David Crabill: Welcome to the Forrager Podcast, where I talk with cottage food entrepreneurs about their strategies for running a food business from home. I’m David Crabill, and today I am talking with Ashley Withers.
But before I begin, I wanted to thank the sponsor of this episode, Cottage CMS. a website and business platform built specifically for cottage food entrepreneurs. They just celebrated their one-year anniversary and are already powering well over 2,000 cottage food websites. Here’s what makes them different. Most tools in this space get you started. Cottage CMS is built for what comes next. When you’re ready for a full desktop workspace, a robust product catalog, subscriptions, cost tracking, et cetera, the kind of horsepower that turns a side hustle into an actual business. Their core promise is simple. They help you look established before you feel established. I’ll have more [00:01:00] on them later in the episode, along with a special offer for Forrager Podcast listeners. Stick around.
All right, so I have Ashley on the show today. She is from Salisbury, North Carolina, and sells cookies with her cottage food business, The Brown Butter Bash. Ashley never intended to start a business with a one-year-old at home, but after experimenting with brown butter cookies, her husband urged her to start selling them. However, she resisted. Then she started giving them away to family and friends and received so much positive feedback that she finally decided to start a business, and she’s been making cookies nonstop ever since. What’s really fascinating about Ashley’s journey that she completely ignored the jumbo cookie trend and still experienced rapid growth by focusing on marketing, networking, and product quality.
And with [00:02:00] that, let’s jump right into this episode.
Welcome to the show, Ashley. Nice to have you here
Ashley Withers: Thank you so much for having me.
David Crabill: All right. Well, can you take me back? I know you, you didn’t start it too long ago, relatively speaking. How did this cookie business journey get started for you?
Ashley Withers: I became a mom back in 2023. My little guy, I have a little boy, he just turned three last weekend actually. So, had him and ended up staying home from my career at the time, which was new construction real estate. So my husband and I are both North Carolina reda- real estate brokers, and that’s what I was doing before I had him.
Ended up staying home with him and becoming a stay-at-home mom. So into be- into that journey of being a new mom, um, the following summer, summer of 2024, I [00:03:00] started a garden because I wanted to get serious about cleaning up the ingredients in our foods. So started a garden, ended up learning how to bake. I baked, um, bread because the bread’s at the store, if you look at the label ingredient, it has 10,000 ingredients.
And so I just didn’t wanna feed my baby that, and I didn’t wanna feed just our families that. And so I started… I learned how to bake bread. And then one day I really wanted some really good cookies, and something I knew I wouldn’t be able to get at the store. I love a good, like, chocolatey, crunchy, nutty, a cookie with some texture.
I decided to brown the butter because you have to, right? We’re making chocolate chip cookies.
And then I looked in my pantry and just grabbed whatever else I felt would be good to add. So I added some old-fashioned oats and walnuts. And yeah, they were so good. My husband was like, “Babe, you should sell these.” And at the time I kind [00:04:00] of, like, laughed it off because I didn’t consider myself, um, a baker ever.
Like, ever. So, um, yeah, I was like, “I’m not selling cookies. I used to sell houses, I’m not selling cookies.” Like, those are so different. And so, um, anyways, I kept making them, and every time I made them, you know, I’d tweak them a little bit. They got better. I made my own brown sugar and just all the things.
And so my husband was like, “Babe, you really should just, just see, just try, and I promise you people would love these.” And, and it wasn’t even that I di- didn’t think the cookie was good, I just didn’t see myself in that space. I was just baking cookies for my family So after the third nudge, he hyped me up so badly that I was like, “Okay, I will try this out.
I’ll start sharing them.” So I ordered just some, like, simple black boxes off of Amazon. And, um, I do have a knack for just creating and making things look good as well, so got some twine [00:05:00] and just kinda made it like a rustic… Tried to match it to the vibe of what I felt Brown Butter Cookies embodied. And so, um, that’s my same packaging to this day.
I’ve definitely upgraded it a little bit, but it’s still, like, my same core packaging. And so I started sharing them for free with my mom groups that I was involved in. Um, because I was a stay-at-home mom, I had built a mom group, just community around me. So we, my little one and I were always on the go doing stuff.
and then that gave me the encouragement to officially launch and, like, put it on social media and make an annou- an announcement about it in November of 2024.
Right away, I had a friend who is also a local musician and artist. She asked me if I wanted to pop up, because I had… She was one of the moms I let try them, and she enjoyed them. And she asked if I wanted to pop up at her holiday concert. I was like, “Sure,” but I have nothing. I have no sign. I have no business cards yet, because I’m really just doing this on a whim.
[00:06:00] And so I immediately go to, like, I went to 48hourprint.com and ordered my banner that I s- my retractable banner that I still use to this day. Um, I ordered some business cards that I created really quickly on Canva and just tried to make sure everything was cohesive and, like, branded and colors and all that, and I just went for it.
And I have not stopped baking to this day. So that is how, how we got started.
David Crabill: Nice. Yeah, you’re, you’re a year and a half in. I know you’ve grown a lot, but, you know, you said your background is as a real estate agent, and I was curious. I mean, that’s obviously a business in and of itself. What do you feel like you took from that background and have used in this business?
Ashley Withers: For sure confidence, um, running a real estate business, especially in the capacity that I was running it at because I was in new construction sales.
And so when working for a builder, you know, you have a quota, right? You have [00:07:00] a budget, whatever your company calls it. You have a certain metric to meet and certain metrics to, um, sustain or exceed. So the confidence that comes from real estate, because that is a dog-eat-dog world, right? And so the confidence that I gained from that really allowed me to, once I did make the decision that I was going to put it out there, it allowed me to, like, really just be all in, and that’s it.
There was no shame that came with it. I was just like, “Okay, cool. Let’s do it. You know, let’s see.” And I’m able to talk about my products and be excited about it when I do have pop-ups. And when I did the farmers market last year, um, I sold out, like, 98% of the time because… And I made a video about this. I don’t sit down, um, at my events.
I stand up. I’m energetic. I love to talk about… If you give me the opportunity to talk about these cookies and why I think they’re so great, [00:08:00] I will. I will. So definitely gained that confidence from real estate, um, because I like to say real estate kind of makes you straighten your back and get to the point.
Um, otherwise, you’re just gonna get eat up and spit out. And so with that, cookies are, you know, I’m like, “Oh, this is… I can do this all day. I can do this all day because this is coming from within. This is coming from my kitchen, and it’s just me and what I’m pouring into these cookies and what I think is good.
It’s real- it’s just me.” And so it’s, there’s less pressure in that way, and it’s easier to have the confidence to share
David Crabill: So I know you started officially in November of 2024, but before that you said that you were giving away cookies to, you know, like moms groups or whatever. and you didn’t just give away the cookies, but you like, you packaged them really nicely too. It wasn’t just like you were handing out unpackaged cookies. What led you to do that?
