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SEVIERVILLE, TN – To celebrate its 40th anniversary as a brand, Classic Cookie® is hosting a cookie festival for East Tennessee community members and Smoky Mountain visitors on April 27 in downtown Sevierville, TN. Admission to the event is free. For more event details, check out the following sections below. When Will The Cookie Festival Take Place? Classic Cookie's festival will take place at the following time: Saturday, April 27, 2024, from 1:00-5:00 PM EST. The weather in the area has historically been great for the last three years with average temperatures of 59 degrees, 0 inches of precipitation, and 9.5 mile-per-hour winds. This will make the festival a great excuse for you to get out of the house, walk the dog, and have something fun to entertain your kids. Where Will The Cookie Festival Take Place? Classic Cookie's festival will take place in the following areas: Historic Downtown Sevierville - Bruce Street & Gazebo Area 136 Bruce Street, Sevierville, TN 37862 Historic Downtown Sevierville is one of the first areas travelers pass through on their way to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and the Smoky Mountain National Park. With its iconic courthouse, Dolly Parton statue, Red's Cafe mural, and Sevier County History Museum, Sevierville's downtown area is a beautiful place. Classic Cookie® has worked closely with the Sevierville Commons Association to prepare guests for the downtown experience at the event. "Downtown offers an array of options, including a variety of great food, some beautiful public artwork and photo ops, and multiple historic locations so that those visiting can get to know us— and what makes Sevierville so special—better," Ashley Davis, Executive Director of the Commons Association, said. As you come to the cookie festival, you can enjoy beautiful sights plus a host of local dining establishments within walking distance. Some of these food options include Trotter's BBQ (Smoky Mountain-inspired barbecue), Graze Burgers (Sevierville's best burger), Pinchey's Lobster & Beer (fresh New England seafood in the Smokies), The Appalachian (Smoky Mountain-inspired fine dining), and The Pines (pizza, wings, and more!). Discover all the wonderful amenities Downtown Sevierville can offer when you come to the cookie festival. Who is Invited to Classic Cookie's Festival? Classic Cookie's festival admission is FREE to the public. Free parking is also available around the downtown area and in adjoining lots. Specific groups like families, community members, visiting tourists, foodies, bakers, and even dogs are all welcome at the event. The festival will have something for everyone. Families: Many tasty treats and fun activities at the event will be kid-friendly. (see the full list in this section: What Activities Will Take Place at Classic Cookie's Festival?). Community Members: Locals will enjoy various cultural activities at the event including activities involving Sevierville students. Through the festival's charitable partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Sevier County, community members can also help local children through event cookie purchases. (See more about the partnership here) Tourists Visiting: Travelers going through town can check out Smoky Mountain-based businesses while enjoying the scenic views of Historic Downtown Sevierville. Foodies: A wide variety of foods will be available from local vendors including fun creations with Classic Cookie® snacks (see full list in this section: What Tasty Treats Will Be Available at the Festival?). Bakers: Multiple baking competitions will be held at the event for any baker to show off their craft. Check out all the competitions here: Cookie Recipe Baking Competition & Birthday Cake Gallery. Dogs: Enjoy walking your dog while you snack on cookies in the beautiful late April weather of the Smoky Mountains. The festival is dog-friendly with a specific dog cookie vendor, walkable paths, and even a dog cookie outfit competition. No matter who you are or where you come from, you will find a lot of fun and entertainment at this cookie festival. What Tasty Treats Will Be Available at the Festival? At the festival, you can get regular cookies and cookie-themed treats from local vendors. Check out which vendors will have treats available below. Classic Cookie® - Soft and Crispy Cookies Classic Cookie® will have all soft-baked, crispy mini, and snack-sized pre-baked cookies available for sale. The brand will also have a limited supply of their fundraising program frozen cookie dough available to purchase. When you buy any Classic Cookie® snack at the event, you will be supporting a local charitable organization. Classic Cookie® is donating 20% of all festival cookie sales to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Sevier County. The library ships books to children across Sevier County to help them learn reading skills. Classic Cookie® is grateful for the opportunity to give back to this group with your festival cookie purchases. Other than cookies, vendors will sell cookie-themed desserts to celebrate Classic Cookie's 40th birthday. Cruze Farm - Soft-serve ice cream with cookie crumbles Mayfield Dairy - Chocolate and regular milk samples Sweet Cheeks - Funnel cakes with cookie crumbles Smoky Mountain School of Cooking - Fudge infused with cookies Southern Sips - Cookie-themed soda Tina's Delights - Cookie-themed cupcakes, bread, and cake pops Mountain Cakes & Sweets - Chocolate-covered cookies Cinnabon - Cream cheese frosted warm cookies Wildflour Bakehouse - Donuts with cookies Cafe Lomez - Cookie-themed cheesecake bites And more! Your sweet tooth should be excited for the wide range of cookie desserts available at the event. What Activities Will Take Place At Classic Cookie's Festival? While enjoying all the sweet treats available, you will also have the opportunity to experience many different activities the festival will provide. Check out the full list of activities below. Cookie Recipe Baking Competition Presented by Smoky Mountain School of Cooking Bakers in the area are invited to compete in the Classic Cookie Festival's Cookie Recipe Baking Competition presented by Smoky Mountain School of Cooking. Cookies entered into the competition can be any type and will be judged by professional judges and a limited number of festival guests. Each cookie will also be displayed at the festival for all guests. Interested in entering your recipe into the competition? Check out all the rules and register here*: https://www.classiccookie.com/classic-cookie-festival-cookie-recipe-competition *Cookies entered will only need to have their ingredients listed to keep judges and festival guests safe from allergens. No proprietary information should or will be included to keep trade secrets safe for each recipe owner. Birthday Cake Gallery Presented by Walters State Maples Institute for Culinary Arts Bakers and cake decorators in the area are invited to compete in the Classic Cookie Festival's Birthday Cake Gallery presented by Walters State Maples Institute for Culinary Arts. A birthday celebration would not be complete without some birthday cakes. Decorative cakes themed after Classic Cookie's 40th anniversary will be displayed for all festival guests. Walters State Community College's Sevier County campus offers a cake decorating course for local students. As part of the festival competition, Winter Semester students for the cake decorating course will submit a cake as their final project. Interested in