Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam August.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
“You’re fired.” “We’re sorry, but we have to let you go.” “This just isn’t working out.” There are so many ways to get fired: I’ve probably heard every one of them. I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever had (with one exception). Getting fired is one of the best things that has happened to me. My corporate shortcomings are the foundation of Batch Cookie Co’s Story: It presented the opportunity to reflect and learn, and each pink slip became a pitstop on the road to Batch’s creation. My current Batch Cookie Co. co-founder, best friend, and roommate even fired me once. I graduated from college with a 2.2 GPA—so I’m not a glistening example of what a successful entrepreneur “should” have looked like. I am very open about this aspect (me being fired) of my story because I want to eliminate the shame of being fired and instead shift the focus to the doors and opportunities that are created because of it.
After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder, my dream was to be an NFL CEO. I applied to all 32 teams, and the Dolphins offered me a sales job. I left Colorado and moved to South Florida. I quickly realized I wasn’t built for corporate structure. I hit my sales number, but the rigid red tape coupled with the Dolphins’ lackluster performance (and my stubbornness) left me unfulfilled. While working for the Dolphins, I joined a local gym, Elevate954. I met the gym’s co-owner, Nick Hicks, who would eventually become my Batch Cookie Co. co-founder. When I wasn’t working, I was at the gym continually inquiring about operations. My relationship with the Dolphins eventually boiled over: After getting fired, the gym offered me a job. They kind of had to. I was like an annoying sad fly: I just wasn’t going to go away. Eight months after joining the gym team, though, our personalities and business strategies clashed, and Nick (lovingly) let me go. (The gym is still around however Nick left and opened his own gym Per4orm), but it gave Nick and I exposure to our strengths and weaknesses before partnering together, as well as a first look at what it takes to run a brick and mortar business. Our failures proved valuable in the long-run.
After some traveling and soul-searching, a chance meeting with Charles Schwab’s son led to an opportunity to move to Appleton, Wisconsin, to help save a Bobby Pin business. Yes, Bobby Pins. He liked my tenacity and drive, as well as my comfort with failure. At first, I declined (I thought he was nuts), but I then realized I had nothing to lose. The company was already slated to close within the year, so I was their Hail Mary. So I went, despite having zero manufacturing experience. I didn’t know if I could save the company, but I knew I could create camaraderie and culture. I sat down with each employee and asked for feedback, which gained their trust. I looked up old purchase orders and convinced old customers to come back. I didn’t have a competitive market advantage: Chinese manufacturers made the product cheaper, and most folks don’t care about where their Bobby Pins come from—my only advantage was a connection. Building connection is still a pillar of my work philosophy and something I carried into Batch.
In a funny twist of fate, Wisconsin taught me how to fire people, which became a managerial must at Batch. I sliced the company’s debt in half and streamlined production, but I still got fired, as you probably guessed. The bigwigs and my working philosophies clashed. After a stint with the world’s most elusive hair accessory, I ended up in my hometown of San Francisco within a competitive accelerator and then a tech startup. While I learned a ton, being the first and only sales hire at a Silicon Valley startup presented challenges, and I hit a professional plateau. My sales experience is how I ended up nabbing Max Santiago to join Batch (but I’ll get to that shortly.) I had always had a joke that when I retired, I wanted to open a cookie shop. It was even on my Bumble profile. But Bill Walsh (who hired then fired me) once said something that stuck with me: “If you are fortunate to have an idea of something you want to do, don’t wait. Do it now.” That same week, I started educating myself on the cookie market. I wanted to create a business that I could scale and sell. Insomnia Cookies proved the model existed. The rest I could figure it out later.
And I knew I wanted to explore the cookie venture with Nick Hicks. Our text message exchange went like this: Adam: “Yo, remember that cookie shop we were going to open?” Nick: “Ya. What about it?” Adam: “I’m doing it. You in?” Nick: “haha. You know it. When do we start?” Adam: “Right now” The next day, I set Nick up with location scouting appointments. We had no plan, but we knew Fort Lauderdale was our target market: There wasn’t anything like it in the area. My accumulated sales experience came into play when it came time to finding our cookie chef. I created an “ideal profile” on LinkedIn and sent out about a dozen messages to different search matches. Chef Max was the only chef who wrote me back. I had no idea who he was at the time or about his industry notoriety. My sales experience helped me negotiate initial terms with him. We came up with a deal that could give us both security but also room to explore. And just like that, the “Batch Street Boys” were born. We figured everything else out as we went along, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No road is smooth. Nothing worth achieving is easy. Challenges are how you learn: If you’re afraid of them, you just won’t go that far. I embrace challenges even if they can be frustrating at the moment. Our motto from the get-go was “we’ll figure it out,” and we have. I don’t know all the answers: But I know that we will figure things out as a team. And we’ve built a fantastic team—I think that’s crucial to hitting challenges head-on. Before opening, you’re going through the learning curve of getting open—permits, architecture, getting the team in place—things I had never done before. And then, all of a sudden, we’re open, and we’re figuring out how to run a cookie shop. “When do we bake?” “How much do we order?” It’s a sharp pivot. And Batch will go through a learning curve again when we open the second shop in Plantation in 2021. On a personal level, I’m going through a lot of growth right now: I can’t be so micromanaging. Up until recently, I was in the store every day. Now that Batch is running on its own, and to expand Batch as a company, I can’t be so focused on the operations of one individual store. I have to trust the team we’ve built. I now have the time to work on my business versus in my business: I feel guilty about having more time now, and I have to get past that as well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
It’s quite simple. We do two things very well. We create a warm, welcoming experience (hospitality is our number one focus) and we serve fresh-baked, hand made cookies.
Batch is your neighborhood cookie shop: familiar faces, heavenly smells, and mouth-watering cookies.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Building connection is a cornerstone of my work philosophy and something I learned in Appleton. A connection is imperative within a team and with the customer base, you’re trying to reach. I share business numbers with my team and am very honest with them about everything within the business. Empowerment: Ascension shouldn’t be dictated on time: I think I got frustrated at so many of my previous jobs because ascension felt tenure-based. Some people want to learn or learn faster, or desire to take on more: Give people a chance to prove themselves.
Eight months ago, our General Manager, TJ, was a new hire with zero pastry experience: He was just looking for a shot. There are very few big enough mistakes to drown a business. Usually, those big mistakes come from the top people, not the people working for you. Taking the shame out of being fired: I owe part of my success to being fired. American culture is so dictated on career success: Putting self-worth or building a pillar around something that can quickly be taken away is setting up for an unfulfilling life. A willingness to figure it out: Just start. Let yourself learn. Let yourself not know: It will free you to try, or do, anything. Helping others: This is what matters most. Lead with love.
Contact Info:
- Email: Cookies@batchcookieco.com
- Website: www.batchcookieco.com
- Instagram: @batchcookieco
- Facebook: @batchcookieco
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/batch-the-cookie-company-fort-lauderdale-3
Image Credits
Emily Prada @emilypradaphoto
