It’s all about the cookies

Bloomington has been nationally recognized for its local business opportunities, and recent IU grad Jared Schneider has taken full advantage of them.

A little more than four years ago, Schneider was a freshman in the dorms who routinely received homemade cookies that his mom shipped to him from home. It was after receiving and enjoying one of these packages with his friends one day that Schneider came up with an idea that would turn his typical college freshman experience into one that would set the course for the rest of his career.

“The idea just kind of popped into my head,” Schneider said. “What if you could just call up a number and get hot cookies delivered to your door?”

It was this question that sparked what would eventually become the cookie delivery company Baked!, which is popular among Bloomington residents, and especially students, for its delivery of hot cookies and milk to your doorstep.

“I sat down to write the business plan in 2005,” Schneider said. “Because I was only a freshman in college when I started writing the plan, I got a piece of software that pretty much asks you 200 questions and then spits out the business plan.”

Schneider’s idea for a cookie delivery company quickly caught the interest of some investors.

“As soon as I put my business plan out there, it got picked up by some people that my dad knew,” Schneider said. “They read it, and they said it was one of the best business plans they ever read.”

Schneider said he began preparations for moving into his first storefront at the end of his sophomore year.

On July 20, 2006, Baked! opened for its first day of business. Schneider was only 19, and many people said they were skeptical of the business at first.

“Nobody really believed me when I told them that this place existed and it was called ‘Baked!,’” Schneider said. “They wondered how it was possible that a place like this could exist.”

After the store opened up, it was not all fun and games for Schneider. He was enrolled in a tough schedule of business courses and was in the midst of a summer session of the Kelley School of Business’ intensive I-Core program.

“The first 10 to 12 days that I am running the store is my last test, my last final for I-Core and then the case,” Schneider said. “It was tough to balance my work with school; I failed a few classes – I almost flunked out a few times – but I ended up graduating with a B.S. in business entrepreneurship in December 2008.”

When asked if he can attribute Baked!’s success to his time spent at the Kelley school, Schneider was not so responsive.

“I can’t say that I actually used it, because everything that has gotten me success so far with the business, none of it I learned at the business school,” Schneider said. “I wouldn’t say I didn’t learn anything there, but I would say that my tuition wasn’t worth the money that I paid for it.”

Schneider said he didn’t necessarily learn certain skills he believes are critical.
“They don’t teach you how to critically think,” Schneider said. “Critical thinking skills are some of the most important skills that I use on a day-to-day basis, and you don’t learn them anywhere in the business school.”

Today, even after Schneider’s graduation, Baked! remains successful. The store just moved from its old storefront downtown to a new location at 313 E. Third St. and will celebrate its third year of business this July.

“Baked! is successful because Jared has been able to embrace ideas that are not his own; a lot of owners think it is ‘my way or the highway,’” said Rob Shipley, one of the store’s managers. “This store has a piece of all of us in it.”

When asked if he planned to keep Baked! just a local Bloomington flavor, Schneider was quick to say he is looking to expand, and not only to other college campuses.

“I don’t want to confine myself to campuses,” Schneider said. “I feel like Baked! would work anywhere.”