entering a cake into this competition? Check out all the rules and register here: https://www.classiccookie.com/classic-cookie-festival-birthday-cake-competition Classic Car Cruise In Along with the various baking competitions, Classic Cookie's festival will also feature a Classic Car Cruise-In. The Smoky Mountains are a premier destination for classic car owners to show off their vehicles. Owners who wish to display their cars to festival guests can reserve a prime parking spot. Each car owner who registers for a free spot will receive a prize bag. Interested in bringing your classic car to the cookie festival? Check out all the rules and register here: https://www.classiccookie.com/classic-cookie-festival-car-cruise-in Cookie Outfit Competitions Presented by Tanger Sevierville All festival guests (including dogs) are welcome to participate in this fun cookie outfit competition presented by Tanger Sevierville. The best-dressed individuals and dogs with cookie-themed outfits will win various prizes. If you wish to participate, show up at the Tanger tent at the allotted time and be prepared to show your outfit to the festival crowd. Other Activities The Classic Cookie Annual Cookie Festival will also have many other activities for you to enjoy including the following: Cookie Drawing at the Painting Around trailer Shopping with local vendors Smoky Mountain Knife Works - Knives and kitchen gadgets June Bug - Dog cookies Violet Kingdom Boutique - Cookie apparel Theresa's Cooking Utensils - Handmade baking equipment Light in the Cove - Cookie candles Scrunchies For a Cause - Cookie scrunchies Balloons Galore - Balloon animals And more! Face painting at Wanderlust Salon & Spa storefront Pitch-throwing games in the Tennessee Smokies area Cookie scavenger hunt at The Appy Lodge & The Lodge at Five Oaks tent Festival hair at Wanderlust Salon & Spa storefront Meet and greets at Three Bears General Store tent Cookie walk at the Sevierville Commons Association tent Axe throwing with Til Ragnarok Cookie personality test at the Lodge Cast Iron tent Music with Hard Rock Cafe - Pigeon Forge Guessing truck game with Ober Mountain With all the activity options, your family will have a sweet and memorable time. If you love sweet treats, Classic Cookie's Annual Cookie Festival in Downtown Sevierville, TN is the event you need to attend. From cookie-themed vendors to various baking activities, this food festival is one that you should not miss. Come out and enjoy cookies with Classic Cookie® on April 27! Classic Cookie is a family-owned snack brand made in Sevierville, TN. Since 1984, the brand has made excellent soft and crispy cookies that customers across the world enjoy. Made with real ingredients, Classic Cookie snacks are the best way to enjoy a sweet treat. Classic Cookie snacks are sold in convenience stores, grocery stores, vending machines, and other retail locations. Media Contact Carson Whitlock Classic Cookie Marketing Carsonwhitlock@classiccookie.com 865-507-5929 Are you too hungry to wait for the festival to get some cookies? Check out some sweet cookie snacks that can be shipped straight to your door: Soft Baked Cookies Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

You're stuck. Your rugby season is coming up, and the team has laid out the costs for jerseys, equipment, tournaments, travel, and other participation fees. To reduce individual out-of-pocket payments, the coach is looking for ways you raise money as a team. You can't think of anything. Certainly, you don't want to just ask people for money without providing some value in return. If you are a parent, you also want your child to learn skills and feel invested by doing something to raise money. What is a good fundraising idea that you can suggest your team use? Here are some unique and traditional fundraising ideas you can use for your youth and adult rugby team to raise more money. (Skip to a section) Youth Rugby Team Fundraising Ideas Adult Rugby Team Fundraising Ideas *For more tips on how to maximize any fundraiser you do, check out our FREE planning guide here: Max My Fundraiser Plan Youth Rugby Team Fundraising Ideas If you have a child who is trying to raise money for their rugby team, or the team has asked you to head their fundraising efforts, check out these ideas below that you could use. Unique Idea #1 - Milk and Cookies Delivery Recently, the cookie delivery industry has exploded across America. Running a milk and cookies delivery fundraiser for your rugby team is a unique way to raise money and capitalize on the popular consumer trend. Like any fundraiser, this idea requires careful planning, organization, and execution. Here are some things to consider to help you run a successful milk and cookie delivery fundraiser for your rugby team. Creating a Cookie Menu When creating a menu, you want to make sure you have good products that people will enjoy and spend higher amounts of money on. Picking up the cheapest cookie box at the store will not cut it. You can get premade high-quality cookie dough that you or your kids can bake, buy ingredients yourself and use a beloved recipe, buy pre-baked cookies to use, or ask for product donations from a local bakery that does not typically deliver in the area. For milk, you can either get gallons from the store and package it in cups with lids or get donations from a local dairy in your area. Whatever your team decides to do, be sure that your cookies are priced appropriately to cover costs and make a profit. Some customers may even tip you at delivery to donate more funds. As long as you have a good menu that customers like, your rugby team will be successful. *Interested in some high-quality premade cookie dough you can bake with - fill out this fundraising form for more details: Classic Cookie Fundraising Form Defining Your Delivery Area When defining the cookie delivery area, you have to consider factors like safety, time, and distance. Are there areas you do not want your kids delivering to due to safety concerns? How much time would it take to get from one customer to the next? Will the distance traveled require any special equipment, like an iced cooler, to make sure the product does not spoil? These are questions you should consider when defining your area. (For reference, most restaurants will only deliver within a five-mile radius if they have personal delivery drivers instead of third-party app contractors.) Determining the Delivery Process The delivery process is crucial to ensure high customer satisfaction during the fundraiser. The process should include some of the team members making the deliveries with parents, setting a time for customers on when they should expect their cookies to be delivered, making sure you have enough vehicles to deliver the products, figuring out how the products will be packaged and presented to the customers, and deciding how much time after baking the cookies, if you are using these instead of buying pre-baked cookies, you will deliver. Once you figure out the logistics, your team will be ready to promote the cookie fundraiser. Designing the milk and cookie delivery is a simple process. Once you do it, your team is ready to execute and raise money. Traditional Idea #1 - Selling Cookie Boxes Selling food products is still a strong fundraiser, especially when your team sells cookie boxes. When considering this fundraiser, you should think about the following elements. Type of Cookies to Sell Before you start selling, your rugby team needs to figure out what cookies you should sell. Many companies have