The Trailblazers Experience Podcast

EP59 Kathryn Bricken: Founder & CEO of Doughlicious - From Hobby Baker to Cookie Empire Success

• Ntola • Season 4 • Episode 59

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EP59 , Our Guest is  Kathryn Bricken, the founder and CEO of Doughlicious, shares her journey from baking in her Miami kitchen to creating a beloved gluten-free cookie brand in London. Kathryn's story is one of organic growth, from bake sales at her children’s school to seeing her products in major retailers and celebrated on social media. Listen as she recounts her path from crafting decorative cakes in the U.S. to finding her entrepreneurial spirit in the UK, and how her love for baking became the cornerstone of Doughlicious.

Building a business from the ground up is no easy feat, and Kathryn takes us through the financial strains and emotional resilience required to succeed. She reveals the challenges she faced in transitioning from a career in politics to entrepreneurship and her mission to innovate the snacking industry while maintaining ethical values. Learn about the relentless drive behind Doughlicious, the effort to reduce food waste, and the dedication to creating products that bring both joy and sustainability to consumers.
This episode is a heartfelt celebration of resilience, passion, and the human side of success. Join us for an inspiring conversation with a trailblazing entrepreneur.

Chapters
00:15 Introduction and Background
03:54 The Journey of Doughlicious: From Idea to Success
08:14 Creating Healthier and Innovative Snacking Options
11:48 Funding Challenges and Growth of Doughlicious
15:49 Empowering Women and Reducing Food Waste
18:56 Challenges and Empowerment as a Female Founder
22:06 The Power of Networking and Collaboration
28:43 Supporting Women and Overcoming Challenges
36:00 Finding Balance and Self-Care for Personal and Professional Success
37:58 Trailblazer Takeaway Tips

Watch on YouTube : https://youtu.be/BYvXsELyb2A

Find us 
Shop  www.doughlicious.c.uk
Instagram @doughlicious_dough
Linkedin : Kathryn 
 https://www.linkedin.com/company/doughlicious-dough/

Listen : to the audio version Apple Spotify .Amazon Music Google Podcasts
Watch and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Thetrailblazersexperience
Follow Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazersexperience/

The Trailblazers Experience:

Welcome to the Trailblazers Experience Podcast, the podcast where we have candid conversations with women sharing their career journeys. My next guest today and I'm feeling hungry even just talking about it is Kathryn , who is the founder and CEO of Doughlicious, the London dough company. You must have seen them around. If you're into 100% gluten-free, amazing cookies. This is the brand for you. Welcome, Kathryn .

Kathryn Bricken:

Thank you, nice to be here. Antola, thanks for having me.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I'm so excited because I just had my workout this morning and we don't have a Whole Foods where I live, but whenever I'm in London, people are always talking about Dough-licious and I thought it was just some brand that is, you know, not started in the UK, imported etc. And the stars have aligned that. I'm actually talking to you, Kathryn someone introduced it to me and I just want to talk about your career journey and how do you even come up with this great idea that you actually say I love cookies. I want to turn it into a business.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, it was. It's's crazy because I've always loved baking since I was little. I was the type of child that if my mother went to the supermarket without me, I would be upset because I'd love to scan all the aisles, look at new products and in the US they also have coupons or a big thing and I wouldn't. In the Sunday newspaper, you'd get a coupon book and I would never look at the coupons for the cash thing. And I wouldn't. In the Sunday newspaper, you'd get a coupon book and I would never look at the coupons for the cash discounts.

Kathryn Bricken:

It was always the new products, new launches, like what was out there, what food was interesting, modern, creative and what were people doing to, I guess, elevate everybody's eating experience. So I always loved baking, then started doing really decorative cakes and cookies after we moved from Toronto back to the States and I would do this for caterers, so I'd do an order for 300 cupcakes, 500 cookies, and I found it just so therapeutic. And, to tell you the truth, I find the dough therapeutic. So for me to make whether it's cookie dough, sourdough, bread dough, cinnamon roll dough, some sweet dough, milk dough I just there's something relaxing and really therapeutic for me.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So have you always had that early love for baking? I mean, you're from the US, so originally from which part of the States?