Ashley Withers: marketing is everything. So [00:09:00] we eat with, especially with food, we eat with our eyes first. Um, and I actually just made a video about that because I do a new cookie of the month every month, and my first launch for May’s cookie was a flop. I didn’t get any orders for it, um, within, like, the first week. And I knew it was because I didn’t have the time at the end of the previous month to really perfect the look of it.
And I relaunched it. I didn’t change anything about the cookie except for just making sure that I did those extra things to make it look good, and immediately got orders. So marketing is everything, and we eat with our eyes first. Um, and I know if I were to want… If I were to receive a little black box with twined cookies, and then someone’s telling me they’re brown butter cookies made from scratch with clean ingredients, and I have a kid.
Like, I’m like, “Oh, I love that.” Like, “Let me get a few of those. These are so cute. Let me take a picture. Let me put it on Instagram. Can’t wait to dig in.” So I just like to put [00:10:00] myself in the shoes of the receiving end and, and it’s fun. I love to… Like I said, I love to create, and I love to make things look good.
And it’s either you get it in this cute black box, or I can give it to you in a Ziploc bag. And it’s way easier for me to sell them in the black box.
David Crabill: Do you feel like when you did the giveaway, you were intentionally trying to test the market concept, or were you just, like, wanting to share them with other people and, you know, give them as a gift?
Ashley Withers: Both, for sure. I was definitely hoping that the presentation of them would be equally as exciting as them just receiving it as a gift. Um, so it’s definitely both because again, I started this on a whim. I had no intention of starting a cookie business, so it definitely was just from the heart. I’m in a space where I’m cleaning up the ingredients in our favorite foods, and then I [00:11:00] finally decide to start sharing them and get feedback, ’cause that, that was another reason why I started sharing them, was to get feedback about all of it.
How do they look? Of course, how do they taste? And, um, yeah, so it was both. It was f- both from the heart and I’m testing it to see what do you guys think about them before I officially launch
David Crabill: So what if you hadn’t done the giveaway, right? Like, what if you had just started selling out of the gate? How do you think… Do you think anything would have been different? Do you think you would have been just as successful?
Ashley Withers: No. I think, I think it would’ve just been a different story. It would have been successful, but I definitely think having that initial, um, like, “Hey, I’m sharing these.” Like, I think just having that initial feedback, that initial hype, that initial, like, hype that I gave away f- for free and I just want to…
That’s a part of the marketing, so really it’s [00:12:00] not free, right? It’s c- I paid for it on my end, right? It’s a part of the marketing. But, um, I do think it would’ve been a different path had I just launched right away, because it would’ve been like, “Okay, well, these are cute, and you have a, a rep- a reputation of knowing how to cook and knowing your way around the kitchen, so, you know, if we really like it, if you post enough about it, we’ll try it.”
Versus getting that initial feedback, it’s like, um, I already know how you guys feel about it, or I already have a sense, a general sense of how these are being received. So it just helped me to Confidently launch it for sales,
David Crabill: Yeah. I was thinking that, that that’s another aspect of that confidence, right? You know, ’cause you– it, it did work, but, you know, you also kind of proved that it worked by giving them away and getting all that great feedback. So when you started in November of 2024 officially, how did it go?
Ashley Withers: It was, okay, so [00:13:00] this, it was, it went w- it went great. Sorry, I got excited because I’m thinking back at that time. So this was right before the holidays. I intentionally looked at the calendar and said, “Okay, well, if I’m gonna launch it, it probably would be a good idea to launch it right before the holidays because people are gonna probably want their sweets and cookies.
A good time to, you know, launch something like this.” so yeah, I launched it November the 8th of 2024 and just posted a video. That’s what I mean by launch. I posted a video that I put together. And my editing style, everything was just way different ba- back then, ’cause that video, when I think about it now, is a little cringe because of what I know now about social media.
But it was me being my true, authentic self and the skills that I had at the time. And, people were excited about it, but again, I had been, like, sneak peeking and teasing it and, like, I would post about me baking every so often and… Or I got my first order that I didn’t post about ’cause I hadn’t even, I hadn’t even launched [00:14:00] anything, but my neighbor wanted to support and he knew I was starting cookies.
So he was my very first order. So I posted about that. And so anyways, I made the video, I launched it, and it was well received. A lot of my family and friends and people who know me, personally, they were my first customers. And so they were like, “Yeah, send some to me. I’m gonna take some to my Christmas party.
Send some over here to my job, send some over here.” And then I, reached out to a lot of my real estate network as well, some of my broker partners that I used to work with previously, and they were like, “Yeah, let me get 25 of them.” And at the time, they were, like, $2 a cookie.
And so they were like, “Yeah, let me get 25 boxes.” So right out the gate is how that, that went
David Crabill: So I’m trying to think. You said that you did a market at the beginning, right? Or was that after the holiday season?
Ashley Withers: so this is November 2024 when I launched and, um, [00:15:00] it was well received and that’s how that went. The following year, which was last year, last year 2025 was my first full year in, uh, business with the Brown Butter Bash, and I did the farmers market last year. So I think like April until around October is when I did my last market so that I could start prepping for holiday.
David Crabill: So what was that first, you know, five or so months before you did the market? ‘Cause I saw it, you know, you were obviously growing. You were featured in a newspaper article in like
or something last year
Ashley Withers: I’m telling you, I haven’t stopped baking since. So yeah, November I launched. That was busy. I had my friends pop up, the musician, so that was, like, my first official pop-up. And then, um, the following year, last year, I had my first, like, I guess just bigger pop-up with a close friend who owns a local coffee chain called [00:16:00] Mean Mug here in Salisbury.
So, um, I did my first big pop-up, uh, at Mean Mug, and I just had… Man, sorry, I’m thinking about it, and you’re bringing back these memories because I’m realizing, yes, so much has changed in a year and a half. But anyway, so that went well. Um, people came out. A lot of my neighbors came out And, I Had posted about the event in Facebook, so people found the event in Facebook. And Salisbury, where I live, is a very close-knit community. and
You just really have to be very, um, genuine-hearted and be willing to get out in your community and connect with the community because that’s where the other business owners are. That’s where the chamber is. That’s where everyone is. So in order to be successful you do have to make those connections.
But,
David Crabill: So when do you feel like your business, like you, you’re like, “Wow, this [00:17:00] business is really going to be something.” Like it’s really starting to take off
Ashley Withers: by the end of the holiday season when I launched, so in December of 2024, because November and No- and December, the first two months of the business were very busy, and I was baking. I went from not baking that much. I mean, I had st- you know, I had started ramping up, especially with the giveaway in the beginning.