great cookie and cookie dough fundraising products, but you must decide which products will sell the best and cause you the least amount of handling issues. Typically, you should consider the following when looking at different cookie products: Shelf-life Product storage requirements (frozen, room temperature, etc.) Product quality Original shipping destination of the product (ex: if you are in the southeastern United States, should you be getting a product that is shipping from the West Coast?) Product marketability Pre-Selling or Not? Before ordering cookie boxes, many organizations will offer pre-sales to friends, family, and community members. They will typically provide order forms that allow people to choose the number of boxes they want to purchase, the type of cookies they prefer, and any special instructions or requests. Pre-selling allows organizations to gauge interest and collect orders in advance which helps to determine how many cookies to order and how much money they can expect to raise. If your rugby team decides not to do any pre-selling, you will have to have the product on hand to give to customers when they make an order and provide payment. Order Fulfillment Once all pre-sales have been collected, the organization will place an order with the cookie supplier or manufacturer. Depending on the size of the order, the cookies may be shipped directly to the organization or they may be delivered in batches over several weeks. Once you get your shipment, you must determine the easiest and quickest way to get orders to your customers and how your rugby players will be involved. If you are not pre-selling, you will have to order cookies beforehand. Make sure you have a space to hold inventory while the team is out selling. Selling cookie boxes can be an effective way to raise money for your rugby team. As you consider what type of cookies the team sells, whether the team will do pre-sales or not, and how the team will fulfill orders, your fundraiser can be very successful. *If you are interested in selling Classic Cookie's shelf-stable, pre-baked cookie boxes, click here to check out their full catalog of flavors: Soft-Baked Cookies and Crispy Cookies. Unique Idea #2 - Yard Work Yardwork is a great way to make money for your rugby team. Kids do this as an easy way to earn money in the summer, so why not do it as a fundraiser? All you need is some tools, one or a few weekend days set aside to service the yards, and commitments from neighbors, family, and friends for their yards to be worked on. Some of the services you can consider offering include: Lawn Mowing This can include mowing, edging, and trimming the lawn to keep it neat and tidy. Gardening Offer to help with gardening tasks such as weeding, planting, and watering. This service is especially in demand during the spring and summer months. Leaf Removal During the fall months, offer to rake, bag, and dispose of leaves. Snow Removal During the winter months, offer to shovel driveways and sidewalks. You can also use a snowblower to clear larger areas. Tree Trimming & Pruning Offer to remove dead branches, shape trees, and prune bushes and shrubs. Gutter Cleaning This can be a messy and time-consuming task, so many homeowners are willing to pay for someone else to do it for them. Make sure that the team members who help are safe and will not fall due to an accident. Power Washing Offer to clean driveways, sidewalks, and outdoor furniture with a power washer. By offering these yard work services, you can earn money for your rugby team while also helping people in your community with their outdoor maintenance needs. Traditional Idea #2 - Restaurant Give-Back Night Restaurant give-back nights are an easy way to earn money for your rugby team. Most local restaurants are always looking to get new customers in for a meal. If you show them that you are going to promote their restaurant, and they agree to give you a percentage back for every person that you bring in who buys a meal, you have a good fundraiser. To make this fundraiser work, you need to consider the following elements. Promoting the Give-Back Night As you think about the give-back night, you need to decide how to promote the event. Restaurants generally agree to give about 10% per meal on give-back nights and will push to have the fundraiser on a slower night (usually non-weekend days). With that in mind, what do you need to do to ensure that people attend? You can use flyers, social media posts, posters, text message threads, and other means to spread the word. The more people you have come, the higher your chances are in getting a lot of money back. Getting Fundraising Credit For Your Rugby Team Restaurants who agree to do a give-back night will need some sort of proof for their cashier or waitress that the meal purchased will count towards your fundraiser. How will you make sure the people who come to support your team will credit the fundraiser at checkout? Some ways to make sure the restaurant credits meals to your fundraiser include having guests show the fundraiser flyer when they check out, telling the waiting staff their meal is part of the give-back night, or having coupons that guests can give restaurant staff. As long as the process is easy for you, the guests, and the restaurant, you should be good to go. Choosing the Restaurant Choosing the restaurant is critical in making sure you maximize your fundraising opportunity. While engaging with local restaurants is good, you may also consider working with chain restaurants that more people may be familiar with. Here is a list of chain restaurants that have a history of doing fundraising nights with local organizations. Chipotle Panera Bread California Pizza Kitchen Jersey Mike's Subs Chick-fil-A Restaurant give-back nights are an easy way to support your rugby team. As you choose the right eatery, determine how your fundraiser gets credit, and promote the night, you will find this idea can bring in some great cash. Unique Idea #3 - Selling Water Selling water at strategic locations and events is a great way to raise money for your rugby team. Everyone has to drink water to survive, so your potential customer base is limitless! Water bottles have a great profit margin of about 70-80% if you sell the bottles for $1.00. They are very inexpensive to buy and only need something to keep them cold. In order to maximize the money your team raises, you have to sell water when it is hot outside. If you can find places that have limited access to fresh, clean water that will allow you to sell water in warmer weather, your chances of making more money increase. Some of the places to consider selling water include: Sporting Tournaments/Events Selling water at local sporting events is a great way to reach a large audience of potential customers. Consider setting up a booth or stand at local youth sports tournaments, high school or college games, or other community sports events. Make sure to check with event organizers beforehand to obtain any necessary permits or permissions. Community Festivals & Fairs Community festivals and fairs are another excellent location to sell water at. Look for local events that draw large crowds, such as county fairs, music festivals, or outdoor markets. Consider partnering with other local organizations to share booth space and increase visibility. Local Parks & Beaches Selling water at local parks and beaches can also be a profitable opportunity for your rugby team. Look for high-traffic areas where people are likely to be active and in need of