Kathryn Bricken:

are you from Miami Florida?

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, and I'm thinking in Miami, florida, it's, you know, coastal, really warm, not everyone's thinking of baking. Yeah, what sparked on. Now, if you think in hindsight, where did that passion come from?

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, I think it was my mom. I mean, my mom was just an amazing baker. People would come to my house to eat cakes and cookies, scones. There was always something on the counter. So people would come over and they would probably overindulge because their parents wouldn't let them have it. So they're like, okay, I'm definitely going to Kathryn house to get this.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Now I can hear from what you are saying. You've always had that entrepreneurial spirit where you said you've started now baking and taking orders for 300 or 200, et cetera, there was already that inkling of an entrepreneur, so talk me through. When you then said, okay, what led to the creation of Dough-licious? And say it's now going to become a business, that you've now seen. You've got 40,000 followers on Instagram, you're in key retailers, it's a viable business.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, yeah, it's gone really crazy and, like I said, sometimes it's a pinch myself moment because I can't believe. Dough-licious has done what it's done and it is where it is and it makes people happy, which I see it as just absolutely fantastic. So, to answer your question, I moved to the UK in 2008 and I put my children all in British schools and they had never heard of bake sales or different bringing baked goods to school to sharing with your friends. So I put them in Hill House, which is a small school in Knightsbridge, and started the bake sales, because the children always wanted to go on these different events and they had to fund it somehow. So I'm like have a bake sale. Everybody does that in the US.

Kathryn Bricken:

So my children started the bake sale thing and a friend of mine, my child's school friend's mom she had grown up in the States but she was British and she said oh my God, I'm obsessed with your chocolate chip cookies. Can you just make some for me? And I said, of course. So I balled them with an ice cream scoop, put them in a Ziploc bag and in the freezer and I took them to her and she was like oh my gosh, I need some more of these. So people started learning about it and I would set up shop in a gallery in Belgravia and just email everybody and say, okay, I've got these cookies, I have peanut butter, I have ginger, molasses, double chocolate this week, and people would come and get their dough. So I mean it wasn't a huge business, but I knew there was something to it. Then it continued to grow a little more. Where I put it, in Battersea, there was a cafe that had a CPU and they were sending out, so they had all the baking capabilities or all the mixing capabilities. So I gave them the recipe and I said, can you help me out here with this? So they started making it and they put it on Deliveroo and it was crazy because people were spending 10 pounds on 10 cookie dough balls to bake at home. So I knew if they were spending the money. Then I had something and I even had people like famous people that I and I can't I probably shouldn't say who they are, but they were contacting me saying I need the dough.

Kathryn Bricken:

So then in 2017, I thought, all right, I've got to do something with this. So I either take it big or I shut it down, because I'm staying up until four in the morning doing cookies, trying to do the mommy thing so I have kids the doggy thing with the dogs. And it just became too much. So I put it in the specialty fine food show and I literally put my t-shirt on. I had my husband put his t-shirt on. We had a card table and got some banners for behind us and people came to us and they loved it. Whole Foods came to us. They're like we love it. How do we get it? Cranid Organic Akado.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So I knew at that point that I could take it to naked business when you've just told this story, because a lot of the times when people are saying I've got a business idea, cop, the new book from the guy who started Netflix and he was talking about how the best ideas come from or rather the ideas that turn into a business, are the ones where you've already tried and tested, so not sold it or your family's interested in it, but actually people have shown that there's an interest in the product. So you know you already staying up all night making up these orders you'd found a way to to sell this product to other people. So there was a proof of concept. There was actually demand for the product, so it was able to scale. Where sometimes people do it the other way around they haven't even tested it, they don't even know if people need it, and you're already doing that anyway.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, and I think what was cool is I did do. I mean, I did my research too and I saw that it was a category that had not been tapped into in the UK, so there basically wasn't anybody to make cookie dough and I was like, okay, this is crazy, Like I up in the US with Cogito, cogito, cogito, cogito everywhere Toll House, pillsbury so I thought this is insane. But what I did was I wanted to make it modern, I wanted to give it a life, I wanted it to be different from what I had seen in the US from the Pillsbury and the Toll House. Make it like unique flavors, more healthy. So use ingredients that nobody had used before, which, of course, would be premium, but premium and also affordable and better for you.

