CASE STUDY 02 · FOUNDER · 2025
Ava’s Elevated Foods
A better-for-you cookie brand, from customer research and unit economics through packaging to a launch that sold out in a day.
FIG. 01 · BROWNED BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP
24
HOURS TO SELL OUT
48–52%
GROSS MARGIN AFTER THE PIVOT
4.7/5
AVERAGE TASTE RATING, OUT OF 5
01 / BRIEF
A venture built through the University of Michigan entrepreneurship practicum, and the only project here where I owned the product as well as the brand. I led a six-person team and made the calls on formulation, pricing and what we could actually afford to sell.
Founder. Brand, packaging, product, unit economics
September 2025 to May 2026
Six people, led by me
Michigan’s $25K cottage food cap
Sold out at launch, 48–52% gross margin
fromavas.com
02 / CONSTRAINT
The category left a gap open at both ends. Indulgent brands leaned on refined sugar and seed oils. Clean-label brands shipped gritty texture and bland flavor, and asked people to feel good about the tradeoff.
That set the bar for every later decision: the formulation, the price, and eventually the format we sold it in.
Ava’s Elevated Foods had to sit where indulgence meets wellness.
03 / INITIAL RESEARCH & CUSTOMER DISCOVERY
Seventy-five primary research participants and more than a hundred taste-test data points, run against pre-defined success metrics rather than collected as impressions. The average taste rating came back at 4.7 out of 5. Then, with people who had just tasted the real cookie in person, I tested whether they would want a dry mix version to bake at home. 83% said they would. So the dry mix had demand behind it before it existed.
FIG. 02 · WHERE THE CATEGORY LEFT A GAP
FIG. 03 · TASTE TESTING, 4.7 / 5
04 / BRAND
The brand had to bring indulgence and wellness together while still feeling premium. Deep chocolate browns in the photography against clean, near-black type give it a baked-at-home warmth that stays elevated, a fresh box from Ava’s that feels personable and nostalgic. The five ingredient principles were written before any packaging existed, and the full ingredient list is printed on the front of the box, not the back.
FIG. 04 · BRAND PRINCIPLES
FIG. 05 · WORDMARK AND PACKAGING
05 / ECONOMICS
I ran the cost of goods analysis expecting to confirm the price. It showed the pre-made cookie was unprofitable per unit at anything people would pay. The product survived by changing format: a dry mix, made at home, with the indulgence intact and the margin restored.
48–52% on the dry mix
49–69% projected
Unprofitable per unit
Michigan $25K cottage food cap
3 years, sequenced against the cap
FIG. 06 · THE DRY MIX, THE FORMAT THE PIVOT PRODUCED
06 / FEED AND SITE
The brand had to hold across sixteen posts and a waitlist site, not just on a box. The feed carries the system: the same wordmark, the same type, the same treatment of ingredients as texture. I worked on the design of the site and brought in a developer to build and ship it.
FIG. 07 · THE FEED, BRAND SYSTEM ACROSS POSTS
FIG. 08 · THE FEED, CONTINUED
FIG. 09 · FROMAVAS.COM, WAITLIST
07 / LAUNCH
A single limited drop rather than an open storefront. The boxes held baked cookies made from the dry mix, not the mix itself, so buyers tasted exactly what the product makes and I got demand and feedback on it before scaling. A waitlist opened first and closed at fifty-five people, and the drop was capped at thirty boxes.
FIG. 10 · SOLD OUT IN 24 HOURS
FIG. 11 · ANN ARBOR LIMITED DROP