hydration. You can either sell water directly from a stand or cooler or consider partnering with local vendors to provide water to their customers. Outside Graduation Ceremonies While people wait in line for outdoor graduation ceremonies, you can sell water to them so they stay hydrated. A basketball team in California did this during a high school graduation and made $500-700 in one night from people waiting to be seated at the football stadium for their child's ceremony. Selling water at strategic locations and events will help raise more money for your rugby team. As you consider selling at sporting events, community festivals, local parks, beaches, and outdoor graduation ceremonies, you can make some good money to cover your team's expenses. Traditional Idea #3 - Local Business Sponsorship Business sponsorship has been a tried-and-true method of raising money for rugby teams for years. Even though it is not flashy or unique, the idea will still work for your team. Businesses will pay your team for the right to have their brand advertised on team assets. These assets can include team jerseys, banners at your rugby field, rugby balls, team backpacks, team social media, or other assets where their brand can be visible. To get started, all you need to do is have your team talk to various local businesses or people they know who own or work for a local business. This should get your foot in the door to bring in some additional cash. Business sponsorships are a tested method that can work well in raising money for your youth rugby team. Adult Rugby Team Fundraising Ideas If you have been put in charge of fundraising for your rugby club, check out these ideas you could use to quickly raise money. Unique Idea #1 - Food Truck Party Having a food truck party is a great way to fundraise for your rugby team. This idea is just like doing a restaurant give-back night except that you are bringing food to the people instead of trying to bring people to the food. Food trucks are always trying to find great spots where they can maximize their nightly profits. If you can convince them to come to a location where you can guarantee sales for a small percentage back to your club, food truck owners would be very happy to cooperate. All you have to do is make sure you get enough people to come and purchase from the truck during the allotted time to ensure you make a good amount of money. Here are some things to consider when you are hosting a food truck party fundraiser for your rugby team. Where Will The Party Be Hosted? To maximize this fundraiser, you need to decide where you should host the food truck party. You have several options where you can have a truck, but you must make sure it is an easy place for your rugby team and supporters to get a meal. A few options include the field where your team plays or practices, a neighborhood where a team member lives, or the parking lot of a team sponsor's business. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but no matter the location, you need to make sure you have permission from the property owner to host a food truck. How Will You Get People to Come Out and Buy Food? How you will get the most amount of people to come out and get a meal from the truck is crucial to ensure you can get a food truck. No truck will come out if you have 10-20 people show up. For a viable night, most trucks need at least 50 people to make a meal purchase. Just like the restaurant give-back night fundraiser, you need to encourage your team members to invite their friends, family, and other acquaintances to come get a meal. You can make a physical or digital flyer for team members to hand out. If you are hosting the party in a neighborhood, see if the neighborhood has a community social media page or public announcement board that other residents can see to come and support. How Many Trucks Will You Have? Depending on how many guests are coming, you need to determine how many trucks you want to invite. Most parties can be managed with one food truck, but if you have more than 150 people who are going to show up, you might consider inviting multiple trucks. People want to have a good experience supporting your team. If someone has to stand in line for 30 minutes and then wait another 30 minutes for their food, they might skip out on ordering and just socialize with the people there. More trucks eliminate this issue. Space is another big factor. If you have a lot of people planning on coming, do you have the space to have multiple trucks at your location? All-in-all, most fundraising parties like this will be fine with just one food truck. By considering these options, you can set up a successful food truck party that can attract enough people to raise money for your rugby team. Traditional Idea #1 - Car Wash Like local business sponsorships, your rugby team putting together a car wash is a classic fundraising idea that different organizations have used to make money for decades. This tried-and-true fundraising activity is a cheap way to bring in more money for your rugby team. To maximize your efforts, consider the following elements while planning the event. Car Wash Location Location is key for your car wash fundraiser to be successful. If you can find a public place near a busy road, you can attract a lot of general passersby to stop and use your service. If you are not able to do this, your car wash can still be successful, but you will have to sell tickets to many of your family and friends. This can require more work to make sure you get enough money for the fundraiser. Car Wash Supplies After choosing a location, you will need to figure out the required supplies for the car wash. Most of your supplies can come from what team members already own, but you may have to go out to get soap, buckets, and other things to effectively wash and dry vehicles. Organize Your Volunteer Stations You will need to organize your rugby team members into different stations to get cars in and out of your car wash. You will need to divide up who will be washing, who will be checking in cars, who will be taking cash, and who will be drying vehicles. Car washes are an easy and classic fundraising activity that will bring your rugby team more money. As you figure out what location, supplies, and stations for the event, your car wash can bring the team a lot of money. Unique Idea #2 - Holiday Grams Holiday grams are a fun and unique way to raise money for your rugby club. A holiday gram is a gift someone buys to have delivered to a loved one. Usually, these grams come with a special delivery method that customers pay for. These can be effective during certain holiday seasons (Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc.) when people are looking to give unique gifts to loved ones. Holiday grams can be done in a few ways that work best for your team. Consider some of the options below that your rugby club could provide. Make sure that whatever option you choose, you are only making deliveries to safe and reliable geographic areas. Santa Deliveries This holiday gram includes the legendary Santa Claus. Customers will pay for Santa to deliver a small gift to their loved ones in your area. All you will need is a Santa costume and small gifts to fulfill this holiday gram service. If you get multiple Santa costumes, you can have multiple team members making deliveries on the same night to reach more people. Singing Telegrams For this holiday gram, your rugby team will be singing a selection of songs or one song to the gram's recipient. This is a cost-effective