The Trailblazers Experience:

That's so true Because I've seen you've got I mean 100% gluten-free, you've got vegan options. It's a healthier, natural snacking option. Would you say that?

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, absolutely, and I love it because you can snack all day on it, from the cookie dough, then you can bake to the gelato bites. And we're coming out with a ambient cookie that is on LNER train lines right now and it's doing so well. So we are increasing the collection to be four cookies and they're all grab and go ready to eat and they'll sit on the shelf, and one of them is even going to be high in protein.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So let's talk about funding, the Dough-licious dream. Talk to me about the journey of funding. Dough-licious because it feels like it was bootstrapped from the beginning. Just you pulling together and, well, the passion. Are there some challenges that you've faced? You know we talked about manufacturing, and talk to me about just funding the business and growing it.

Kathryn Bricken:

Well, like I mentioned, I'm super lucky that, um, we were able to self fund it for a long time, but it wasn't easy and it's never easy. So I think when people say I want to start a business, um, and I want to tell you something else funny, I have twins and people would always come up to me like, oh, my God, I want twins. And I don't think people understand how hard things are. I get so easy to say I want that, but nothing's easy and it takes so much work. Like the twins took tons of work.

Kathryn Bricken:

Life is life, is work right To to succeed or, um, you know, make something happen. It's, it's all hard as starting a business is. It's crazy Like I never thought it would be as difficult time consuming from a, a mentally, financially standpoint. And, yeah, like we put everything in it. I started it, I bought machines and figured out contract manufacturing early on. It was not for me, so went to Germany, bought a machine set up in the London Bread and Cake Company in Waltonstow, so took out like, rented a little room so got my square footage and put up curtains so there was no cross-contamination, and grew out of that after four months and then read to a warehouse in wilson junction, again like built-in freezers, and it's all expensive and hiring people to that could help me grow my vision.

Kathryn Bricken:

And then, um, in 2019, we actually grew into the space where we are now which we we took out a huge warehouse, about 4,000 square feet, which was massive to me at the time and has since grown to now 22,000 square feet in the same area, which now I still look around and I'm like my gosh, it's insane what we built. But yeah, the financial is difficult. We did a fundraise to do friends and family and we're very fortunate that we had people support us because they love the dough and they felt like super passionate about it and then actually again just did another raise and had our first large investor, which is a private office out of Switzerland and we are their first food product consumer product that they've invested in. So it's nice that they felt passionate about what we did and to support us. And now we've just entered into the US so we'll have to do eventually, another fundraise to grow out the US. That would probably come in the next couple years.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Where does your expertise come from? So, before Dough-licious, what was your background?

Kathryn Bricken:

Oh my God, I was in politics. So I think, being in politics and be able to persuade somebody yeah, I was going to say a- lot of persuasion there.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I hate let me tell you, I hate raising money Like it's the worst. I feel like I have to sell my soul. And then I have this sense of guilt Like, oh my God, can I do it, can I not do it? I have to do it. And then it's so weird because then this power takes over me, like I get this thing in my butt. That makes me stronger, because I feel like I cannot let anybody down. There's no way I'm going to let people down. So then I I literally the fire lights in my belly and I'm like let's go, come on. Actually I say let's go. We got to do it because I never want to let people down, and I think that that comes back to also with my product.

