Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies, Inc. bales and sells specialty cookies, brownies, pretzels, and other baked goods. The a single store started by the company's founders Deb... Keep Reading

Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies, Inc. bales and sells specialty cookies, brownies, pretzels, and other baked goods. The a single store started by the company's founders Debbi and Randy Fields in 1977, the firm has expanded to over 1,500 stores named Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies, the Great American Cookie Company, the Original Cookie Company, Pretzel Time, Hot Sam and Pretzelmaker. This is one of those rare success stories of an American homemaker and her husband who overcame all odd and numerous obstacles to create an international business. The firm's chocolate chip cookies were so popular that they would become the subject of a modern urban legend in the late 1980s and 1990s.
After Debbie and Randy were married Mrs. Field tried to be a dutiful spouse by hosting visitors and making polite conversation. A painful incident in which she pretended she was a sophisticated person made her decide to do something else with her life. In the book One Smart Cookie, she said "at last I understood that I had to do something that was mine. I gave up in the moment the desire to succeed in other people's eyes and realized that first I had to succeed for myself". She went on to say "I couldn't be Randy's shadow any more, his tagalong. Somehow I would have to change, to become an independent, self-respecting individual able to stand on my own two feet."
Debbi decided to start a business with skills she had acquired as a young girl. From the age of 13 she had backed delicious chocolate chip cookies for her and her family and her friends.
Her husband's business acquaintances loved her cookies, so she asked them about starting a business with her talents baking cookies. All she remembers hearing was "Bad idea" and "Never Work" all the while they were eating the cookies.
She and her husband proved them all wrong. Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies now employs over 4000 people and boasts of sale exceeding $133 million.