option because all you have to do is get your rugby team together to sing songs for people. You need to make sure though that there is some time to practice before you deliver these singing telegrams. Cupid Valentine's Day Delivery This holiday gram is sure to bring some humor to recipients. For this option, you can deliver a box of chocolates, a rose, or any kind of Valentine's Day treat while in a Cupid outfit to gram recipients. This can make for a very memorable holiday gram that recipients will love. All you have to do is get your rugby team dressed and ready to make deliveries. Holiday grams are a fun and cost-effective way to raise more money for your rugby team. As long as you create a safe delivery area and organize your team members, this fundraising event will be very successful. Traditional Idea #2 - Group Nights at Professional Sporting Events Hosting a group night at a professional sporting event is a great fundraiser for your rugby team. This type of fundraiser is simple: work with a professional sports team to buy a bulk amount of tickets at a discounted rate and then sell them to your supporters. This allows your club to keep the remaining profit. Most sports teams have a fundraising option that a ticketing representative can help you explore. Sometimes, ticket reps will just give you a customer discount code instead of buying a bulk pack. At the end of the match, they will look at who has purchased the tickets through the code and give you the profits that were agreed upon. There are countless types of sports teams you can get a group to go and watch. Both major and minor league teams can work with fundraising groups on ticketing. Types of sporting events include football, rugby, basketball, baseball, soccer, and hockey games. You may even find sports like car racing, tennis, volleyball, softball, lacrosse, cricket, and others who would be willing to do a ticket fundraiser with your group. All-in-all, hosting a group night at a sporting event is a fun way to raise money for your club. Unique Idea #3 - Talent Show A talent show can be an exciting fundraiser for your rugby team. While they come together to play rugby, your team's players have other talents and interests outside of the sport. A talent show is a great way to showcase these talents that will engage your supporters and raise money. While planning for a talent show, you must consider the following elements to ensure that it succeeds. Talent Show Venue A venue for your talent show must be figured out first. Depending on your goals and expected crowd, you may be able to host a talent show in someone's backyard, a church stage, a brewery, or a civic amphitheater. As long as you have the proper permits and reservations, you can host a talent show just about anywhere where a crowd can hear and see your performers. When considering a venue, you need to think about the audio-visual capabilities of each venue. Some venues have great audio-visual equipment that is already set up and can be used. Some may require you to bring your own equipment to set up. Be sure to ask the venue managers about their equipment capabilities, so that your show does not suffer from unnecessary surprises. Talent Show Acts After securing a venue, you need to finalize the show's entertainment. Your rugby team's players should be the first source of talent. Even though they are the first people you should sign up, they do not have to be the only ones who participate. Do you have family or friends with unique talents who would be comfortable performing? Are there other members of the community who would be willing to come and share their talents to support the team? Answering these questions can broaden your participant pool. Talent Show Tickets Determining your ticketing is a crucial part of making your talent show successful. For instance, you need to determine whether you will have an entry fee to the show or not. This can work for venues where you can control traffic flow (civic center gyms, theaters, etc.), but will not work in more public venues like a brewery or outdoor amphitheater. Once you determine your entry price, you need to figure out if there is anything else you can add to the tickets that will entice people to come or spend more money. Some of these elements include swag, snacks, dinner, etc. People love food, so including some sort of option with your tickets can entice more people to attend. Food can be included in the ticket or you can have a concessions stand where you sell snacks during the show. Whatever you do, make sure you have the resources to pull it off. Hosting a talent show is a unique and great fundraiser for your rugby team. As you figure out the show's venue, acts, and ticketing, your event will be successful. Traditional Idea #3 - Benefit Dinner Like the other traditional ideas on this list, benefit dinners have been a common fundraising event for many years. People love food and will pay for a meal if it supports your rugby club. Hosting a fundraising dinner requires a few things to make sure it provides good value to customers. What Food Will Be Served? What food will you serve at the fundraising dinner? Your choice of a menu could make or break your event from bringing in good money for your team. How Will Your Food Be Made? How will you and your team make the food to be served at the dinner? Your team can either make the food yourselves from purchased ingredients or have the meal donated by a local restaurant. You can even mix these options with an entree being made by the team and a local restaurant donating appetizers and sides. How Will Your Food Be Served? How will the dinner be served for the fundraiser? Some fundraising dinners have one night where people gather at a venue and are served a meal while others do multiple nights and deliver dinners to customers. Decide what would be the best for your rugby team based on the resources you have. Dinners are a simple way to make money for your rugby team as long as you thoughtfully plan the food that will be served, who will make the food, and how the food will be served. Your Rugby Team Fundraising Can Succeed Whether a youth or adult rugby team, you can succeed in your fundraising efforts through unique and traditional ideas. Youth rugby teams can set up a milk and cookies delivery service, sell cookie boxes, perform yard work, promote a restaurant give-back night, sell water, and form local business partnerships to raise money. Adult rugby teams can host a food truck party, start a car wash, provide a holiday gram service, coordinate a group night at a professional sporting event, put on a talent show, and make a benefit dinner to raise money. Whatever your rugby team decides to do, as long as you plan, have fun, and provide value to supporters, your fundraiser will be a success. Is all this fundraising talk making you hungry? Check out some sweet cookie snacks to curb your hunger: Soft Baked Cookies Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