But I went from, like, if you had asked me earlier that year if I knew I’d be closing the year out with a business that people are enjoying, and it’s keeping me busy in my kitchen, and I’m making money from selling cookies, I’d be like, “I’m not doing that.” But I ended the year… That is how I ended that year.
And so I knew going into January of 2025 that I wanted to just add some structure to the business. And so I went in and made new business cards, not just the ones I kinda threw together, but ones that I would, [00:18:00] that I was attention, intentional about. So I redid some branding. I also got the, um, an app to streamline my orders through because the DMs and the texts or the message, like, it was just, it was becoming too much, and I needed a more organized structured way so that this had to fit into my life.
Because my full-time job is being a stay-at-home mom, and I have a toddler who just turned three, so, and a husband. So there’s that. And I have to run my household and make sure that we’re still good. I can’t just bake all day. I, I’m very busy outside of The Brown Butter Bash, so I needed systems right away.
So I, um, use, I use Bakesy. I love them and their platform. So I added that to the business, and that was a huge help. I also went up in my price. I made, um, I planned out 2025 what I felt like it should look like and, um, just made a [00:19:00] plan for it. And so in that plan, I had structured in some, um, price increases, gradual price increases because there was an eventual price point that I wanted to end at.
But I felt that it was fair and best to, um, strategize that and schedule those and inch my way up so that my… as I’m learning and as the cookies are getting better and looking better, it’s, you know what I mean, it’s worth what you’re paying. I didn’t just wanna s- stick a, put a sticker on there because I feel like, you know, my cookies are the best cookies in the world.
I do think they’re the best cookies in the world, but I also wanted to give myself the opportunity to learn and grow, um, before I put what I felt the real value of those, of the cookies were
David Crabill: Hey, real quick. Earlier I mentioned our sponsor, Cottage CMS, and I wanna come back to that now. You just heard Ashley mention the importance of streamlining your systems with an [00:20:00] app. She uses Bakesy for that, and she is exactly right. Bakesy is a really good tool, especially when you’re starting out. If a mobile app is what fits your business, it does that well.
But as I said at the top of the show, Cottage CMS is for what comes next, when your business is ready for a full desktop workspace and more powerful features. I have been really impressed with Cottage CMS, and here’s why. Drew, the founder, and his wife, Kathleen, are successful cottage food business owners themselves.
I featured their story on episode one sixty-five. They built Cottage CMS out of their own bakery, solving the exact problems they ran into along the way. Drew has decades of experience building software, so this isn’t a side project, it’s what he does. So if your current setup is working, stick with what’s working. But if you’re starting to feel boxed in or building towards something bigger, Cottage CMS is [00:21:00] worth a look. The best tool is the one that fits your business needs right now. We’ve got a special offer for Forrager Podcast listeners at cottagecms.com/forrager. Again, that’s cottagecms.com/F-O-R-R-A-G-E-R. You can set up a free website that stays free forever, or you can try their premium features risk-free with a thirty-day money back guarantee.
Again, that’s cottagecms.com/forrager. Now back to the show
It’s interesting ’cause I’m hearing you talk and realizing, okay, you’re definitely a planner, like you’re very goal-oriented, but you started this business totally on a whim, right? Like there wasn’t a whole lot of planning involved. So it’s kind of an interesting balance. I feel like p- most people like are one or the other.
Uh, [00:22:00] what would you say to that?
Ashley Withers: Uh, mom life. Mom life, and I feel like the mamas will totally get that. But, um, no, in real life, being a mom is a project manager. In real estate, that’s what I was doing. I was a project manager. yeah, it started on a whim, but then I locked in immediately because I also… You know, my name is out here, and my name are all, is all over these cookies, and it’s coming from my kitchen.
It’s coming from my own two hands. It’s coming from my own efforts in, um, running a business from home. So I definitely wanna make sure that it’s polished and, um, yeah, just you’re getting the value. You know what I mean? And you can see the value in it
David Crabill: Well, it’s interesting you took a break from your career to stay home with your kid and didn’t plan on starting a business, right? So what has it [00:23:00] been like to try to build this business with, I think it was a two-year-old at the time, now a three-year-old, right? Or maybe he was even one at the time. I, I, yeah, so what’s that been like?
Ashley Withers: It’s fun because I get to show him what it means to have a business and how to work hard and be intentional because when I’m in Brown Butter Bash mode, everybody knows to stay away. Um, he knows his little fingers aren’t allowed in there. Like, he knows. Um, and so it’s… I take pride in being able to show him how to take something seriously and work hard.
Um, but it’s also stressful, too, because that is my first job is being a full-time stay-at-home mom. And so, um, sometimes I’m relying on, um, his favorite movie, Ratatouille. And I mean, at least it’s, you know, I, I’m very… I’m a little bit crunchy, so I do, um, limit screen time [00:24:00] overall. But there are times where I will turn on something like Ratatouille or, um, Monsters, Inc.,
or just some of the things that we will let him watch. We don’t let him watch everything. And, um, and I don’t like that. I don’t mind if we’re watching TV because we’re choosing to. I don’t like where when sometimes I am in a pinch and daddy’s at work, and I need a solid hour. And, and so it can be stressful because I don’t like the feeling of relying on something like TV. so then when I’m not baking and/or if I feel overwhelm starting to creep in, I will intentionally build in breaks for myself. I will go in and adjust my, um, my ordering calendar and increase my lead time so that I can lock in on just some uninterrupted Quality time with my little guy, and nine times out of 10 we’re outside doing something, [00:25:00] so for the entire day.
And that replenishes me. I know it replenishes him because he’s… We- we’re besties. But it replenishes me and, um, just helps me, it helps me with that balance.
David Crabill: I love the fact that, you know, you’re being very honest about, you know, feeling like you’re making a compromise there. I’m sure a lot of the moms out there, and I’m a stay-at-home dad, I can relate.
Um, so but what is causing you to push forward with the business? ‘Cause you could just say, “Well, you know, I have a three-year-old at home.
Maybe I’ll just wait until he’s in grade school to really take this off.” Why are you choosing to push it forward now?
Ashley Withers: I love it. I love it. It helped me. The Brown Butter Bash and people supporting it helped me get my pink back, um, because I was still… I was a year and a half postpartum, so I was still within that two-year postpartum recovery stage, and r- and I was still nursing.
I actually just [00:26:00] stopped nursing, comfort nursing, when my little one turned three, so last week. And so, um, so, and they say that women who are still nursing are still in postpartum recovery. Um, so it goes beyond the, the two years. But the point being, the Brown Butter Bash helped me feel like who I used to be before I left to become a stay-at-home mom, something that was a dream, something that I love.
But, um, it helped me tap into boss mode again. And so that’s what I’m, that’s what I’m doing. I’m in boss mode. I’m just going with the flow. I said as long as it remains fun, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes I am a little stressed, but all in all, it’s cookies, right? And I get to do it at home and mix up chocolate and top cookies and make them pretty.
