Meet Ross Canter | business owner, baker & cookie enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ross Canter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ross, do you disagree with some advice that is more or less universally accepted?
“Have a business plan”

Years ago (way, way before we ever started Cookie Good), I’d lost my job as a film executive and toyed with the idea of opening a cookie shop. I had no idea how to go about it and heard about SCORES which was a place future ‘entrepreneurs’ could go to talk with and get advice from seasoned professionals. The first thing my seasoned professional asked was if I had a business plan. I did not. “Without one,” he warned, “you really can’t move forward.” I went home and tried to come up with a business plan. But when it came to estimating the numbers and projecting our sales, I got stumped — how do I know if we’re going to sell 1 cookie or 1,000? This seemed more complicated than the movie business so we put off the cookie shop and I got another film exec job.

So, when we finally decided to start our cookie business, the warning from our SCORES guide echoed loudly and almost prevented us from moving forward again. We still didn’t know anything about running a business and as much as we liked our cookies and really hoped others would as well, we had no idea if people would actually buy them. But rather than get bogged down with sales projections (that we’d be making up anyway), and the fear that if we didn’t have everything planned and in place before starting out, we decided to just start baking. We figured out how much our cookies cost to make, and based on what we thought we needed to earn per cookie, we set our prices and started selling. For us, being flexible — doing the best we can while always leaving room to learn/pivot/improve — has really been the best lesson. And, by the way, 14 years and about 5 million cookies later, we still don’t have a business plan.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I always wanted to be a screenwriter. When I graduated from college I was too afraid of not being a good enough to actually make a career out of writing that I became a film executive and producer instead (as if that was much easier). Years later I was having a conversation with my kids (a real life lesson kind of moment) where I was telling them that they always had to follow their dreams and I realized I couldn’t teach them anything if I wasn’t living it myself. I left my job, wrote my first screenplay, was lucky enough to get an agent, and kept on writing. When the Hollywood writers’ strike happened in 2007 and lasted into 2008, I brushed off another dormant dream: starting a cookie business. We knew nothing about starting or running a business — not trying was the easiest (and possibly smartest) decision we could have made at the time. But we didn’t let our inner vampires stop us; we didn’t sink back into the couch and grab the remote. For some reason, we threw caution to the wind and started baking. The point is: life is short — it’s complicated, sometimes overwhelming, and it’s often much easier to let the fear of failure stop you from ever trying. But really, like Joel Goodsen from RISKY BUSINESS learns: sometimes you just have to say “WTF”.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Clearly, we love food. Our vacations are always food-centric and as hosts, we’d probably set a food-centric itinerary for our guests as well. Some of our highlights would be: Fia (it’s next to our shop and the food is amazing), Majordomo and The Girl & The Goat in DTLA (we had life-changing meals at both places), Courage Bagels (I’m a life-long bagel-eater and never at a bagel that brought tears to my eyes until I had Courage Bagels), The Draycott (a neighborhood spot for us, beautiful outdoor setting and really good food), Milo & Olive (never ate something here I didn’t love) and brunch at our house (one of my favorite meals to cook: lots of fun egg dishes, way too many baked goods, my special pancakes, candied bacon and salty maple butter).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Kimberly Bailey from the Butter End Cakery. She’s a pretty fierce entrepreneur who was starting her business about the same time we were. Before we had our shop we baked along side her a few morning a week and learned so much from her and were inspired by her talent, strength and focus.

Website: cookiegood.com

Instagram: cookiegoodla

Linkedin: cookie good

Twitter: cookiegoodla

Facebook: cookiegoodla

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cookie-good-santa-monica?osq=COOKIEGOOD