SOS Cookies, launched by Limerick native Sarah O’Sullivan, recently launched a pop-up at Dundrum Town Centre as part of its 2024 growth strategy. The business is making serious ‘dough’ and is currently on track to achieve a 100% growth in annual turnover. The €1M turnover target for 2024 is firmly in sight with the business outperforming expectations having generated a loyal audience through online marketing tools such as TikTok. Last year the business made 300,000 cookies, which were snapped up online, through stockists and at the brand’s concession in Arnotts. This year, with a growing desire for personalised corporate orders, the Dundrum Town Centre pop-up and continual consumer engagement, the brand will make 700,000 cookies.
The pop-up at Dundrum Town Centre launched in July and can be found on Level 1 of the mall until the end of summer. Since launching the demand has been unprecedented with sales achieving 50% more than anticipated. The Limerick-based business moved into a new production kitchen in January to meet the ongoing demand for the delectable products and is now set to move into a new kitchen again in the coming weeks which will be twice the size. What began as an online business in 2020, initially building up a young female audience through savvy social media content, has expanded its appeal over time. Available in numerous coffee shops across several counties, SOS Cookies has no intention of letting up when it comes to growth.
The concession in Arnotts really moved the dial for the start-up, generating huge awareness with customers in the capital but also proving that a brick and mortar aspect to the business could generate sales. Since then the growing team of 20+ has worked on new ways to drive growth. Not only with pop-up concepts but also through corporate customers, which is a huge market for the brand as it can personalise orders for a variety of internal and external corporate events. While SOS Cookies is certainly growing, owner Sarah O’Sullivan plans on reinvesting to continue that growth trajectory, creating employment opportunities and positively contributing to local economies.
Sarah O’Sullivan, Founder of SOS Cookies, says “Launching in Dundrum Town Centre has been our biggest exercise to date and it has far exceeded our expectations. The customer engagement has been integral, we have been baking cookies around the clock to meet the demand, which has been so exciting! When I first started the business in 2020, I of course hoped to build this kind of audience, but the growth and customer support has been beyond my imagining. I knew through my background in product development and my time spent on the Bord Bia Masters programme in Food Innovation and Insights that Irish consumers engage well with innovative homegrown brands and I could see a clear gap in the market for SOS Cookies. Now that we are building momentum and on track to hit a huge business milestone with €1M in turnover I want to stay focused on reinvesting into the business, supporting my team and the stockists that we work with. While it certainly seems like a big number there is of course an array of costs that come along with a food production business, especially with ingredients and operations costs growing at a rapid pace. I am optimistic for further growth though, especially with opportunities like pop-ups and our growing corporate customer base.”
For more information about SOS Cookies, please visit www.soscookies.ie. For the latest news, new product, stockist and pop-up announcements, follow on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
