Ann Clark loved to bake cookies but grew tired of the same old cookie cutters in her Rutland kitchen. Wanting to create her own designs, she commissioned a cookie cutter maker to make a “fat, little pig” and the maker was impressed by her drawings.
That’s where she got the idea to start creating her own line of cookie cutters.
“I did craft shows with things I had painted and made, and it just turned into designing some cookie cutters because I love to bake,” Clark said. “Just got up.”
Since she began creating cookie cutters in her home with the help of her late husband in 1989, the Ann Clark Ltd. has grown to become the largest manufacturer of cookie cutters in the United States.
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Ben Clark, CEO of Ann Clark Ltd. and Ann’s son, said he returned to Vermont to help with the business in the late 1990s and eventually took over the company’s operations when Ann retired. Sitting down for an interview as the year-end sales boom slowed, Ben Clark said a big part of his job is that his family’s creations can bring people together over the holiday for cooking and celebration.
“I’m taking my mum’s art and putting it in people’s kitchens, which is fantastic.”
As the business moved toward the wholesale and custom market in the late 1990s, the first major custom order was with Pilsbury, Ben Clark said. Ann Clark Ltd. has also worked with colleges to design and custom mascot stores such as Williams Sonoma and Bed, Bath & Beyond, he said. In the middle years, Clarks began selling online direct to consumers, which allowed the business to expand internationally, now serving customers in 19 countries.
Sales increased during the Covid-19 pandemic as people looked to home-based activities like baking, and the Clark family made the move to expand their product line into other baking goods such as food coloring, cake mixes and baking supplies. baking.
“With Covid, what’s happened is that more and more people are entertaining at home, so dinner parties are much more popular,” said Ben Clark. “People like good food. They want to serve great food. They want to eat great food. They want food that looks great. They want it to be fun to do. They want it to taste great, and we’re trying to continue to feed that market.”
In 2021, Ann Clark Ltd. built a food coloring creation facility and just this year, the family built another food-safe room for dry goods like cookie mixes, cakes, waffles and other treats as they expand into the “dessert world.”
“We’re now looking at other consumables,” said Ben Clark. “We look at it as gourmet at home.”
Ann Clark Ltd. has stayed competitive in the international market by creating smaller batches of products more often, in order to prevent waste and address consumer desires more quickly, according to Ben Clark.
While Ann Clark Ltd. produces about 4 million cookie cutters a year, Ben Clark said the company only makes 700 cookie cutter models at a time at its Rutland facility. He attributed the business’s ability to expand its product offerings into other confectionery products to the use of lean manufacturing and an economically viable business model.
“It’s also allowed us to enter these new markets,” said Ben Clark. “We are able to test products. We have many products that are successful. We also have a lot of products that are failures, but we haven’t made as many of them, so we can experiment and be really flexible.”
The Clarks say they focus on quality over quantity and are proud that their products are all made in Vermont with the help of 35 employees.
“Everything we sell, we want to be able to make ourselves,” said Ben Clark. “We like guaranteed quality. We like flexibility, because you have to be able to give
As the company grows, the Clarks said they’re grateful their work is focused on bringing fun and joy to people’s lives because, as Ann Clark said, “everybody likes cookies.”