Cory has been able to cater to the masses by grabbing their attention through their stomachs. He first got started with selling hot chocolate in his neighborhood in Englewood, NJ because he wanted to raise enough money to buy a car for his mom. “I was tired of taking the bus,” he says. “And I wanted to help my mom.” He was able to expand on his offering and have cookies and lemonade for his customers. Cory and his mom did a lot of experimentation with many cookie recipes with his mom over a few months and he was able to find the best recipe and sell some delicious cookies to his customers. These cookies became a hit everywhere they took them, to races and festivals and many places where there clientele nearly doubled.
As you can imagine, Cory and his business got a lot of publicity not only because of his amazing cookies but because he was so young and had such a thriving business that so many try and achieve. In 2015, Cory was invited to be The Ellen DeGeneres Show. After his appearance on the show, the demand for Cory’s cookies sky rocketed more than they ever had. Cory also made an appearance on CNBC’s The Profit and earned Mr. Cory’s Cookies a $100,000 cash infusion. This allows for Mr. Cory’s Cookies to be able to launch a website, hire some cookie helpers, and ship their cookies across the country.
Mr. Cory’s Cookies now offers 14 different flavors of cookies and has very high hopes of expanding in the future. Although Cory’s business has done very well for itself, after he has graduated from college he has plans of leaving the company and starting something new. He did it once, what’s stopping him from doing it again?
A short little video of tips Cory has for young entrepreneurs:
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/12/cnbc-the-profit-mr-corys-three-tips-for-young-entrepreneurs.html
I really love this choice! I think it demonstrates the importance of sticking with an idea and not just giving up on it. Cory chose to go into an already highly populated market but he chose to stand out by being high quality and truly showing a commitment to his work, even at a young age. Though it would not be my first choice of a startup, he met the need in the market, clearly in a way that others saw better than the competition and thus, he clearly demonstrated a risk and a high reward for pursuing his idea.