Today we’d like to introduce you to Malachi & Ederlyn Santillan
Hi Malachi & Ederlyn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
It all started in a far far away majestic land (bout’a a 15 minute drive) named Austin, Texas in search for my favorite Ube Filipino snack, (Gordan Ramsey said it’s “the sleeping beauty of Asia!” & explained how he fell in love with it’s “complexity”) People think it’s easy and it’s just putting ingredients together but that’s the same as handing someone paints and saying paint a beautiful breathe taking masterpiece. It’s just putting paints together right? That is where I feel the ART in HEART lies. Everyone has a God given gift that was carefully designed and crafted just for them, like when we pick a gift for a loved one, we want to give them something they’ll love to use alllll the time, something that will fill them with joy everytime they use it, a gift that they’ll enjoy even more when shared with others.. from there a spark was lit & my desire to create it myself was born! Taking matters into my own hands when I couldn’t find it. I decided to make my own version of the my beloved childhood treat! After my first attempt following the recipe carefully didn’t turn out as expected, nor remembered.. thou the faces everyone made was priceless lol jk but I did persisted and kept tweaking the recipe till it was no longer anything like the original recipe and eventually, ..after feeling like Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb and looking like Albert Einstein on a bad hair day
(lol jk again but it’s how I felt) I had finally successfully baked it just the way it was supposed to be! I almost cried when I took that bite, that let me know I got it just right!! (Dr.Sues would be proud) Practice & patience paid off in the end, and it tasted just as delightful if not better with a friend!
After Malachi tried my baking, he fell in love and suggested that I should sell it, because “if not you’ll be doing the world a disservice.” I have always really enjoyed baking with my mother, who still loves to bake in Japan. I decided to take his advice and start selling my delicious treats. I am excited to turn my passion for baking into a business that has allowed me to share my creations with friends, family and new friends we get the honor to meet! As we all know food is one of those things that brings people together in a very special way. Which is why when we celebrate occasions, food always being a key componet to the whole memory.
We chose to name our business after our daughter, Kiyomi “Unicorn” (Yes, Unicorn really is her middlename). She often used to mention “snacky snacks,” and we felt it would be a fitting and cute name and everytime we hear it, it takes us back to when she was just a few months old barely talking and now she’s already 3 going on 13.
Upon receiving encouraging feedback for my cookies, I decided to introduce new flavors. Customers warmly and excited welcomed the addition of these new flavors to my cookie selection, brownies, cup cakes, ube rolls, and a huge new favorite is our Dubai Chocolate bars! This new variety expanded the choices available to our new found family who enjoyed my fresh homemade cookies and treats that just “hit that spot.”
– Ederlyn
In addition to her creating homemade cookies, we carefully hand-stamp every cookie wrapper, bags and gold foils. We even handmade our stamps themselves, but in a world where other businesses are quick to put profit before quality and attention to detail, we hope to cater to those who appreciate fine craftsman and artisan that goes on behind the scenes.
To walk you to through exactly why this is a business, once she perfected her recipe we sought out for the absolute best quality eggs and flour. What we found was high quality eggs have MORE protein and high quality flour EVEN has more protein!! That was the aha moment put that in combination with chocolate having natural properties proven to reduce stress and create feelings of happiness and the love molecule.
– Malachi
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Building a small cookie business involves a series of challenges that require careful planning and perseverance. One of the first hurdles is determining competitive yet sustainable pricing, balancing the cost of ingredients without undervaluing my work. Creating a menu that appeals to a wide range of tastes while also standing out in a crowded market is another difficult task, as it requires creativity and an understanding of current trends. Sourcing high-quality ingredients can be a challenge, as prices fluctuate, and finding reliable suppliers can take time and effort. Finding new events and farmer’s markets is always a fun and rewarding hunt because getting ourselves in front of as many new people as possible is always a challenge that all small business owners know, but the best part is once they experience it, they fall in love and became like instant family member because we start to see them so frequently.
All these factors combined make building a successful cookie business a complex but rewarding endeavor.
– Ederlyn
For small businesses, the Cottage Food Law can be a significant barrier, limiting growth and expansion due to its strict regulations. While these laws are designed to ensure food safety, they also impose stringent restrictions on where and how homemade products can be sold, often prohibiting sales through retail outlets or limiting the ability to scale up production. Small business owners like us struggle to compete with large corporations that benefit from more flexible regulations, broader distribution channels, and economies of scale.
These corporations, with their vast resources, can dominate the market, leaving small, cottage-based businesses with little room to grow or access larger customer bases. The law, though designed to protect consumers, inadvertently creates an uneven playing field, where small entrepreneurs are restricted in ways that make it difficult to thrive and succeed in a competitive market.
Often small businesses are the ones that created because they see a market not being full filled for the people that want healthier alternatives that they know food can be made better, that it can be processed better, dealt better, better ingredients, healthier ingredients not cheaper or genetically modified just to cut cost to maximize profit because that is their end goal to make more profit.
– Malachi
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
One thing that sets us apart right of the bat is we’re not your “cookie cutter” cookie company haha in other words, we don’t outsource anything that impacts our customer’s experience. The fact that we can be apart of someone’s life and give them the best experience through and through from visually, to the feel of it, the weight, you know you’re getting a whole lot of cookie or brownie, just all of the flavors exploding all at once! So just being able to be a part of someones life experience… is wow to us because when it’s all said and done, most businesses seeking out to make more money, we’re on a quest to make beautiful traditions & meaningful memories that will flood back every time you bite into one!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Definitely see us expanding, we have more and more interest from family that want to part take, with the grow and everything it’ll be awesome to have the extra help. And what’s more beautiful thing than family getting to spend more time together, spending time with siblings, cousins, watching the kiddos grow up. Why not create that with family and that’s the end goal. Have it be operated like that, when they say family owned and operated. Family isn’t just blood, it’s also the family you make along the way. It’s a beautiful thing to able to spend time together, us having family from the Philippines, Japan, Mexico and of coarse the US, and who knows and even further! Why not branch out, why not grow, why not share the recipe with them and have them grow their reputation. It’ll be something if we can then cast that stone, create that ripple, that thing that goes from their children, to one day their children from our children.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unicorn.snackysnacks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HoJtSzUvq/?mibextid=wwXIfr