Craving a podcast that is as delightful as a freshly baked cookie? Tough Cookies is the podcast for you. Friends Cam and Zach take listeners on a delectable audio adventure where they review various new cookie snacks they find. They also insert their takes on various topics at the beginning of the show before their cookie review. Cookies they have reviewed include products from Trader Joe's, Feastables, Nutella, Circus Animals, Pepperidge Farms, and more. In August 2023, the duo tried some of Classic Cookie's soft-baked and crispy cookie snacks for the first time. Check out their thoughts below. Finding Peanut Butter Crispy Mini Cookies- August 2023 Recently, the two friends found Classic Cookie's peanut butter made with Reese's® peanut butter chips crispy mini bags at a local store. They brought the packaged cookie bags back to their studio for a review in Episode 91. In the episode, Cam and Zach discuss how the Wiggles are one of the top earners among Australian entertainers, secrets to teeth, and different airplane hacks. After this discussion, they opened up the crispy peanut butter cookie bag and started to share their thoughts: "Today, we've got crispy and Classic Cookie's delicious and mini peanut butter...made with Reese's®...made with real cane sugar, made with real butter, naturally flavored with pure vanilla extract." "We got them at Gabe's...it's like a Reese's® brand, well it's made with Reese's®." [Takes a crispy mini cookie] "It's cookie classic. It's Classic Cookie brand. I wonder if...if I could like source this to like a...manufactured by Mannon Specialty Foods in Sevierville, TN?!" "HUH?!" "Wait a minute..." "Hold up. Are these good cookies?" "The Reese's® trademark and trade dress...I knew that. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I don't know. I don't know. Let me get up in this." "It's called Classic Cookies?" "It's called Classic Cookie - it's the name of the thing." "Let's see. (Takes another cookie bite) Classic Cookie. Mmmmm - these are pretty good." "Mmm pretty good." "How much is this bag? Let's see - oh! Do you recognize that? I feel like you recognize that." "I mean, I look at 100 cookies a week. I don't, I don't know." "Mmmmm - what did we pay for that?" "Probably like $3." "There's not a sticker on it with a price that says like 'Gabe's'?" "Umm not that I can see. I bet it was on the shelf that it was on." [Takes more cookies out of the bag] "These aren't bad." "These are not bad. These are...pretty good!" "Mmmhmm." "These are like, we haven't done like 'cookies' in a while." "Yeah." "These are like 'COOKIES.'" "These are...it's like a bag of small cookies, very crispy...it's a fine bag. I don't know what else you want." "...We talk about the container situation all the time, and this is a poor one because the ones on the bottom get crumbly dumbly." "And there's no resealability. You just have to eat the whole bag." [Mouth full] "Which is not a problem with these bad boys." "You're not wrong." "These are good." "I do, however, take issue with one thing." "Okay - I think I know what it's going to be. Is it that?" "Uh...two things. Everyone, I just shook a cookie over the trash can and to get all the crumbs off." "If you wanted to salt your dinner you could shake these cookies over them. Not with salt, but with cookie sugar." "Mmmhmm." [Takes another bite] "These are peanut butter cookies with Reese's® peanut butter chips in them." "Are they?" "Mmhmm." "So they are...I'm not against that at all." "I feel like these would benefit from chocolate chips." [Mouth full] "You see, I gotta disagree with you there, buddy. I think that would be a hat on a hat." "They're very Nutter Butter." "Yeah - these know exactly what they are. They're peanut buttery...they're sweet and peanut buttery and delicious and that's that." "Really crumbly." "Yeah they're really crumbly, but...they're not chocolate cookies. They're good cookies that are not chocolate cookies and that is a really great thing for me." "Yeah - I'll give them credit for that." "Yeah. They feel protein...there are probably a lot of protein in these because they're peanut butter and peanut butter has protein. I bet they are good for you." "Let's see." "Serving size?" "I'm going to guess two." "One...once ounce...there are seven servings in a container." "Wait, it gives you the serving size in ounces?" "Yeah. They give it to you in ounces because they know [the cookies] are going to be destroyed. Wait, does it say how many are in the bag I wonder. Per ser...no...huh. Yeah I don't know." "What's the ounceage of the bag?" "Okay - serving size one ounce. Net weight seven ounces. Yeah, there's seven ounces in a bag. But, I don't know how many cookies are in a bag." "There's no way - a seventh of a bag." "Every day, you can have a seventh of this bag for a week. You can make piles." "Now hold up...oh boy...I'm on classiccookie.com." "Ok - what do you got?" "There's a section called Content Creators." "Oooooooo." "'Do you like reviewing or making fun social media content around snacks?'" "Oh yeah we do!" "Check out more details below...Well I guess I'm applying for the New Product Club." [Fills out New Product Club Application with some more banter] "Now that we've finished that, we can give an honest review of these cookies. It's pretty good." "It's pretty good." "They're pretty good cookies." "I may have gone a little strong there with the, 'If these are minis...'" "Yeah - what's a regular one?" "Yeah, I mean these are like the perfect size exactly where I want them to be." [More banter back and forth before giving a final score on the cookies] "Awesome. So a seven?" "I was going to give them an eight." "Nice!" "I was really going to give them an eight. These are good...I would've liked chocolate chips and probably would've bumped it to a nine." "I was going to give them a seven." "I like them." "I like them too though a lot, so maybe a seven and a half?" "You're saying seven, but there's not many cookies left in that bag." "Maybe eight...these are great. These are really good maybe eight. I think eight might be better." "Yeah - I think I'm going to land on an eight." "Eight is true with what my heart and soul says." Listen to the full Tough Cookies podcast episode 91 on any one of these streaming links Apple Podcasts Spotify Pandora Amazon Music Podcast Addict Reviewing Soft-Baked Cookies- August 2023 After enjoying their packaged crispy peanut butter cookies, Zach and Cam received a package of six Classic Cookie soft-baked flavors including, chocolate chip made with Hershey's® mini kisses, peanut butter made with Reese's® peanut butter chips, Cinnabon®, oatmeal crème made with Hershey's® white chips, oatmeal raisin, and macadamia nut made with Hershey's® white chips. They tasted all these packaged cookies and gave an honest review in Episode 92. After talking about a variety of other topics spanning from tacos, grilled cheese, aliens, a $1 sponsor, and other items, the two friends shared their thoughts on the soft baked cookies: "I just want to get this out there up front. [Classic Cookie], you might have given us these cookies, but we're going to be..." "Brutally honest." "Brutally honest." "We're honest guys. Anyway..." [After some more banter back and forth] "We have a box." "We are going to be brutally honest with this review though. I really want to stress..." "We are going to do our normal review style with you." "Listen, listen Classic Cookie - love the brand. If you sent us stinkers, oh boy...we're going to tell people they're stinkers" "So let's talk about the box - this is a cardboard box with UPS Ground on it. "Kind of an odd choice for cookies to come in a UPS box." "...But I like it. It's new and interesting. It's exciting. [Laughs] ...Obviously, the cookies were sent to us in like a UPS-style box. We haven't opened the box yet." "Heck yeah." [Opens box] "...WOAH...Woah." "We got cookies in this bad boy." "Woah." "Okay." "Okay." "...We haven't done this yet." "We haven't opened this yet." "This is new on the show." "We've got...we've got 'soooo sweet and buttery' double chocolate made with Hershey's® eight 3oz