Exploring Life & Business with Andrew McCook of The Blue Ox Bakery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew McCook.

Hi Andrew, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I have been cooking and baking since I was able to reach the stove and help my mother. I developed a love for food but learning to create it for other people quickly became my passion. I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I would sell homemade cookies and fudge at yard sales as a young child. I ran a bakery business out of my middle school cafeteria. I took any classes I could in High school to learn more and found myself at Johnson & Wales University in RI where my knowledge really had a chance to develop and my future take shape.

I started a small seasonal cookie business back up in NH during all of this called McCookies that I ran every summer for 14 years before moving down here. It now carries on and flourishes under the guidance of my sister Sarah McCook. I also had the pleasure of going on Netflix’s Sugar Rush with my sister (season 2 episode 3) where we took home the grand prize! After gaining as much experience as I could in various bakeries and restaurants I decided I was ready to work for myself and share my passion directly with the world.

I’ve started out as small as you can get but have seen a lot of support and growth this year and am very excited to see where the future takes me!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Moving down to the Raleigh area only a year before starting up The Blue Ox Bakery, I came without any connections. I have had to start everything from scratch here and have luckily been able surround myself with very supportive people.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Blue Ox Bakery?
The Blue Ox Bakery is a small pop up bakery specializing in breakfast pastries and afternoon desserts. We work on everything from croissants, cinnamon buns, and donuts to cookies, brownies and coffee cakes. We focus on flavor first, and try to create a unique experience through our food. For example we sell a “Death by Chocolate Croissant” that has a chocolate dough, laminated with chocolate infused butter, and filled with local dark chocolate from Vidiri to really drive home the flavor, and give you something you might not have experienced before.

I am most proud of how my brand has grown so quickly this year. We started out very small with almost no brand recognition and now we have loyal followers and people seeking us out. We are hoping to continue to grow and move towards having a brick and mortar very soon!

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory was learning to make the many different christmas cookies with my mom that we would then gift to our friends and family. It’s a big part of why I love baking so much today.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/theblueoxbakery
• Facebook: facebook.com/theblueoxbakery