Exploring Life & Business with Laura Shafferman of Legally Addictive Foods

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Shafferman.

Hi Laura, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hi! I’m Laura and I’m the founder of Legally Addictive Foods! I get asked all the time how I started the business and came up with the name so I decided to provide everyone with a cheat sheet and also give people a chance to know a little more about us on a personal level.

My background: I had worked in New York in real estate marketing for about 10 years before I was unexpectedly laid off. Thinking I could quickly find another position, I soon realized there was a non-compete clause in my employee contract. The two new offers I received were rescinded when my request to be released from the clause was denied. Who knew that you could be laid off and be prevented for one year from working in a field you had been in for 10 years? To be clear, I did know about the non-compete but was definitely not aware that it would be applied if I was to be laid off. Because that’s absurd, right? Also, it was not like I quit and ran to a competitor and with top secret real estate files! Thankfully, in 2024 the state of NY has made moves to ban these damaging clauses but at the time, I thought this was really going to destroy my life.

But despite this pesky setback and after a flash moment of wallowing, I didn’t sit still. I decided that I would take this opportunity to turn my life in a different more creative direction, one where I didn’t have to depend on someone else for my own livelihood – or have to ever think about employment contracts again.I needed to make something tangible. While accepting the burn of having the offers rescinded and working about multiple odd jobs, a friend suggested that I sell the “amazing cookies” I often brought to parties at an upcoming Etsy holiday market in Brooklyn. The cookies in question were the ones you know and love. (Maybe you have even made a version of them yourself at home!) So I set off to create a name, packaging and a logo all within 3 weeks.

So that brings the other question I get a lot. How did you come up with the name Legally Addictive? The answer is truly simple. It literally just came to me while I was standing in the hallway of my apartment in the dark trying to think up names. Laura’s Cookies, the only other option that came to me, wasn’t quite as interesting. While this wasn’t an approach vetted by a marketing department, I am quite certain this was the right direction!

After filing for the name’s trademark, I spent the next 8 months learning the food biz and recreating the recipe for shelf-stability. I spent a lot of time selling the cookies (that real estate career came in handy here!) and would make deliveries all over the city by bike, Uber, the subway and foot.

Fast forward through a million other significant and minor events, including a lot of not-so-great moments (because this has not been easy!) but lots of excitement and joy, and our sweet & salty cookies are now carried in over 2000 retailers. We expanded to a 6,800 sqft production space in Weaverville, North Carolina in July ’22. For fun context, our kitchen in NY was under 300 sq ft and our storage was another 400! Our NY office was in a closet made out of concrete blocks. Moving back to NC was a dream come true for me as I had lived in Cary as a child and spent every summer on the Outer Banks since I was a toddler. I loved my 20 years in NYC but had always hoped to return and this opportunity somewhat fell into our laps. We love it here!

This is not the end of our story but I hope it helps you know there are people behind these incredible cookies. Our entire kitchen team, my co-founder husband who joined me 2 years in, our Irish Sales Manager Tim who came in as an intern when the pandemic started and couldn’t get back to Ireland (that’s a story I’ll let him tell) and our fantastic incredible NC team all play such a huge part of what we do every day in making the most delicious treat you could possibly eat. Thanks for being here and being part of it all!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Oh, it has definitely not been a smooth road and there are roadblocks almost every single day. Since we make our own product, there have been numerous challenges in scaling as no one else is making this product commercially and there was no blueprint for it. Figuring that out along the way has been really satisfying and there is so much room for change. The entire process is constantly evolving.

Additionally, we have never raised outside capital. It’s all been bootstrapped and funded with a few strategic loans. Not having outside capital in our early stages gave us the opportunity to grow sustainably at the pace that matched our ability to produce and really build our brand. But not having it has also slowed our growth, we recognize and left us stretched too thin at points. Once you hit a certain point in growth, there are some truly painful stages where you have to white-knuckle it a bit.

There have been many micro challenges with distributors and manufacturing equipment but we have the best customers who make up for it. After Helene, they were all incredibly supportive when our production was delayed in the holiday season!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Legally Addictive Foods is a small woman-owned and founded business in WNC making sweet & salty cookies made from crackers, salted toffee, chocolate and sea salt.

The original recipe is a variation of something I made with my mom growing up and as an adult, I discovered that no one was selling them in the market. I also discovered that a lot of other people made them at home or had a relative who made it which gave people a flavor sense of nostalgia when they tried it. So I took it upon myself to make a shelf stable version with better ingredients than the homemade but with the same made-at-home taste. These were not on the market at all and I couldn’t believe it as they are as ubiquitous as chocolate chip cookies, according to Pinterest.

We decided what would set us apart, aside from the obvious that we were selling something no one else was, would be our colorful packaging. When we came out with it in 2018, society was still deep in the throes of Millennial pink and muted tones. So we decided to go in the exact opposite direction and and be vibrant, bright, saturated and loud. We hired a branding agency that worked with fashion and music instead of food. And it worked! It’s an incredible asset for us. Now we see many brands doing the same thing and we are proud we pioneered this change.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We would love for everyone in NC to try our cookies. A limited variety are available in stores all over the state including all Whole Foods and Fresh Market locations. We work with numerous independent retailers all over the state, too! If there is a store you would like to see us in, please contact us and we will try and make it happen.

But mostly, we would love to be a part of your holiday gifting this year. We have 3 new products and 2 returning seasonal best sellers arriving soon. They can all be found on our website: https://legallyaddictivefoods.com/

Contact Info:

• Website: https://legallyaddictivefoods.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legallyaddictivefoods/