And yeah, it might have been a little stressful getting this order done because my two-year-old just wants me to c- come play with him, but I’m not… It… You know what I mean? Looking at it from a bigger picture, it’s just cookies. So I’m [00:27:00] happy, and it keeps me happy, and it keeps me busy. So, um, that’s why I keep showing up because I genuinely want to.
I love the support, and I appreciate the support, and I want to make sure I always show up on my end.
David Crabill: Well, obviously a lot of business owners, most business owners fail, right, within the first year, and your business, like, really took off. It, it took off quickly. You said you haven’t stopped baking since you started the business. Why do you think your business succeeded when so many others fail?
Ashley Withers: Well, the first thing is I, I put m- my entire business and have so much faith in God to guide me and show me where to go next. That’s literally a part of our daily prayer as a family is, um, we don’t have to see everything, we don’t have to know everything, we will never know everything. But guide us and guide our paths, and just make sure we’re at least in your will and going in the right direction.
[00:28:00] So, um, I feel like because I seek Him first and because we seek Him first, my husband and I are intentional about that, um, it, it says, “You seek Him first and all things will be added.” So this is the all things will be added. I seek God first. I go with the flow that feels, um… People say they hear from God in different ways.
People who are believers, they say they hear from Him in different ways. For me, I hear from Him by What should happen next feels easy. Like, oh, this feels, this feels right. This is… There’s no resistance here. Um, and not, not saying it should be easy every step of the way, because it’s not, but this makes the most sense.
There’s no resistance here. There’s nothing, like, blocking me every step of the way. This makes sense to do this next. Or I wake up one day, let… I’ll tell, I’ll give you another example of this [00:29:00] In January of this year, I took my first break from the business. Um, and it was just m- I posted on socials and said, “Hey, I’m gonna take January off after the holidays to give myself time to recoup, recover.”
I’ve never taken a break off, a break from creating a new cookie every month, just going, creating new content, getting the cookies out. I’ve never taken a break since starting this business. I need to take a break. So I took January off, and I’m not posting as much. Here and there I’m still posting because I just miss my people, but I’m not posting as much, and I’m not creating, I’m not baking.
I did get a few orders because of, for people who just know that I, um, have the, the cookie business, and they don’t necessarily follow me on social, so they wouldn’t know. But they’re like, “Hey, I have a closing next week. Can I get a dozen cookies?” So I did have, like, little orders, but all in all, I took a break.
During that break, I got an order for my biggest order to date, an 800 cookie order to Chewy. We [00:30:00] have a Chewy fulfillment center here in Salisbury, and I didn’t know that prior to receiving this order. So I see this order, I see who it’s for, I see the message that’s attached to it. I think it’s a scam. I’m like, “There’s no way,” and I’m on a break.
And so something like that to me, um, was a sign that this is the direction that I, I want you… Like, you’re doing… This is another, like, just crumb that God dropped for me. Like, you are in the right place. And, um, it’s bigger than cookies. I really feel like the Brown Butter Bash will open doors that will lead me to whatever’s next in life.
But, um, s- being on a break and receiving my biggest order to date to a company that I didn’t even know existed within my city, um, just confirmed for me that I’m in the right space. So to answer your question and to kinda circle back around, um, I have so much faith, and then [00:31:00] I just, I have so much work ethic.
I’m so proud of the Brown Butter Bash and w- where I started and where I am now, I’m so proud and, um, I love the feedback. I love that people love the cookies. That’s so special to me because I said this earlier, it’s personal and it’s coming from my kitchen. It’s something that I think is good. It’s completely mine.
I’m not selling a product for a company or a business. I’m not selling a house for a builder. I’m selling something that I created from scratch, and you guys think it’s great. That means the world to me. So, um, I think people see that and they feel that and, um, they feel the love that I pour into the cookies and the hard work that I put in to just make every other part of the business work as well, and they know that I’m a stay-at-home mom.
They know that I have a toddler. They know. Like, they… I get… People ask me all the time, “How are you doing this?” So Um, working hard and then having faith for me is what I [00:32:00] think has helped me be as successful as I’ve been
David Crabill: Well, I, I like that you mentioned that 800 cookie order, ’cause I definitely wanted to talk about that. Did you go off break when you got that 800 cookie order?
Ashley Withers: Mentally I did. Um, thankfully it wasn’t due until the end of the following month in February for Black History Month. So, um, or for a Black History Month celebration, which was happening at the end of the month in February. So I got the order, like, mid-January or maybe beginning of January. So I had at least a solid three weeks t- before…
to formulate a plan. So that’s why I say mentally I was no longer on the break, because now I’m planning for February and how I’m gonna make this happen. And to go back to that story, so I told you earlier it, I thought it was a scam, [00:33:00] and so I’m, like, putting on my millennial, like, glasses, right? Like, my millennial, like, eyesight, and I’m, like, really reading this message.
Like, is it giving bot? Like and I’m really reading this message, and I was like, “Babe, I think this is a real order.” And then I looked up Chewy and I said, “Oh, we don’t have a Chewy, like, the store, but we do have a fulfillment center.” And, um, and, uh, the contact had left their contact information, so I did connect with them.
So anyways, it was a legit order, but I got the order and I, I wasn’t going to say yes to that initially, as much as I was so grateful for it and I was so, like, geeked about it. Like, “What? Do you guys want me to make you 800 cookies?” Like, “What? Do you know that it’s just me? You have to know that it’s just me.”
Like if you’ve… You probably found me on social media and, um, whatever. So- Uh, my husband, he yet again encouraged me [00:34:00] and told me that we can get it done. He was like, “I will help you. Whatever you need me to do on the back end, front end, we can do it. We have time. We just have to come up with a real plan, and I know you can do that.”
And he believes in me so much. He tells me that everything I touch is gold. And so, you know, you get that type of encouragement from your husband, like you can get anything out of me. So, um, I was like, “Okay. Okay, we can do it.” And so, um, my friend, the owner of Mean Mug, she told me a while ago, because she has a couple of locations, and one of them does have a commercial kitchen.
And she told me a while ago that if I ever wanted to, wanted or needed to bake cookies at her, um, in her kitchen, her commercial kitchen, that I could. And so, um, at the time when she offered it, you know, there was no… I didn’t need it. I wasn’t baking that many at one time. Maybe like, you know, five, six dozen at a time if the order was that big.
But for the most part, it was individual orders. Uh, but now I needed a, a commercial [00:35:00] kitchen. There was no way I was cranking out 800 cookies out of my home oven. And so, um, of course, she was excited to allow me to use her kitchen, and so we worked that out. And my… So February 1st was my official, like, start date for this order.
