Meet the founder who started over at 50 and worked 20-hour days to build a multimillion dollar cookie dough empire—and still won’t take a day off
At 50, most people are thinking about winding down; Kathryn Bricken decided to start again. The Miami-born founder turned a side project—balling cookie dough with an ice-cream scoop in her garage—into Doughlicious, a multi-million-dollar sweet-treat brand that produces more than a million cookie dough and gelato bites every single week.
Her route there was anything but straightforward. Bricken says she was “food-obsessed” long before Doughlicious—cooking with her mum, working the tills at Publix—but spent her early career in corporate America; first as a Legislative Correspondent in Capitol Hill, then in health care policy work with a senator before becoming a lobbyist at the Health Insurance Association of America.
Her taste of entrepreneurship came after falling pregnant with twins, followed by another baby soon after. With three children under 3, Bricken decided she needed a job she could manage while they slept. “Which is how I began making decorative cakes and cookies,” she tells Fortune. “They had to be beautiful but also taste amazing and, of course, be better-for-you.”
“It wasn’t easy. I remember starting catering jobs, making cookies and not going to bed until 4 a.m., only to be up again at 7 a.m. to be a mom.”
When the family relocated to London in 2008, Bricken suddenly realized that Brits had biscuits—not the soft, gooey American-style cookies and cookie dough she grew up with. Without even planning it, she had serendipitously found a gap in the market of her new home.
Bricken did everything herself in the early days. “I’ve worked 20-hour days to make it all happen as we scaled,” she says. Gripping mixing bowls so relentlessly that she destroyed the cartilage in her thumb joint entirely, eventually requiring surgery and a full replacement. Then, in June 2019, she found a lump. Stage 1 breast cancer. A lumpectomy followed, then rounds of radiation—all while continuing to run the company.
“Having a focus such as Doughlicious was a blessing,” she adds. “It kept my mind off the cancer and any pain because I knew I just had so many other things I had to do…. I did not have the time to be sad and dwell on myself.”
She has now been clear for five years. And the company she refused to stop building through surgery, radiation, and recovery has more than rewarded that resilience. Doughlicious is today stocked in thousands of stores, including Tesco, Morrisons, Whole Foods Market, and Ocado across the U.K., and at Target and Whole Foods in the U.S.—with a presence stretching from Australia and France to Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. And the woman who once mixed, balled, packaged, and shipped every order herself now leads a 50-strong team doing it all at a scale.
Fortune’s series, The Good Life, shows how up-and-coming leaders spend their time and money outside of work.
Being in the C-suite is a high-pressure job with long hours, board responsibilities, and intense scrutiny. But what is it like to be a top executive when you’re off the clock? Here’s what she told us.
The Money
What’s been the best investment you’ve ever made?
A 52-year-old Hobart Mixer. It cost me £1,200, but it did the job and had a stronger motor than any of the new ones.
And the worst?
A Chief Marketing Officer that promised a lot and delivered nothing.
What are your living arrangements like: Swanky apartment in the city or suburban sprawling?
City living in London. I love walking the dogs and getting my morning coffee from my local café that also sells Doughlicious. I am lost in suburbia!
What’s in your wallet?
£20, a driving license and 4 credit cards. I have the £20 for emergencies but never use cash.
Do you invest in shares?
I’m currently only investing in Doughlicious. I need to stay focused.
What personal finance advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
Always have health insurance. In the U.S. I let mine lapse for 2 days over a weekend and I got tonsillitis and had to be admitted into the hospital. I left with a $12,000 bill.
What’s the one subscription you can’t live without?
I love Bon Appetit Magazine. I’ve been subscribing to Bon Appétit since 1990. It’s not just about eating, it’s about exploring, experimenting, having fun in the kitchen, and it’s been with me through everything—from my earliest cooking disasters to building Doughlicious.
What’s your most ridiculous ongoing expense?
I joined some social member clubs and I’ve kept them because I love to go dancing when I have some time.
The Routine
How do you get your daily coffee fix?
One coffee a day first thing in the morning while walking the dogs. I love an extra hot latte with whole milk and an extra shot of espresso.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home?
Usually half dine out and half make something at home. Takeout is something that I can’t make easily so we get sushi, pho, or truffle pizza.
How do you unwind from the top job?
I like to unwind by taking the dogs on a walk after work. It gives me time to think about the day while also getting some exercise. I get tired from sitting so it’s good for me to move around after a long day. I wish I had time for proper fitness classes but for now they will need to wait.
What’s your take on work-life balance at the top?
I try to have a work-life balance but it’s super hard. Weekdays are especially hard to disconnect so I try to disconnect at least one of the weekend days. Weekdays I usually start at 6:40 a.m. with emails, walk the dogs with coffee and then get to the office about 8:30 a.m. and then leave the office between 7:30 p..m and 8 p.m.
The Rewards
Are you the proud owner of any tech gadgets?
I love my iphone. I just upgraded from an iPhone 13 to a 17 and I am obsessed with the camera and all its functions.
How do you treat yourself when you get a promotion?
I’m the founder and we are still super scrappy so I don’t give myself a promotion. For me a promotion is the brand awareness growing globally.
How many days annual leave do you take a year?
I rarely take a vacation. We will go away for a week in the summer and I will work early mornings and then take a couple of hours in the afternoon. Being a founder is a 24/7 responsibility.
Take us on holiday with you, where did you go this year?
This year we were in six states in the US for work and then in France and Italy for weekend holidays.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com