The day that Jen and Rick Daximillion showed up in Los Angeles for an interview with Daily Candy, a self-described insider’s guide to what’s hot, new and undiscovered, a producer warned them that their Web site might crash. The Rancho Bernardo couple, who had recently started marketing a gourmet cookie sandwich that Jen had been baking for years, were a bit skeptical and didn’t buy it. Yet, at 5 a.m. on the day their story was published, Rick checked the orders on his computer and felt his eyes pop: their Web site had received 15,000 hits and $5,000 in orders.
“We had this code word,” Rick says. “Because I’m really sarcastic so she’ll know when I’m being serious.” So Jen says, “Babe, it better be something important to wake me up.” And it was.
November 5, 2007, turned out to be the day that Jen, a 30-year-old flight attendant for JetBlue on maternity leave, and Rick, a 35-year-old former real estate broker, found themselves and their Cookie Sandwich Co., a decadent dessert line, at the forefront of the upscale sugar craze. The palm-sized cookie comes in flavors like red velvet, mint brownie, carrot cake and peanut butter truffle — a shift from the gourmet cupcakes trend led by Beverly Hills-based Sprinkles. Be warned, though. This online company’s tagline is: “Made of butter and love.”
Within weeks, Jen had baked her way through shipments for the kitchen at Condé Nast, the cast of Dancing with the Stars, MSNBC and a slew of celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Jimmy Kimmel.
While success was sweet and seemed to be getting even sweeter, the couple and their son Kingston, who was born in September, discovered that the Cookie Sandwich Co. just happened to be their lifeline. In the days leading up to the call from Daily Candy, Jen and Rick evacuated their cozy home in Rancho Bernardo because of the wildfires, full well knowing that they didn’t have the money to pay their mortgage on the first of the month.
In mid-November, they had $20,000 worth of orders for the following month. Rick even doubled the prices to about $35 a dozen to slow the orders down (most orders come from the East Coast), but that didn’t work.
When their Web site launched in March 2007, they were lucky to bring in $1,500 a month. But Rick, who was born in Barbados, turned on his entrepreneurial charm. He lured his photographer friends to take pictures of the cookies by promising them a lifetime supply of the decadent desserts, worked on creating a comprehensive Web site, typed up press releases and even stirred batter in a rented kitchen out in Santee.
Things are finally coming together for this couple that’s been together for nine years. After moving to San Diego two years ago, Jen and Rick were married at the White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas for $110 during a last-minute jaunt to the Strip. They met waiting tables at Macaroni Grill in Denver and have managed to factor in trips to Bora Bora, Spain, France, Mexico, Thailand and the Philippines as much as possible.
Things like FedEx and deciding which days to send the shipments out still hang the couple up, but Rick and Jen hope to eventually open a downtown boutique-style café in the next few years, “like something you might find in New York,” says Rick.
Until then, their huge science experiment keeps Jen in the kitchen and Rick complaining about his weight.
Get a little of the sweet stuff at 619.520.3657 and www.cookiesandwich.com