So I spent the first half of the month, so the first like week and a half of the month prepping all of the cookie doughs. So I have four cookies that are always on my menu, and then one cookie that’s always a new cookie of the month. And so this particular order, I wanna say they asked for four out of the five cookies.
Um, all of my cookies come from the same base dough, so that, that helps a ton. But nonetheless, there is still just a lot of like mixing and crushing of the nuts, and there are different little, little things that I do for my cookies that Um, that take up [00:36:00] time. So I spent a week and a half just every day I’d knock out, um, a cookie, a cookie dough and…
or two or three, just whatever I could get done in that day. And the good thing about that is once they were made and rolled, we could just put them away in the freezer, you know, until. And so that’s what we did that first week and a half. I made all the doughs, and then at night once we got our little guy down, my husband and I would go downstairs, and we’d just sit down and talk to each other.
We’d put some gloves on and just roll cookie dough balls. On Valentine’s Day, it was like 12:00 in the morning on Valentine’s Day, and we were just up rolling cookie dough balls. I was like, “This is so romantic.” So, so anyways, and then I did two big bake days. Um, so, um, just with our toddler’s preschool schedule, he was in preschool at the time, with his schedule and with the amount of free time we’d have and coincide, uh, coinciding it with my husband’s work [00:37:00] schedule, um, I had two bake days that I did.
I baked half of the order, 400 cookies on one bake day, and then 400 of them on another bake day. The good thing about this order is, um, the person who placed it, she knew that, um, I was j- it was just me, and I was pretty much a solo baker, so she offered to split the order in two. And so she said, “You can bring half of them for one shift, and then, um, on one day this week, and then the other half like three days later,” which helped a ton.
So that helped us with our scheduling. But that order pretty much took up the entire month of February, um, just with working with my toddler and my husband’s schedule. But it was fun
David Crabill: Well, we kind of skipped ahead a little bit here because I know we’re, we’re into this year. We didn’t really talk about last year, which is obviously a big year of growth for you. So, what was it like, you know, heading into the farmers market season and everything?
Like, how did [00:38:00] your business grow over the course of 2025?
Ashley Withers: Yeah, so the farmer’s market was a lot of fun. Um, I was nervous about it for my very first one, which was in April, uh, for opening day. Um, my farmer’s market allowed us to, um, really just kind of show up as often as we’d like, uh, with some sort of rhythm, but you didn’t have to be there every, every single Saturday.
And, um, and so that was actually common that some vendors, you know, a lot of vendors weren’t there every Saturday because they’re doing other markets or whatever. So in my case, I committed to showing up once a month, and then sometimes twice a month if I can get, um, you know, my small, my small village to, to show up and help me at home with the little guy so that I can break away and be out there.
Bake during the week and then be out there on Saturday. So I did that one time a [00:39:00] month, sometimes twice, and that was so much fun. It was my first time Setting up a… I called it setting up my store. So setting up my store from scratch, getting a canopy. Um, I had the retractable banner from, um, back when I just put something together back in the, you know, a few months prior.
And so, yeah, that was a lot of fun to just set that up every, ev- once a month. It was also very, very stressful, and so we’ll get into that because that’s why I ended up not doing it going into this year. But I would bake all week for that. So I’d start my shopping on, like, Sunday or Monday, and then I’d prep and bake those all week, put everything in the freezer.
And Saturday morning, I’m waking up at 5:00 AM so I can get dressed. I liked to, um, just look nice and match my vibe, match my branding. [00:40:00] So, um, not necessarily the Brown Butter Bash T-shirts, even though sometimes I’d wear that, but just making sure, like, my outfit matched. If you look at some of my videos, you’ll see.
But anyways, I’m very OD about my branding. And so I’d get out there really early and do all the setup. Um, I always have a helium machine for my balloons. I like to have these, um, cookie balloons that… Balloons just always make any event even better. And so, and it’s a small thing that you can do to really spruce up anything.
So I had cookie balloons, and then I got just regular, um, brown and chocolate and cream colored balloons just to match the vibe. yeah, so I did my first market last April, and it was a success. I sold out. I met a lot of new cookie lovers, and that’s when I started my farmer’s market following. Um, and then along the way, of course, every market, I’m learning something new about my setup, something that I wanna do differently.
[00:41:00] Um, I’m ordering new things like, “Oh, I don’t like these tablecloths. I like these tablecloths. Oh, I need to make sure I bring zip ties.” And just, you know, you’re learning along the way. So I’m also creating a checklist as I’m going and just, again, creating a system as I’m learning and growing. So I had a farmer’s market checklist that I would refer to.
And, um, but the market itself was great for my business. I think that the social media marketing is great, and it’s taken off recently. So that piece is very important, and it’s been how I’ve gotten the majority of my orders. But definitely that in-person community local connection, um, really helped to grow my business last year.
So that’s why I stuck it out. I was… You know, there, I– there were moments where I was very stressed and, um- I feel like I’m saying that a lot, and I, I want to make sure I’m also transparent in saying that I love everything about this. But [00:42:00] sometimes stress comes with it. You’re just managing so much. And so I was very stressed with pulling off the market as much, as much as I did at the capacity that I did it at.
But I wanted to lay that groundwork for the Brown Butter Bash. I knew how important it was to have that in-person, um, just connection and getting out there and meeting the locals, just reaching a different audience. Um, and yeah, so this year with me not doing the market, and I don’t do as many pop-ups, I still do them, but this year, um, I still have a regular stream of orders, and I know it’s because of that groundwork I laid last year
David Crabill: Yeah. You mentioned, like, the vibe of your booth and everything, and I saw, I saw your banner. You’ve got, you know, a very nice banner laid out there. Everything all looks cohesive. Even your, you’re matching your outfit and everything and making sure
everything looks good. And this kind of gets into your packaging.
I really wanted to [00:43:00] talk about your packaging because, you know, your packaging looks amazing. I’m sure everyone tells you that, right? But also, like, every single package is giftable. Like, it’s all, like, basically gift-wrapped, like every single order. That’s an interesting choice, because obviously that takes time and money to make it happen
Ashley Withers: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, yes, it does take time and money, and, um, that, but that goes back to what I was saying before with knowing that I wanted, uh, what I wanted the prices to look like as far… when, when thinking about everything, the packaging, the gift wrapping, the, um, ingredients, because I only use clean and quality ingredients.
So it needed to be at a certain number for it to make sense and for me to profit and for this to be worth my time. Um, so, so yeah, you’re paying for the gift wrapping. It’s a part of the [00:44:00] experience. But then also, I, again, if I were receiving this, I’m like, “Oh, this is cute. This is a gift.” Like, “This is cute.