Kathryn Bricken:

I always want people to be happy and the reason that created Dough-licious was for people to be happy and find the snack that they could love. That would decrease food waste because they can have it in moderation. They can bake what they're going to consume or they'll keep it in the freezer and they'll consume it. It breaks my heart to walk down the street and I see people's rubbish out and there's full packs of food that have gone off out and there's full packs of food that have gone, gone off like it's. It's so sad because there's so many people that could use that food, so they should give it to a food bank or they should never bought it. Just you know, I think more um, the more we can do for food waste, the better trickle down into.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So you're not running a business, you're employing people. You. You seem to express a lot that's rooted in your core values and your ethics. What is your mission now for Dough-licious and your vision as you see it now in terms of the core values that you already have growing up, and how does that trickle down into your business, Dough-licious?

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, just continue to grow it innovate. Yeah, just continue to grow it, innovate, modernize the category and give people the best snacking opportunities out there.

Kathryn Bricken:

yeah, and that goes into like handheld better for you because of the ingredients. Listen, I'm not going to tell you people like they should eat our, our product and they're going to lose weight and it's going to be like a game changer. But I think it's got to start somewhere and it starts with better food ingredients, moderation, just thinking about what you're eating. So if you have these options, going for the better option and we're very transparent with our labels, having a clean label, like I won't do if I'm going to do my cookie with a long shelf life, I will not put any E numbers, any additives or preservatives. I can't even say that this morning preservatives.

Kathryn Bricken:

But what we'll do is we use starches, we use like we play around with the healthier sugars. So that's the way we get the shelf life longer and I might only have a four month shelf life, but you know what? That's okay, like I'm not going to add a bunch of stuff in there for a year shelf life.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, I love that You're not chasing the. I want to be in this retailer, so it means we have to change who we are as as a business and our principles. You still want to stick to the core values of who you are. Yeah.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, no, thank you. That means a lot. And you know what, like this weekend, I got an email from a woman and it's called Miracle Makers and she wrote Dear Miracle Makers, I absolutely love your product, full stop Done. And I was like, oh my God, that's so cute and I never thought of myself as a miracle maker. I try to think of myself as a good person that's doing something better for people, making their life maybe a little more exciting with the products. But it was really cute that she called us a miracle.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I mean, that's amazing and, as a female founder as well, I think that's what I love about the podcast is that we're highlighting everyday stories. You know, women who look like you and me, who had an idea, went for it and and just did something great. And food is always. I think food is always the best way to do anything. Well, you think about food.

Kathryn Bricken:

It brings people together, yeah, and it makes them happy. It's, you know, it's nourishing, but it's also self-fulfilling. And it's you know what do we do? We were happy, we eat together. When we're sad, we eat by ourselves, but it's you know it's part of life, Definitely.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I mean food is what brings people together, for sure. So let's talk about you and empowering women. I mean, you're a female founder. I'm certain that your roles and responsibilities have evolved or maybe multiplied, having started as a one-woman operation and now a team of over 50. Talk to me about some of the challenges of being a female founder, because I'm certain there are women in the audience who are facing similar challenges. But also, how have you evolved as a founder as the business has scaled?

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, so I'm very involved as a founder. I'm there every day. I don't have an office I hotspot so I move around. I'm in multi-offices, I I think my favorite part of the business is still product development quality, just because that's where where I I feel like my, my I don't know my experience in my, my, love is strength, isn't it Um?

Kathryn Bricken:

but it's really hard. I used to have tons of women, like I had a woman head of commercial, my COO is a woman, my shift managers are women. I had a woman factory manager. Now we have a man. But now that we've grown I have more men in the office and it's not a bad thing. It's different, it's very different.