jumbo cookies individually wrapped Classic Cookie variety pack." "Woah. Wow" "It says on the box it says, double chocolate made with Hershey's® but on the top it's got a sticker that says 'variety pack' - oh, it's a variety." "Do you think our friend [from Classic Cookie] packed this up for us?" "Probably not." "But, maybe?" "He had the elves do it." "The elves, well, I don't know if they are elves - they could be like woodland nymphs." "Get out of here." "...We've got the Classic Cookie variety pack. Beautiful. Full of cookies. This box does say 'oatmeal raisin' on the front." "Yep." "I've got to say. Soooo, we all know how you feel about oatmeal raisin." "I'm not a fan. I mean like I don't hate oatmeal raisin. There are just better cookies than oatmeal raisin." "There are better cookies, and some people like oatmeal raisin. Listen, I'm not an oatmeal raisin guy. If I wanted fruits in my cookies than I'd get a jaffa cake." "Yeah. Exactly. I'm trying to find who this guy is." [They start pulling out cookies] "...Classic Cookie chocolate chip made with mini Hershey's® kisses. We've got Classic Cookie macadamia nut Hershey's® white chips. Oooo I love a macadamia nut cookie." "Manny the Master Baker. That's his name." "Oh, that's the guy [on the packaging]?" "That's the guy - Manny the Master Baker." "That's not an elf - that's a man." "He's a man." "That's a man. That's Manny the man." "That's how you know." "His name's not Elfy." "There's Manny the man." "The box drawing is a lot clearer than that one like side of a bag that we looked at." "This is a big ol box. Corpo sent us this box." "Yeah - big corpo sent us this." [Pulling out more cookies from the box] "We've got oatmeal crème. We've got oatmeal raisin, your favorite." "I just think there are better cookies." "We've got peanut butter made with Reese's®. We've been through this." "Yeah" "We've been through this. Old news. Woah. Cinnabon®. Baked with Cinnabon® cinnamon and cream cheese chips." "I think they sent us two of all of them." "Ohhhhhhh." "Because you're a person. I'm a person." "We're both people." "And normally, most people don't share their foods like you and I do." "Well, that was a cool trend we did. Then we got sick." "We gotta blast through these cookies." "Well, we can skip the Reese's® ones because we've done that." "That's true - we did those." "Those got like an eight [rating]. They were pretty good." "Those were good." "Yeah. Alright." "Let's start with oatmeal raisin." "Yeah let's start with oatmeal raisin..." "...because I'm sure they'll be okay maybe good, but they're not gonna be...they're not...they're oatmeal raisin cookies I mean..." "It's hard to do the packaging because we've been given these by corpo." "Yeah." "Big corpo sent us this, so...they're soft and chewy which is interesting because...soft and yummy...which is interesting because it's so hard to do that well." "Yeah." "Mmmhmm." "Give it a bite." [Takes a bite out of the cookie] "I think they nailed it. Soft and, soft and yummy?" "Listen, listen we gotta find something to say they're bad." "Why?" "Because people are going to think we're sellouts." "Oh, we're selling out, but here's the thing - they're not salty like most soft and yummy cookies are salty. These are just good." "Yeah, that's a problem is they are not salty." "No that's not a problem. That's a good thing." "I know. I know, but people are going to say we're sellouts." "We're not sellouts." "Do I have to eat this whole cookie?!" "No!" "I had so much." "We're gonna have to eat four cookies!" "I've had so much food." [They grab a new cookie] "This is the oatmeal crème made with Hershey's® premier white chocolate." "Wait, do we gotta, do we do a number between each of these?" "Sure." "Okay." "Well, what was the oatmeal, what do you think, hmmm...I've got a number for oatmeal raisin." "Okay. Ummm. I gotta think. Ok, I got a number...Oatmeal raisin from Classic Cookie. They're Classic Cookie. I love this guy." "Okay." "Is that what we called the episode, the last one? Good." "Yeah." "Good, good, good, good." "That one is a 6.5" "I gave that a 4." "Really?" "I don't like oatmeal raisin. I don't want my cookie to be healthy." "I think that's better than a Chips Ahoy, because the texture is great." "Texture's good, but if I was at a party, and I saw a really good oatmeal raisin and a Chips Ahoy, I still think I'd go Chips Ahoy." "But if I had that and I had a Chips Ahoy, I would go back for that." "Don't try to put, listen." "I'm just saying..." "Don't put shriveled grapes in my cookies. Put cookies in my cookies. I'm going 4. I'm going with my gut. My gut said 4." "Okay." "That's where the cookie is." "I said 6.5...Oatmeal crème." "Oatmeal crème." [Both take a bite out of their cookie] "If we don't give the oatmeal raisin a 4, people aren't going to buy the Reese's® one because it's an 8." "I gave it a 6.5." [Continue to chew] "This one's better." "This one's better." "This one's a lot better." "It's better, but only because it has chocolate where the raisins were." "I, what, hold on - let me see that." "I almost handed you the cookie, but you have one." [Continues to chew] "Yeah, this is better." "Yeah. Alright, I got a number, do you got a number?" "Yep - I got a number." "Alright, what's your number?" "7." "7 for me." "Yeah." "That one's a 7. Good job, Classic Cookie, you got a 7." "Oatmeal, still not convinced oatmeal's the cookie medium of choice, but the cream part of it is pretty good." [Both grab the next cookie] "This one is a...I didn't read the back." "Macadamia Nut!" "Ah!" Both: "I love a MACADAMIA NUT!" "Here's a problem: is this one also oatmeal? No. I can't, I can't...the oatmeal is lost on me." "You're all oatmeal." "I'm all, I'm 100% oatmeal." "Hmm. Mmmm." "I'm all oatmeal all the time." "Hmm. I'm so full of food." [Both continue chewing] "Okay. You know what, I tasted both and I get the oatmeal." "Let me jump back into the oatmeal here." "I understand where the oatmeal is and how it's existing." [Both continue to chew] "You get it now?" "Yep." "Yeah." "Yep. Yep. Yep." "I got a number." "I got a number." "8" "6" "Really? Worse?" "Little heavy on the white chocolate chips." "Never a fault." "Certainly not bad." "Not a fault. No. Too many chocolates? Not a fault. We're saving chocolate chip for last." "Oh yeah, that's the classic cookie." [Both pull out the next cookie] "Cinnabon® bakery inspired baked with Cinnabon® cinnamon and cream cheese chips." "I. AM. EX. CITE. ED." "This one's got cheese in it. Just like our..." "You could've taken that out with your teeth, huh?" "This one's hard to open." "Landed on your teeth teeth." "I've got three cookies and my fingers are covered in sweat." "Wow, wow, you..you opened that in such an insane way. I don't know how you did that." "I opened it up like Tarzan." "Alright, here we've got Classic Cookie Cinnabon® bakery inspired baked with Cinnabon® cinnamon and cream cheese chips. I feel like this one is going to be a winner." "Hard to miss - I'm going to say it now...hard to miss with Cinnabon®. But, but hot hot..." "Hochi machi" "Hochi. Hot chocolate this one's good." [Both chew on their cookie] "Wow. This one's really good." "That's a home run of a cookie." "That's a GOOD cookie. Holy crap. Why...I mean Classic Cookie, I got a sincere question: Why would you ever make a different cookie than this one? This one is so good!" "...Woah." "It's really sweet." "It's really sweet. We're splitting half a cookie each - thank you for sending us two [Classic Cookie friend]." "Yeah. You probably didn't know that