Thank you so much.” You can just add a card to it, and I have that option too. You can add a handwritten note. Um, it’s a complete gift. You need a quick closing gift, it’s a complete gift. Um, you need me to deliver it to them for you, it’s, it’s done. And, you know, you can add a bottle of wine, not through me, but now you have these gourmet delicious cookies.
All you need to do is go grab a bottle of wine and maybe a bag and throw it in a bag. But it is gift ready, and I think that that helps make an, make it an easy yes for someone who’s either getting it for themselves, but definitely who wants to gift them. So that’s something that I, um, I say a lot in my marketing as well, especially when I do my social media posts.
Um, I’ll remind customers that they’re gift ready and it’s an easy yes
David Crabill: [00:45:00] It’s interesting ’cause I saw somewhere on your social media where you said that packaging is your favorite part of the process, which is like, I feel like for most people, packaging is their least favorite part of the process. So explain that to me
Ashley Withers: Um, well, it is because it’s, it’s the final step. It’s coming together. It’s, um… Like for example, this is me being so transparent, but just to kind of prove my point. So I had a custom order that I did, um, for a local early childhood resource center here in my city. And so they wanted a raspberry white chocolate cookie.
It matched their theme of the event. And so anyways, the way of the color of my brown butter dough, it’s brown, right? And so a lot of times it won’t… If I add green to it, if I add matcha, it’ll be green, but it’s gonna be like an earthy green. If I add raspberry powder, it’s gonna be red, but it’s [00:46:00] gonna be like a, a dusty red.
And so anyways, um, it tastes great, but sometimes the colors just are what they are because I don’t use dyes and my dough is brown. So, um, I personally didn’t love the way they were coming out as far as how they were looking. And but by the time I had put them in these cute, uh, polka dot cellophane bags and added the burgundy, um, bow on it, and then put them in my, um…
Because it was a large order, I had to use large black boxes, but I, I always use the boxes with the window. And so by the time all of that’s in the box with the parchment paper and you’re looking down at it, this is beautiful. And so, um, so yeah, that’s why packaging is my favorite part. I love seeing it all come together, and it looks like exactly what I’m advertising it as, you know?
David Crabill: Yeah. [00:47:00] Well, packaging is great, but obviously what’s in the packaging needs to matter too, right? And I, I was reading some of the reviews, and that’s something that stood out to me was… ‘Cause your cookies aren’t that big, right? They’re just, like, normal-sized drop cookies. Um, oftentimes that size of cookie can have a low perceived value.
Um, but I was seeing the reviewer said that your cookies really stand out. So why is that?
Ashley Withers: My big thing is that the cookies are obviously from scratch, and that I use clean and quality ingredients that my customers can trust because they are clean and quality ingredients that I trust. And so again, this all goes back to me just wanting to clean up the ingredients in my family’s foods, and one day making some really good cookies that I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to get from the store, um, and just making sure that the ingredients I used were clean and quality.
So I use unbleached, unenriched flour. I go out of my way to source every single [00:48:00] ingredient, um, because that’s how much it matters to me. And I know I have other moms and just other, just families who have the same values as I do as far as Being an ingredient label reader and being intentional about what they’re consuming.
Or I might have people who maybe aren’t as passionate about that as I am, but they appreciate it and they want, they want the good stuff. They want the good-tasting cookies. So, um, so yeah, that’s… I definitely think that makes a difference, them knowing that they can indulge without the guilt. Now, if you’re eating the entire dozen, that’s a different story.
We still have to have control. Um, but definitely, um, they can at least feel good about knowing that… I always say that calories don’t count when the ingredients are clean. So that’s not necessarily true, but it’s better than the alternative for sure. [00:49:00] Um, especially when, for example, I use organic raw cane sugar. Um, I make my own brown sugar, which really makes a difference in the finish, in the chew of a brown sugar-based cookie. Single origin Nuts. Um, I get my eggs from a local farm about 18 minutes away. So I usually get about six dozen at a time and I ask for them to be freshly laid that morning and, um, or I ask for them to choose from the freshly laid eggs that morning and then leave them unwashed so that I can store them on my counter because that’s the only way I’d be able to store that many, um, eggs at once.
And so I’m just very intentional about each individual ingredient and very intentional about how they look and how they taste in the end. If I come up with a batch that I’m not happy with, give me a few seconds to stare at it and I will start over and I will, you know, scratch that batch. So I’m just very [00:50:00] intentional about what that end product is for my customers, the people who are believing in me to come through on what I say I’m gonna come through on.
And um, I think that’s what stands out
David Crabill: Yeah. I mean, obviously you have, you know, really high-quality ingredients. You, you didn’t even mention, I know you’ve used Kerrygold butter and also have made your own vanilla, at least initially,
right? Um, that sounds great, right? Obviously, all of these are very expensive ingredients, so how has pricing worked in trying to get it to the price where it needs to be at to actually make the profit margin, make
Ashley Withers: sure.
Yeah, so that’s why my cookies aren’t huge because it, that costs more of course as well, and they just don’t need to be bigger. They’re doing enough as is. But, um, so the size that I bake them at helps me to make sure I’m still making a profit [00:51:00] and, um, I can get roughly 15 cookies, um, out of my one dozen recipe.
So the one dozen ends up being a few extra. So that helps as well with the profit margins. Um, and yeah, so I, I use my assistant ChatGPT and, um, and I use the… I have the upgraded version because I really… She, she and… We’re locked in and she helps me a lot. Um, but ChatGPT is just, you know, what you input is what you’re getting out of it.
So essentially I guess I’m talking to myself, but she knows a lot more than me and so she helps me a lot. And, um, so it’s easy for me to do some quick math with her. So, um, in the beginning when I first launched the business I had this composition notebook and I wrote out every single ingredient, how much it costs, how much I’m using, [00:52:00] uh, per batch, and just that whole breakdown.
And then once I got that base breakdown, um, I was able to input that into ChatGPT and to give her a baseline. I say her, you know, I named her Her, but I named her. You know, I’ve made her a Her, but she, um, has a baseline of where my cookies are and any time the prices change on something I’ll go in and update her, but a lot of times she already knows because she knows where I’m getting it from.
So I was able to kinda have that like foundational, um, breakdown and then from there any time something changes I can tweak. And so I, I consult that, that, uh, that chart a lot and I’m always just tweaking and analyzing it and making sure that At the end of the day, even with all of these quality and premium things that I’m doing, because my time, I [00:53:00] have to get paid for that too.
I just make sure that the price of the cookies are reflecting the time and the ingredients and the effort that goes into them
David Crabill: And then flavor-wise, you know, you you don’t carry a, a lot of flavors at one time, right? So, uh, what are your flavors and, uh, I know you have the cookie of the month as well
Ashley Withers: Yeah. So my four flavors that I call them my staple flavors, my four staple flavors that never leave the menu are, um, the Brown Butter Bash. So Brown Butter Bash is named after the company because it is, um, my OG cookie. It’s the cookie that I made for my family that my husband said that you need to sell.