Kathryn Bricken:

And sometimes I have to remind the men that you know, like, get back in there, because you know what. You can't have these little men cliques and they do that. So I have to say you know, include everybody, but don't go off like that, because it doesn't look good, because I think they do tend to do that. It doesn't look good because I think they do tend to do that. And the other interesting thing is, no matter where we are, like if we have a meeting outside of the office or in the office, I noticed that I'm the one still as the CEO that's serving everybody and the men just all sit there. There's just this weird thing and I think there's just not enough. Like I mean, I try every day to empower women, but it's so hard I just don't even know how to get across that. That line like there's, you know, there's, maybe it's baby steps, and maybe that's what you and I are doing our baby steps. Does that all make sense?

Kathryn Bricken:

yeah, like I don't know how it is in your household, but do do the women still serve? Because I feel like that's the way it's still, and sometimes in in in my household, and maybe it's because I love to, maybe it's because I am that type of person that loves to make fake serve, but I don't know sometimes how to cross that line and empower myself more, and maybe that's why I need you as a consultant to help empower myself. But I struggle. I struggle with women empowerment. So, going back to your question, anybody I can help. I want to help If a woman comes to me and says how do I start a business, how do I get funding? And I'm always happy to help because I think it's just the more we can, the more we can join together and the more, the more we can become stronger, the better off we are.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I think so. I think we, like you said, baby steps. We can't change the um, the way the world is at the moment, but it's little things at a at a time, isn't it? And because we're nurturers, as women, we are nurturers, we're caretakers. That is something that's in me.

Kathryn Bricken:

That's a good word for it, because I do feel like need has the nurturing in me, but then also I feel like I can't change things and sometimes I'd love to change them more. So that's why I support women, because I want to make a change.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, and do you network outside of? I know we've talked about by women built. How has networking played a very big part for you? And the reason why I always bring this up is I speak to so many women who are just terrified of putting themselves out there and actually you know, whether it's a relationship or professional or personal, you're not going to meet people in your living room so you need to get yourself out. There is my motto. How has that been for you? Was it something that you were natural with? I mean, you've talked about the bake sales and school, so you've already sort of built that community. But once it becomes a business networking is there a difference that you've seen, or has it been higher?

Kathryn Bricken:

I think I'm the type of person that I love to talk to people, so I love networking. I think with the thing I struggle with is time. It's just there's just not enough hours in the day. You know, if I'm out too much networking, then the emails pile up and um, or I'm I'm not getting something else done that I should have been getting done. So I think that's where I struggle. But I I love networking and I think LinkedIn is fantastic as a platform to try to network without being present. But I also try to go to different events.

Kathryn Bricken:

Buy Women Built has been absolutely amazing in getting these women together to just share stories, ask for help. Sometimes networking has saved me, which I know it doesn't sound a lot, but a P per pack of you know in manufacturing, which is a lot. So just being out there networking I was able to change my cardboard supplier, which saved me one P, which is every time I'm placing an order. Now it's thousands. I mean it's it sounds like so small, but it's such a big thing and I think this is where we need to share more because we often help save that that piece somewhere.

The Trailblazers Experience:

That's going to make a difference I've learned over time is I'm connecting the dots to each experience that I've had, each business that I've worked for, each founder, I've spoken to each woman, I've had a conversation, and it's all adding to that toolkit of skills that I've acquired over the years. But it's been in increments. I mean, I'm in my 40s now, so it's been what? 20 years of gathering all that information. It didn't just happen overnight and that's something that when I see, I blame sometimes social media, Kathryn for it where there's this thing that instant gratification, you can make this much, you can scale this, but it all takes time. Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. It's a big thing in that way.

Kathryn Bricken:

Right, right, but I do love I mean, the girl that started Homewrecker, which is this amazing pimento cheese. She was introduced by a friend to me and I could have said sorry, I don't have time, but we've actually become really good friends and her cheese is now in 20 stockists and she's doing fantastic and I feel like I've helped her. And, being from the States, I was like, oh my gosh, okay, let me taste your pimento cheese, I love it. And then I was just asked to be on a board of a new Italian startup, which I'm going to help them, you know, and I don't necessarily even have to be on board, I just want to help them, because I think a lot of people helped me in the beginning too. And again goes back to that silly thing of yeah, if you can save a P here and a P there. It's the difference between profitability and not, which, you know. That's where we all want to get to this place where we can relax, we can feel good because we're profitable as a business.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Exactly, it's all about profit, isn't it? At the end of the day, you don't want to start a business and have to close it down because you didn't get your, your margins and your costs all aligned. Such a very big.

