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History of Batter Up! Cookies
Cathy Villhard, CEO Batter Up! Cookies
An Air Force brat, Cathy Villhard moved to Cape Girardeau,
Missouri after her father retired from the military. She
loved baking cookies, pies and cakes with her mom in their
kitchen. Through the years, they entered and won a fistful
of blue ribbons at the Southeast Missouri State District
Fair. She spent the next 20 years perfecting her most popular
cookie recipes for commercial interior design clients and
friends.
"At the age of 40, having worked in interior design
for almost 20 years, it was time for me to strike out on
my own for
more balance in my life," said Villhard. A self-starter,
she has taken her work experience, management training and
motivational classes to create a company that
will show employees that they are appreciated, valued and
make a difference. In January 2003, Villhard started working
with the SBA and enrolled in classes like, "How to Start
and Manage Your Own Business” given by SCORE instructors
at Forest Park Community College. She also worked with local
marketing
professionals to write her business, marketing and public
relations plans.
She worked with a baking consultant with more than 30 years
of commercial baking experience to help her expand her recipes
and learn how to be more efficient in a commercial kitchen.
A former Project Manager, Villhard understands the team concept.
She and her family enjoy sports and when she was searching
for a name for her new company, Batter Up! Cookies gave her
brand personality with a hint of fun. A mother of two, Villhard
now controls her own schedule. She bakes cookies commercially
four days per week, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday and Sunday, which allows her the flexibility
to spend more time with daughters and husband.
“I’ve gone way beyond that ‘How to Start
and Manage Your Own Business class,” laughed Villhard. “I
wanted to create a company that I would to work for. In the
design field, you create things. Batter Up! Cookies allows
me the personal freedom and creativity to do what I love.”
Villhard has now taken her expanded recipes from her home
kitchen to the commercial kitchen without sacrificing taste
and quality. “The Batter Up! Cookies' chocolate chip
cookie is my mom, Mary Florich's signature cookie,”said
Villhard.
She has reformulated her recipes from three dozen per batch
in her home oven to 1000 dozen a day in the commercial kitchen.
Batter Up! Cookies offers six traditional flavors, handmade
commercially daily. Special cookie assortments are available
for specific holidays.
Old-fashioned homemade goodness is the main ingredient in
the Batter Up! Cookies' recipe for success. Batter up! Cookies
mixes up dough in 20-pound batches and runs about 30 to 35
batches a day.
“We use real chocolate chips, cocoa, peanut butter,
juicy raisins, pure cane sugars, vanilla, pasteurized eggs,
and
other wholesome ingredients. We add no artificial preservatives
and use no pre-made mixes.” said Villhard. “We make everything by hand to ensure that old-fashioned
homemade taste. All of our cookies are hand scooped right
out of the
mixing bowl every day,” said Villhard.
After mixing the dough, it is scooped, shaped, cut, baked
and bagged by her staff in the A-rated commercial kitchen
at Food Outreach. Baked and shipped the same day, Batter
Up! Cookies offers seasonal and holiday cookie gift assortments
that will be
delivered fresh from their commercial kitchen directly to
your home or office for guaranteed freshness and hand packed
quality every time. |
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