So, um, it has chocolate chips, oats, and walnuts. And again, this is my, um, I add these inclusions into my base brown butter cookie dough. Um, and so yeah, that’s Bash. So I use semisweet chocolate chips, [00:54:00] the regular sized morsels, and I use mini semisweet chocolate chips. So there’s two different types of chocolate chips in that cookie, the walnuts, and then the old-fashioned oats.
Um, and then on top after it bakes, I add milk chocolate morsels just to, um, as like a decoration, but also as a garnish just to kinda layer the flavors and layer the chocolates, um, so that it’s not like all one-dimensional and chocolate flavored. So That’s my OG cookie. I also have brown butter coconuts.
So coconuts is, um, it has toasted coconut shreds and walnuts in it. That one is one of my favorites. She is very underrated. She’s not very popular because, you know, people are usually pretty finicky about coconut, or at least they think they are. But I always say, “If you give me the opportunity to tell you about coconuts, nine times out of 10, I will convince you to try it.”
And no [00:55:00] one’s ever not liked that one. Coconuts is really good. It’s, um, because it’s not a coconut cookie, it’s a brown butter cookie with toasted coconut in it. And when you toast that coconut, um, there’s just a different, uh, vibe that comes to it, especially when you’re putting it in a brown butter cookie.
And then with walnuts, it’s crazy. It’s so good. Um, and so anyways, that’s coconuts. And then I also carry, um, brown butter boneless. How could I forget about that? Boneless is a very popular one, probably my most popular because it’s just a straight up brown butter, brown sugar cookie without any mix-ins or inclusions.
So none of that, just a straight up brown butter, brown sugar cookie. And while it is the simplest cookie as far as add-ins, it is not simple at all. None of them are. It- it’s not simple at all. The brown butter, you can taste it. The m- it comes through the most in the [00:56:00] boneless cookie because there’s no distractions.
It’s just the cookie. And then the homemade brown sugar, um, man, and the homemade vanilla. I mean, you can taste all of these things. You can see them too, because again, there’s nothing else in it. It’s just a brown butter, brown sugar cookie. So that’s one of my most popular. It also, because it doesn’t have nuts, um, it’s one of my most gifted cookies as well.
It’s an easy one to gift, especially for people that might have allergies. Um, I don’t necessarily cater to allergies, but I do try to, um- If I know that there is an, an, they’ve let me know of course, then I take all precautions to make sure there’s no cross-contamination. So boneless is popular for gifting and just because she is.
And then my last staple cookie is brown butter chocolate chip. That one was added last year actually. I wanna say at the end of last summer because at my markets I’d always get a [00:57:00] couple of people that are asking, “Do you have just chocolate chips? Do you have just one with chocolate chips?” So instead of just doing custom orders because that would be my response is, “I don’t, but you can always place a custom order.
I can do it.” It just made sense to add it to my menu. So there’s not even a cute, a fancy name for it. It’s just brown butter chocolate chip. And, um, people who want just a straight up brown butter chocolate chip cookie, they know that that’s what that is. And that’s a popular one too. Um, so those are the four that are always on the menu, and then I always have a new cookie of the month every month.
And this month it’s brown butter turtle.
So that is a double chocolate brown butter cookie, um, with semi-sweet chocolate chunks inside of it, homemade toffee bits, and then roasted pecans, and then finished with a milk chocolate drizzle and then, um, a little sprinkle of chocolate sea salt on top of the drizzle. And that one, I just had some this morning ’cause I just had an order [00:58:00] go out today, and she’s top tier.
Every month I say that, but every month it just gets better. But she’s top tier.
David Crabill: Well, this cookie of the month idea, right? I mean, how do you feel like that’s impacted your business?
Ashley Withers: Oh my goodness, it’s so much fun, and people look forward to it. Um, it’s, it keeps it fun for me because, yes, I have the staple cookies, but there’s always something fun to, for me to be working on. So, um, es- usually by mid-month I’m already working on the next month’s cookie because I have to recipe test and make sure it looks good and get all the content around it and all of that.
So it’s fun for me because there’s always something new. Like, even though there’s a flow state for the business in general, when it comes to the cookie of the month, it’s new every month. So it’s just always something new for me to tap into and get creative with. So it’s fun for me, but it’s [00:59:00] also fun for my customers and for my, uh, my social media audience because they know…
They’ve come to expect it, and they know that they are getting… That I’m going to drop something. And for those who are, like, diehard brown butter fans, they are like, “Yeah, every month let me get a box of whatever it is.” Um, and for others, they’re just excited to see what it is and maybe pull inspiration from it or just support me and root me on to say, “This is cool,” whatever the case may be.
But it’s, it’s definitely a fun aspect of this entire thing, is having a new cookie to brainstorm every month to make taste good but also to make look good. It’s pretty easy for me to make something taste good, but sometimes I have to really spend time getting the visuals together, like what happened with the May cookie.
So
David Crabill: Well, we have to talk about your social media because I know at the beginning [01:00:00] of 2026 you were hoping that maybe by the end of 2026 you’d have 1,000 followers. Well, you’re already, uh, uh, we’re here in May, you’re over 1,800 followers and, you know, growing, like, over 100 followers a week,
right? So what have you done to help grow your social media?
Ashley Withers: So coming into this year, I really wanted to take social media more seriously, and not just post. I’ve always taken it seriously as far as show up and post. Y- I have, like, almost 400 posts. I was posting every day at, like, 7:30 AM when I first, um, started with The Brown Butter Bash because I just wanted to stay in front of people, stay top of mind, and build the business.
Um, but coming into this year, I wanted to get more, uh, strategic with my posts, and I actually wanted to see some social media growth and crack that code. [01:01:00] And so, um, I started to just seek out other social media creators that specifically teach, um, how to grow on social media, and I… Like Brock Johnson, he’s somebody that I enjoy.
Um, he does nothing baking related, but he, his page is all about helping social media s- creators grow. So, um, so I started following him. I started listening to his podcast and a few other podcasts. Um, I, I don’t have a lot of free time to do those things, but say I have, like, a doctor’s appointment or, um, I’m headed to the gym, just that 10-minute commute to and fro, I’m putting on a podcast and I’m hearing from, um, the professionals on how to grow my page.
And so I’m applying these different techniques. I’m trying different, um, uh, like trends and, uh, learning about hooks, [01:02:00] and so I’m using hooks, and just really learning my audience, seeing what they respond to. I’m looking at my insights and seeing how, um, a post is performing ’cause that lets me know, “Okay, you guys, you guys like this.