Kathryn Bricken:

Thing yeah, but that's I mean, like we were talking earlier before, the podcast is it's reinvesting in the business and taking that money and then getting it off the shelf, and that's where you know, it's a constant challenge for any of us to grow the businesses and make sure that everybody knows about them. So that is another part of networking that I find so important, because I I think a lot of people know about Dough-licious and I'll go to parties or things and they'll be like, oh, what do you do? And I'll tell them. They're like, oh, I haven't heard of that.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So another customer who doesn't, who's not heard of?

Kathryn Bricken:

us. I get really upset because I'm like, oh my God, I just spent this much on marketing and they don't even know about me. So what am I doing wrong? So then I have to go back to the marketing team and say, okay, did we do this? You know what is our, our, our return on this investment? Because it's just so difficult to get your name out there to everybody and, yeah, I wish there was an easier way. So if anybody has any advice on that, please let me know.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I know it's yeah, to grow a business, it's every new customer that you acquire, isn't it so? And if you're not reaching that customer, you're thinking am I targeting the wrong audience? Do you know? More people need to know about my product. It's that constant cycle as well.

Kathryn Bricken:

Well, and also figure out who is your target audience, like mine is. I think I've got a lot of target audience because, if you know, we get letters from the man who's 90, who can now bake his own cookies at home, or the, you know, the millennials, the genzenials. It's really difficult to narrow down and you can't focus on everybody, so you've got to focus on that core. So I think our target is the gen.

Kathryn Bricken:

Xennials so it's for the millennials and the gen Zed. So but it's, it is it's. It's really hard to find your voice, your target audience. All those things take time and um and a lot of thought process and again, finances, to make that happen.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I think sometimes it's the crazy collaborations like um, I've just really recently gotten into home renovations and painting the home and stuff like that because it's cheaper to do it yourself um, and tradesmen are really expensive but Lick, which is an interesting paint brand, have done a collaboration with MAC and in my head I was thinking do you know what this actually makes sense? Because if you're very interested about color palettes and so on, and it's an audience that you'd think, well, makeup and paint doesn't go together, but it sort of does in in a way so it's timing that.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, yeah, I would love to do a collab, but it has to be the right clap exactly that aligns with your brand allowance with with you.

Kathryn Bricken:

That's exciting as well, and it just is fun yeah, actually I've reached out to I don't know if you know the coffee brand florence. I think, yeah, that woman, millie bobby brown, yes, and because we're doing a new flavor that has um coffee in it, like a coffee something. I can't give it away because it's a new product, but I thought it'd be really fun. Like woman to woman, I think she's really fun, um, but I haven't heard back, so so we'll see.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Well, Florence, if you're listening, reach out to Kathryn . I'd love to see that as well. Yeah so yeah, it's really fun. Yeah, I think so too. The consumer is not stupid, I say this all the time is the consumer loves authenticity. They love things that are fun, that make sense, that is aligned and, like you said, the genzenials, the millennials that are, love socials and love new brands and new products. They understand when something is is not real and not authentic as well right yeah nicely into that let's talk about resilience.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So, beyond baking, you're not only a businesswoman, you're um olivia nominated producer, but on a personal role, you are a cancer survivor which hats up to you. That is an interesting experience, life changing. How has that shaped your approach to to business and just life in general?

