On Cookies, Community, and Family with Alyssa Gallion from Lyssie Lou's Cookie Co.
Today, we’re chatting with one of The Front Market’s Fall 2022 vendors Alyssa Gallion of Lyssie Lou’s Cookie Co.
✰ ABOUT ALYSSA GALLION
“I’ve always been drawn to professions that brighten others’ days. I worked in Customer Success for 17 years, working at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as In N Out, where customer service was held to a high standard. My Grammy and mother always surprised and delighted people as well with random compliments, and gifts dropped off in the middle of the night when they were going through a tough time, and generally seeking to brighten someone’s day. I aim to do the same to both honor her but also to help create the world that I want to live in, the world I imagine Dolly Parton aims to create.”
Q: Our latest market theme was “Metaphorical Community Garden.” What does this mean to you?
A: It means creating community over competition in an effort to rise the tide for all boats. Financially supporting, verbally recommending, and virtually sharing other's businesses. It means investing in sourcing local ingredients, using local packaging, and partnering with the community around you to elevate the status of all people in your surroundings when possible! I couldn't have made it to this point in my life solely alone, I had so many helpers along the way.
Q: I love that these cookies also honor your mother and you can taste the love in them. Is it a secret recipe that was passed down or a project you two took on together?
A: It is a combination of recipes that were passed down through the years, a collaboration that continues even after she passed in 2015. (I believe she is still here pointing me in the right direction!) My Gramps is also the taste tester. At 86, he has a lot of cookie experience so he is most qualified for the job. It's definitely a trade secret, though.
Q: The Cups! What was the process of discovering the design and delivery of your cookies?
A: In the 17 years between selling them as a teen and starting the business officially, I had plenty of time to tweak the recipe, edit the tools I used, and perfect the packaging and design. It was a million little conversations with friends, acquaintances, and more recently in the line of bathrooms. I can take the credit for putting them all together, but I can't take credit for all of the support and genuine kindness and tips I have received over the years!
The specific design was inspired by the Bewitched style of art from the 50s/60s, my love for vintage jewelry mid-century jewelry, Americana and sign painting. Also, being from Tucson, there is a strong sense of preserving architecture (specifically the 1960s, when it was in its heyday) and I feel like the design was inspired by that as well!
As for the logo, I gave a card to the designer where my mom wrote Lyssie Lou in it, and she made the handwriting into the logo. My friend (@modernaquarian, who is actually moving from Tucson to Austin as well) did the logo and painted all of the signs!
Q: What was it like the first time you sold out of your cookies in high school and the feelings of excitement around your cookies since then?
A: I would pack cookie bags with three cookies in each and would only take what I thought I could sell that day, so I tended to sell out every day! Seventeen years later, people were still DMing me to start a business, so I finally built up the confidence and skillset to say it’s time. Each time I bring them up or start dolling them out, the buzz starts again. It leads me to believe it is part of my purpose, so I am finally listening.
Q: This year has been wild for us all! What are some lessons or experiences you are grateful for?
A: Being new to Austin (about two years in) I have been welcomed by the maker community wholeheartedly. I also have been blessed with a boyfriend and his family that have helped take the burden off my shoulders a bit by helping me bake or getting me connected! I am also so grateful to The Front Market because y’all were my first introduction to Austin’s larger markets (and my first-ever market period), and it really gave me the confidence to continue on!