Oh, you love this type of stuff.” And usually the type of stuff that they love is the stuff I don’t have time for. Uh, like the, the, all of the angles and a, a well put together video with angles from every corner, and I’m doing a voiceover, and all the things. Usually what I have time for is s- something that takes way less time to edit than that.
So, um, anyway, so I just started taking all of these things seriously and applying them, and what I have noticed has gotten me the most growth is this one video I did back in March, um, or maybe the video went out in April, but the, it was from an event I did in March, where I [01:03:00] was showing me setting up for, uh, my first pop-up of 2026.
It was a small business trade show by my local chamber. And, um- I’m… So that’s what the video was showing, but the voiceover was talking about how at every single pop-up, I run into the issue of just always running low on time to set up towards the end because I get interrupted a lot by, um, fellow vendors or people who just might be at the event before the event starts.
You know, just different people who might work the event. And so, um, they wanna stop, they wanna talk, they’re looking at the visuals, they’re looking at everything. They wanna get their cookies first because they know how this goes. They remember me from last year. And so anyways, I was talking about that and that sh- kind of sort of struggle, ’cause it’s a good problem to have, and I’m a, I’m a chatty girl, and I love to talk about the cookies if, if you let me.
So, um, and I just love to [01:04:00] connect and because we talk about way more than just cookies, I start to learn about their lives and, “Oh, my wife is a… She used to be a chef in Japan, and she was a pastry…” You know, whatever. You get to learn about, uh, these people because they wanna share, and it’s an easy way to connect.
So I always connect back, but I always run into the issue of running low on time. And this is– and I’m getting there, like, two and a half hours early. Like, I’m not showing up at, at the last minute. So that was just a transparent moment that I was having in talking about that in that video, and that video has almost gotten me 1,000 followers by itself.
So I have noticed that being my most authentic self and also showcasing what I’m doing, um, showing the process, I– people love that. They want me to be me, and when I tell them that I am tired and my toddler got on my nerves today, and I’m not posting again until Friday, they [01:05:00] are… They’re like, “We understand.
We’re, we’re rooting for you, girl.” So, um, that’s what they connect with the most, and it makes sense. We just want, we just want that people-to-people authentic connection
David Crabill: Well, I mean, your business has come such a long way in only a year and a half time. I mean, and it seems to be still growing, I know you’re doing more B2B sales now. You’re, you know, doing custom orders and all that stuff, and so it just seems to be taking off.
As you look into the future, where would you like this to go?
Ashley Withers: Man, what an interesting time to ask me that because if you had asked me this before my San Diego trip that I just got back from last Wednesday, the answer would have been, um, my husband and I are going to be building our forever home within the next two to three years, just depending on how long the overall process takes, um, with [01:06:00] going the route we were going.
So that was like our next like big step in our lives was to do that. And because we’ve been in our first home, our current home for, um, a little over three years. And so anyway, that was always the next step. And so with that, um, I told him I wouldn’t mind like, um, getting a cookie cart, um, decked out in Brown Butter theme and branding, and being able to just get in my cookie cart and, um, drive it, you know, pull it up to an event and do pop-ups that way. And/or, um, have a… while we’re building our forever home, have a kitchen, um, a commercial kitchen built or a kitchen, a separate kitchen with commercial appliances built alongside our house, just, you know, a sp- a space for me to be able to go escape to and tackle 800 cookies if I need to. Um, and just keep it close and keep it home.[01:07:00]
Maybe have like a little drive-through window. But that was… that’s what we were in talks about. And, um And I do, you know, I sell other things. I have the vanilla, I have other aspects of the business. Um, I also plan to one day sell my recipes once I’m ready to do that. I just feel like I just launched the business.
I still wanna bake. I’m still interested in that. But I do see myself eventually kind of digitizing some things and earning income in other ways and, um, may- maybe eventually being a little less hands-on in the kitchen with it. Um, but we went to San Diego for my toddler’s third birthday. We took him to Legoland, and then we spent some time, um, you know, outside of Legoland in different parts of San Diego just to enjoy and relax, and fell absolutely 100% in love with California, the weather, the people, the trees, the food scene, like [01:08:00] everything.
Just unexpectedly fell in love with it in a different way than we’ve ever felt about any place we’ve traveled to together. And so we kinda sorta don’t wanna ignore that feeling. Um, that would be a big move and just, that would be its own beast to tackle. So we’re, we’re not, like, doing it tomorrow, but it is on the radar potentially.
And, um, so the Brown Butter Bash could be going to the West Coast. And so if so, of course, you know, I’ll do everything I’m doing here there, and I’ll build my business out there, build my local following there. Um, but I will just, um, ship to the following that I’ve, I’ve created over here. So we’ll see. I don’t know.
David Crabill: It’s all gets back to listening for what the right direction is, which you said is a big part of your success
Ashley Withers: Right. Yes, just listening, getting guidance from God, and if it feels right, [01:09:00] if it f- um, if we begin to take steps towards that and we can get through them smoothly, um, and it just feels right, then it’s something that we’ll do. But for now, we’re gonna stay put and continue to do what we’re doing, and just let the orders come, and I fulfill them, and I continue to come up with the new cookies, and just that balancing act of doing it while being home.
Um, so we’ll just continue to do that and whatever growth naturally comes from that. And if we take it to the West Coast, then I look forward to one day posting that and saying, “Brown Butter Bash is moving to the West Coast.” So we’ll see. It’s, it’s, like, crazy to even say out loud. Like, I’m, I feel like I’m kind of prematurely sharing that, but I also…
They, um, my followers know that I went to San Diego, so, and I ha- I did post and say, “Just so you guys know, I have the blues about not being there.” So, um, so it won’t be, like, a huge surprise to my current following, but [01:10:00] nonetheless, it’s definitely just a new idea, but it’s possible
David Crabill: Well, thank you so much, Ashley. Now, if someone would like to learn more about you, where can they find you or how can they reach out?
Ashley Withers: Yeah, so I have Instagram and Facebook, thebrownbutterbash. That’s B-A-S-H. It’s like a party, a brown butter party. And then if you want to reach out to me directly outside of sending me a message on social media, you can email me at [email protected]
David Crabill: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing with us today
Ashley Withers: Thank you so much for having me, David. This was great. I appreciate it
David Crabill: That wraps up another episode of the Forrager Podcast. For more information about this episode, go to forrager.com/podcast/175. And if you enjoyed this podcast episode, I have a favor to ask you.
If you are [01:11:00] watching this on YouTube, could you please subscribe to my channel and also like this video? And if you’re listening to this on a podcast player, if you could leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or a rating on Spotify, anything that you can do to interact with the content will help other people like you find this podcast.
And finally, if you’re thinking about selling your own homemade food, check out my mini course where I walk you through the steps you need to take to get a cottage food business off the ground. To get the course, go to cottagefoodcourse.com. Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