Kathryn Bricken:

yeah, I think, um, again I feel like I've been really lucky. I've been lucky in life with from Dough-licious taking off to um, healthy children, great husband, cute dogs. Listen, things can go wrong and they did go wrong that day, but again I was lucky. I caught cancer early. I'm in the shower washing and fell to a small lump and so I went to the doctor and they said, oh, it's probably just a fibroid or something. And then they called me on. That was on Wednesday and Friday I got a phone call oh, sorry, you have cancer. So it was kind of shocking and but I figured out. You know, I've just got to take this straight on and head on and and deal with it and make the most of it. So I did my research around cancer surgeons and which hospitals I could go to. And one thing at Dough-licious we do provide is private health care, which I think is really important, because if somebody is faced with something like what I was faced with, I want them to have the best decision makers out there and people to help them overcome these obstacles and make sure they feel good about what they're doing for their body.

Kathryn Bricken:

So, yeah, I just dealt with it, had a lumpectomy. I think radiotherapy was the worst thing ever. And, um, somebody just called me recently telling me his wife had the exact same thing and she was going to do a lumpectomy and radiotherapy. And I said all I can tell you is just support her, be there, don't tell her what to do. And if you're not there for every day and my radiotherapy was five weeks every single day if you can't go with her, have somebody else go with her. It's 15 minutes, but it is like the most awful 15 minutes, just because it's depressing. I think that's where you find your lows and so always have somebody there to help them. But I mean, I was also fortunate that I had Dough-licious to take my mind off of these things that were going on with my body, so I could focus on work, and I had a great group of women supporters in Dough-licious and so that helped me getting through those awful times.

The Trailblazers Experience:

There's something about finding your tribe, isn't it In your person? Your professional life is so important.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, and one in seven women are diagnosed with some form of breast cancer, which is really crazy statistics, just, and also I talk about it. I think people that don't talk about it that's a detriment to other women. So share your experience. Like you know, do this, don't do that. Here's what I recommend, but obviously do what's best for you.

The Trailblazers Experience:

And do you know the the charity Copperfield, I mean they're brilliant. And the whole thing of doing the whole checks in the shower, I mean I will put it in the show notes just to remind women to do their checks and touch themselves. And actually, you know, make sure, because if you can catch it early, that's brilliant and I loved.

Kathryn Bricken:

Copperfield, so much that I gave 50% of all their profits from our strawberry eaten mess pack back to Copperfield.

The Trailblazers Experience:

They're brilliant.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, so anything I could do, and we still support different breast cancer charities. I loved Copperfield but I realized when I ended the relationship with them and I ended it just so I could support other charities because there's so many out there I ended it just so I could support other charities because there's so many out there I wish they would form as one, which would make it easier for us to contribute to the one. I mean. There's just amazing things that people are doing to support women that go through this. So now I'm happy. If there's any cancer charities listening, reach out to me. Happy if there's. If there's any cancer charities listening, reach out to me. I'm always happy to help with samples, with product um sales, whatever I can do oh, that's amazing.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So with dolish is achieving impressive growth. I mean, you are listed in multiple countries. What's next for the brand? What do you envision for the future of you this year?

Kathryn Bricken:

yeah, good question. Well, I mean I'm really excited because right now we're in australia and launched in us in december. So we launched in four regions with whole foods and whole foods has been absolutely fantastic. And then in april we launched nationwide with whole foods and we gave them exclusivity through June 30th. So the window has just been opened and now stay tuned for huge news on October 13th. So I'm really excited about where Dough-licious is going and the amount of people that it will reach and the plans we have for back half of 2024 and this is all from your factory in the uk.

Kathryn Bricken:

This is where it's all coming out from, wow with with um this last fundraise we were able to increase productivity. So I'm at probably only half capacity right now with the increase in um in the factory. So we put in new lives. It's literally like a mini willy wonka. It's um things going up.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I mean I need to come and visit the facility now.

