Tok of the Town: From wins to ‘eff-ups,’ cookie-dough brand Hot Take emphasizes balance on TikTok

We spend more time on TikTok than we’d like to admit, so we’re putting our excessive screen time to use by spotlighting the emerging brands and intriguing trends crossing our FYPs.

TikTok is full of hot takes—usually questionable, often controversial—but there’s one that’s simply sweet (and just a little bit salty).

Hot Take, a frozen, organic take-and-bake cookie-dough brand, has been taking over FYPs as its founders (and sisters), 22-year-old Elise and 27-year-old Gabrielle Brulotte, share the behind-the-scenes of building their two-woman company from scratch, from the “biggest eff-up to date,” which amassed 10 million views, to dough drops selling out in 20 minutes.

The brand began, initially as Gooey, in 2020, when the two realized they couldn’t find a high-quality cookie dough with a taste they liked in stores, so they decided to create their own, initially working some 12-hour days in a Seattle production kitchen to make the cookies.

• The cookie dough is shipped frozen, sold for $35 for a bag of nine large cookies, plus a packet of Maldon salt to sprinkle on top.

They posted their first TikTok in August 2020, but rebranded as Hot Take in 2022 to double down on their mission of promoting dessert as part of a “balanced life.” The brand has accumulated over 58K followers along the way, and now sells anywhere from 600 to 800 bags with dough drops on select Thursdays. And they haven’t spent any money on marketing.

“We wanted to be as real as possible,” Gabrielle said. “And we do notice engagement and some sense of community from other people the more real we are.”

Something sweet o’clock: In a world where influencers are making cookies from cottage cheese and modern dessert products are often vegan or high protein, it “wasn’t trendy” to introduce cookie dough that was just…cookie dough (albeit with organic ingredients and fair-trade chocolate), Gabrielle admitted. But there was a space to fill between healthy alternatives and Nestlé Toll House, which it did with messaging emphasizing how normal cookies can fit into a “full life experience,” she said.

• This messaging largely aligns with Elise’s own food-centric account @eliseseats, which has 243K followers and helps drive eyes (and stomachs) to the Hot Take page.

And that extra attention is helpful, as the drop model “forced us to not put any money into advertising,” and rely on TikTok, Gabrielle noted, but it ended up being “a blessing.” One recent Hot Take dough drop video got 2.2 million views, and while the drop model makes it hard to track how many consumers come from the app, they know it has a “heavy influence,” she noted. Their presence also helps the brand establish credibility, Elise noted, especially as they often slide into creator DMs to gift dough in the hopes they’ll support the brand.

“It’s really helpful for them when they know the brand and can be like, ‘Oh, that’s something I’ve been wanting to try,’” she said. “We get to control what people know about us a little bit.”

Dough something: Aaand speaking of DMs, that’s how they’ve secured some retail placements, too. Hot Take hit all Chicago Foxtrot locations in April by the Brulottes sliding into Foxtrot chairman and co-founder Mike LaVitola’s DMs and asking if they could send him some cookie dough to try. “We’re a little bit shameless,” Elise said.

• The brand was also featured in Pop-Up Grocer’s first permanent location in New York City earlier this year.

As it bootstraps with just the two of them as employees (and Elise only started full-time in May, when she graduated college), Hot Take is still mostly focused on DTC outside of smaller retailers. With new production established in Austin, Texas, the two said they can now focus on potential new flavors, collaborations, pop-ups, and subscription models they previously didn’t have time for, using the constant feedback from TikTok—one of its biggest advantages—to help guide them, Elise said.

Be for real: For brands that are struggling on the TikTok front—yes, it can be daunting, but even if you’re not Gen Z or directly making TikToks for a brand, it’s still important to know what’s happening on the platform, Gabrielle noted. Seeing what you like on the app can determine what can make your brand stand out. And not every video is an overnight success, so resilience is key, Elise said.

“If you do anything enough, you’ll get better at it. People get embarrassed or give up so quick. You have to work at it,” she said.