Student’s business sells cookie dough at Norris

Nathan Richards/Daily Senior Staffer

For Real Dough, a student-created business, sells boxes of edible cookie dough in Norris University Center. Communication senior Michelle Schechter came up with the business idea in her industrial engineering entrepreneurship class.

Emily Chin, Reporter

Michelle Schechter remembers the temptation of wanting to eat cookie dough when she was a kid but feeling guilty when she got caught. So she found a solution: eggless cookie dough.

Schechter, a Communication senior, makes raw, eggless cookie dough and sells her products at the Paws ‘n’ Go C-Store in Norris University Center. She calls her business For Real Dough and currently sells packages of three scoops of cookie dough for $3.99.

“I wanted to give back to the University while simultaneously jumpstarting this project,” she said.

The dough is made without eggs, butter or dairy and has a “secret ingredient” that makes it taste like cookie dough, she said. Schechter makes the dough in three flavors: chocolate chip, cookies and cream and peanut butter heath. She said she is working on creating more flavors, and some ideas she has in mind are red velvet, Nutella, chipotle and pumpkin spice latte, she said.

“I love her cookie dough,” said Rachel Tilghman, NU Dining marketing manager. “It’s so good. My favorite is the Oreo one, but I’m also a sucker for the old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie dough.”

Tilghman works with Schechter to figure out the logistics and connect her to the right people for the business.

“Sometimes food service can be a very bogged down, crazy business, and there’s a lot of moving parts,” Tilghman said. “So it’s been my goal to help her and guide her.”

Schechter came up with the idea to create her business through her industrial engineering entrepreneurship class during spring 2014.  As a theater major, Schechter said she didn’t think she would have anything in common with the engineers in her class and was afraid to participate in group projects. However, she found they were more similar than they realized, and they bonded over baking, she said.

“It was really awesome because cross-major collaboration is something that I think doesn’t happen often on this campus,” she said. “We have a lot of passionate, driven people that do one thing and then get a job in that one thing, but it’s really rare that people from varying majors come together to create something unique.”

For the class’ final exam, her group pitched the For Real Dough idea to real investors, prompting Schechter to realize that her project had real potential. For the next few months, she met with University President Morton Schapiro, NU faculty members and NU Dining to make her idea a reality.

“It’s awe-inspiring and eye-opening to see all the hoops she’s had to jump through just to get her dream going,” McCormick junior Ahren Alexander said.

Alexander works with Schechter on marketing For Real Dough. He hopes to learn more about the startup culture, he said.

“I’ve learned how challenging it can be to get people’s attention about anything,” he said. “How can I stand out against all these other ads?”

Alexander will help Schechter put on a grand opening for the company at Norris on Nov. 11. Schechter said by the grand opening, she hopes to have more flavors for students to sample. There will also be several performing groups and a guest appearance by Schapiro.

“A lot’s going to be announced,” Schechter said. “A lot’s going to change.”

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