Kathryn Bricken:

I'm so curious I mean because we're in central london. It's hard, right, and going this way is going horizontally is hard. So when you can't go horizontal because of land and um, you go vertical. So we took everything vertical. So there's literally slides round, going down, going up, it's quite crazy.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I mean, that's amazing and also great for the community there to see the business just grow yeah, vertically obviously, but to see it just grow there, it must be like a Dough-licious family community around there.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, and we've been lucky we get tons of support from Ealing and West London Business. I submitted for a grant and I got a £50,000 grant which I bought ovens with so I could start my baking business. So not only just creating the dough, but being able to bake off the dough to make the flow wrapped cookies. So it's all been this crazy, you know, just wheel turning and gaining, gaining more, more strength to you know, hire more people, provide dough for more people, grow the factory. Just again investing back in the business just to make it stronger.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, yeah. How do you take care of you? So, when you're not running the business 24, 7, 3, 6, 5, yeah, what do you do for you, Kathryn ? Is self-care been a thing, or is it because this has been your passion? It is your, your, you know your lifelong fulfillment. But you're a mother, you're an entrepreneur, you're a wife, you're a dog mom a lot going on I think the dog mom is my favorite thing ever.

Kathryn Bricken:

I mean because my children are older now, so the twins are 26 and I have a 24 year old, so getting out every day. I wake up probably six in the morning and then I get out by seven with the dogs and take them on a walk and I think that's my happy place and my time. To think so every day I need to be out for at least an hour walking and get my coffee, think about the day, have a phone call if I need it and that's my happy place and then usually end the day the same way, there's something about getting out there and enjoying whether it's the sunlight or nature.

The Trailblazers Experience:

That is a very big part, isn't it? Yeah?

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, and like every Sunday, I love going to Columbia Road and I think that's you know, seeing the flowers, just being thankful for the environment and nature and starting my day in a happy place, I think, for the audience who's maybe not listening.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So she's got an amazing painting where I can see a tree, so I'm seeing a connection there as well. Do you know we are living in a digital world and it's so important for us to detox and detach and taking walks, I mean the most it's free, you know, it doesn't cost anything to maybe your time, but that's important as well to get out there. And do you think it's about making space for yourself as a woman is really important? Do you think?

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. I think we need to try to definitely do more of that too, and you know I do miss working out. I try to do like as you get older it's important to do weights and everything, but I think the mental is more important for me than the physical right now. So that walking I'm getting my physical mentally preparing for the day in a peaceful, calm situation is nice for me. Yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So we always end the podcast with trailblazer takeaway tips. So for someone who maybe has just joined the podcast and fast forwarded to the end, if there were three or four tips you could share with another female entrepreneur, another entrepreneur, what would that be?

Kathryn Bricken:

Go slow to go fast, because if you move too fast you make mistakes and there's no rewind button, which I've learned the hard way. I think. Be kind, because every day can be stressful and it's easy to go from zero to 10 and then you um, you know, because it's easy to say yes, but once you say yes, then you've started the watch, you've started the clock. But think about it, think about your strategic move, why you should do this. Should you say yes, should you say no?

The Trailblazers Experience:

And usually you know sometimes saying no is a good thing, A great summary and a great way to end this interesting conversation. So, for everyone, this was Kathryn from Dolicious, the London dough company. If you haven't heard of it, Google it and you know. Food for your soul. I would say there's always something interesting about having a cookie with a, with your cup of coffee or whatever it is that you love to drink.

Kathryn Bricken:

but thank you so much in the afternoon so you can start the day with a cookie and your coffee, then you can have a gelato bite midday and then you can end it with a nut cookie.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Well, there you go three tips of how to enjoy a Dough-licious power pack. No, thank you so much. It's been really inspiring to have you on the podcast and telling your story and just humanizing. You know you've been through some personal things as well, but also professionally, you're doing something that you love, which I think is the essence of life as well. So thank you so much for sharing your story.

Kathryn Bricken:

Yeah, thank you, antola. Thank you for having me.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So, for everyone, this has been the Trailblazers Experience Podcast. You know where to find us and I have one favor, tell another woman about the podcast and remember to follow, subscribe and share Until next time, thank you, thank you.