremendously satisfying to the pallet and the soul such that the customer feels the habitual desire to return.
The idea of a cookie company was thought of years ago (actually soon after I was born) by my father. He created this same recipe when he lived out in LA with dreams of having a bakery and everyone getting the chance to taste this amazing cookie. Recently, as of 3 years, that dream has become a reality.
We are currently a mobile food truck based in Marietta, but we cover the entire metro area with our cookie truck, catering team and mobile delivery.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Getting started in business is never smooth, especially with an unproven concept. You have to get out there, get your name out, gain a following and customer base. The first year we got our truck, food truck season was coming to an end, so we didn’t have many events or relationships with event coordinators nor many places to vend. We spent that season building relationships to get more involved when food truck season come back around.
When food truck season came back around we were involved in most of the city’s biggest events which allowed us to gain exposure and a nice customer base, but we still were in the learning process. Our Monday through Friday events were going well, but the weekends were bad. We were spending big money on bad festivals that the coordinators over promised and under delivered. These were mainly events coordinators we didn’t have a relationship with and ones that would create events collect money and never be heard from again. We knew we had to make a change that season or we would be out of business soon. About mid-season, we turned that around and became very selective with festivals and also negotiated better rates when we were asked to participate. On top of that, our truck was having many mechanical issues that needed to be addressed and cost a lot of money.
This year 2017 has been smooth sailing. Truck runs well “great mechanic” and catering business makes up for almost 50% of our sales. We rarely select bad festivals/events and learned to stop forcing extra events to stay busy and focus on the good ones. This has made our year much easier and profitable.
Please tell us about Not As Famous Cookie Company.
We are a gourmet cookie truck based in Atlanta, Georgia. We specialize in gourmet cookies made from scratch, custom-made ice cream sandwiches and deep-dish cookies. Our truck has been in operation since 2014, but we’ve been doing cookies well before then.
I am most proud that I took the risk to follow my dreams and also fulfill my father’s dream of seeing his gourmet cookie recipes getting more known to the world. It also is great to see the smiles on people’s faces and kind comments from our customers when they tell us this is the best cookie they have ever had.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Being exposed to the cookie business by my father. He pushed me to stand out at grocery stores and sale the cookies as well as help in his bakery when I was a kid.
Contact Info:
- Website: notasfamous.com
- Phone: (404) 587-1661
- Email: info@notasfamous.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/notasfamous
- Facebook: Facebook.com/notasfamous
- Twitter: Twitter.com/notasfamous
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