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AUGUST 21, 2006
Scones And Social Responsibility Dancing Deer Baking's Karter has a recipe for creating a brand with values Patricia Karter, CEO of Dancing Deer Baking, is used to hearing people rave about her company's all-natural sweets, such as its Cherry Almond Ginger Chew cookies. She also often hears praise for the $8 million company's philanthropy, green packaging, and commitment to its 65 employees and inner-city Boston. All of which makes Karter a bit chagrined. Great-tasting baked goods aside, she thinks every company could be doing what she's doing. "We've created a brand with important values," says the 49-year-old Karter. "But Dancing Deer is not big enough to make an impact, to be a social or economic force. If I hit $50 million in sales, it can be."Karter is determined to expand the company she co-founded in 1994 and to hang on to her principles while doing so. She's already turned Dancing Deer from a startup selling homemade scones into a profitable wholesale, mail-order, and online business. Its cookies, brownies, cakes, and mixes, all packaged in recycled fiber and whimsically illustrated with stick-figure bakers and dancing deer, are found in Whole Foods Market (WFMI ), Williams-Sonoma (WSM ), and Wild Oats Markets (OATS ). Karter still eschews artificial ingredients, and all employees receive stock options as well as free lunches. Some 35% of proceeds from the Sweet Home line of cakes go to help homeless people find housing and jobs through a coalition of Boston nonprofits. And even though the company will soon need more than twice the space of its current 18,000 square-foot quarters, Dancing Deer will stay in low-income Roxbury rather than relocate to the less expensive suburbs. Sticking to her guns hasn't been easy. In the late 1990s, Karter nixed a deal to sell molasses clove cookies to Williams-Sonoma -- which would have doubled sales -- because it would have required her to use preservatives. Her steadfastness impressed the bigger company, which later asked her to make mixes it could sell in its stores. "They are a wonderful company," says Sally Geller, divisional manager of Williams-Sonoma's retail food division. "I have great respect and admiration for Trish and what she has done in providing high-quality products with natural ingredients." Trained as a painter, Karter got her first taste of commerce when she returned home from Wheaton College to help her dad save his recycling business. Later, she worked as a lobbyist for the glass industry, did a stint in Coca-Cola's (KO ) marketing department, and went for a master's degree from the Yale School of Management. She was painting full-time when she met baker Suzanne Lombardi in 1994. Karter loved Lombardi's cakes and cookies, and with her then-husband Ayis Antoniou invested $20,000 to launch Dancing Deer. Sales hit $283,000 in two years and more than doubled the next. In 1999, Karter divorced Antoniou and, with other investors, bought his and Lombardi's shares. "It was a painful, difficult time," says Karter, "and it nearly killed the company." Now, growth is top of mind. To finance it, Karter sold 10% of Dancing Deer in 2005 to Christopher Gabrieli, a managing director of Boston private equity firm Ironwood Capital. To reduce the company's reliance on the holiday rush, she's adding a line of shortbread cookies that have a longer shelf life. Although Karter has had her hand in every facet of the business, from developing recipes to writing quirky packaging slogans, she's recently hired a marketing officer and will bring in someone to oversee e-commerce and operations. "I knew I needed help," she says. "There are 20 opportunities a day to lose your way." And Karter has no intention of letting her company, or her ideals, get lost.  By Stacy Perman Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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