we were going to eat dinner and another dinner and then cookies..." "I did have dinner pie, another dinner, and now I'm having cookies." "This is your second dessert." "And these are also not small cookies." "Yeah - these are hefty boys." "I don't know what the pricing is on these because obviously as everyone knows, corpo sent them to us." "Yeah." "But..." [Both continue to take bites and talk] "Ok, so, Cameron is finishing up his whatever one." "This one I might down the rest of, because this Cinnabon® one is good." "What's your number, my man?" "It's an 8.5" "I'm going to go an 8 I think it's pretty even with Macadamia Nut for me." "The, the...I think it's better than the Reese's® one from last step." "And to be honest, it's been a minute, but I'm sure we...there were some..." "You can have some, they're in there." "Nah, I think 2.5 giant cookies is enough for me tonight." "This is a bomb cookie." "Yeah it's good." "It's chewy, but not...in fact it's like bordering beyond cookie. It's so chewy." "Oh, I thought you meant it's like 'not meat.' Like it's beyond cookie - beyond meat." "Yeah, I don't think there's meat in any of these. I hope there isn't. Classic Cookie, if there's meat, in any of the cookies, you gotta tell people." [After some more banter, they pull out the final cookie] "This is chocolate chip...chocolate chip, the cookie itself, seems to have suffered some sort of travel error." "Yeah - it had a cookie goof. But I mean, it's sugar and flour and chocolate." "It's smaller and thicker than the rest, but it probably just got squished in the box." "Yeah." "It's chocolate chip..." "This is chocolate chip made with mini Hershey's® kisses. A lot of these have like brand collabs..." "...I'm going to dive into this bad boy." [Both take a bite out of the cookie] "I gotta take. I gotta take on this." "What's your take? Take on me. Take me on." "You know the weird salt?" "Mmmhmm." "It's starting to sneak in. I think it's because chocolate chips are a little bit salty, and whatever they are putting in their dough to not make it salty is unbalanced by the chocolate chips. Chocolate chip soft cookies are like a little bit salty. Maybe that means when we get soft and chewy cookies, we should get not chocolate chip, we should get like peanut butter." "Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting it. This is a little closer to like this is what I would expect..." "A soft baked cookie." "...a soft baked cookie store bought cookie to taste like. It's not bad, and I do like the mini Hershey's® kisses. Big ol' chunky chocos that's what is in this guy." "Yeah, they're thick." "I'm pretty into. I will say the texture of these cookies - it's good." "Yeah. It's real good." "If you're a soft cookie person..." "This is fresh out of the oven texture." "Yeah - it's not like mushy, but it is chewy...which probably doesn't make a lot of sense to people who haven't eaten a cookie every two weeks for the last 92 weeks." "No - 184 weeks." "Oh, 184 weeks! Which is understandable, I get that. But also, this cookie is a...6." "6 was my number too. You'd think chocolate chip would be like the peak of this roster...it is not. Cinnabon® is the peak of the roster." "Woah...it's insane because it's like it's unmistakably the Cinnabon® one...we're getting back into the Cinnabon® one." "Yeah." "I mean, it's, okay...it's a chocolate chip cookie." "Yeah." "It's a chocolate chip cookie." "Of course." "It's not bad, I gave it a 6. It's fine. It's good." "Of course." "This Cinnabon® one though..." "Yeah." "It is like gone beyond just a cookie. It feels like its own thing. It's cinnamony. It's got the cream cheese stuff." "Yeah - it's bananas." "It might have bananas in it." [They banter back and forth more] "There's water, and oil and milk and cocoa butter and iron and stuff like that..." "...It's got nonfat dry milk." "Nice. What's a shame is that the serving size is one cookie and not two-and-a-half cookies, because that's what we've had." "So, something else, listen - we're going dive into the company here a little bit." "Okay." "One thing I like about this..." "Yeah." "'Manufactured by Mannon Specialty Foods, Inc. Sevierville, TN.'" "Yeah." "It's so easy to just get your like cookies from like...these are cookies from a cookie factory from in like cookie country, and bring them in...'the company is headquartered in Severville,' blah blah blah. No, getting these cookies right from Sevierville huh?" "They didn't ship very far..." "...This Cinnabon® one is really good." "Yeah." "There are a couple, I think the lowest [rated] one is a 6." "No, you had a 4 for oatmeal raisin." "That's a personal thing. The cookie itself was fine. It's just oatmeal raisin. C'mon guys. Don't, listen, nobody needs to buy an oatmeal raisin cookie." "Because if you are eating an oatmeal raisin cookie, you might as well be eating a salad." "If you are eating an oatmeal raisin cookie, it's like the same thing as having a raw cucumber...it's good for you." "It's good for you - is that what it was?" "Yeah. Yeah." "Okay, it's good for you." "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." "If you are going an oatmeal raisin cookie, seriously, okay, seriously, if you are having an oatmeal raisin cookie, just have oatmeal with raisins in it. You're going to feel better." "This is not a flaw of the Classic Cookie company. This is a flaw of the invention of the oatmeal raisin cookie." "No, no, this is, listen. Any cookie company that makes an oatmeal raisin cookie, it's just money on the table - you could be making more of these Cinnabon® cookies. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." "Do you think there's someone out there who is like I am crazy for oatmeal raisin?" "Grandmas?" "So far, what we know of these bad boys is that they make six types of cookies, and one of them is oatmeal raisin." "They make at least seven because I see double chocolate Hershey's® there on the side of the box..." [More banter between the two on the Classic Cookie box] "...This is the box that goes like in the shelf.." "In the fridge..." "...at the grocery store and you go and pick yourself out one of these cookies." "...and you go and grab one..." [More banter on the box] "...It's a smart box. It's smart packaging - one cookie per paper thing." "Yeah, if you are going to sell big cookies as like a...cookie snack, that's a pretty smooth move. I like how the box is itself." "It's good." "I don't know what the average was for all of these because we did 50,000 cookies..." "I'm going to give Classic Cookie, out of all the brands we've worked with..." "Best brand we've ever worked with." "Best brand we've worked with." "I can say that right now." Listen to the full Tough Cookies podcast episode 92 on any one of these streaming links Apple Podcasts Spotify Pandora Amazon Music Podcast Addict __________________________________________________________________________________ Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

Whether in the break room at work, at the airport, or on the street, vending machines have a unique place in our lives. These 13 videos give some of the funniest looks at vending machine life. Check them out below. #1 - Never Use a Broken Vending Machine Always follow the sign - it will tell you how to save your money. 😅 Video by Brandons Randoms #2 - Vending Machine Stop at the Grocery Store Amyy definitely knows the steps when you don't have any cash and want something from the vending machine: check the coin slot, check under the machine, and check your pockets again. Sometimes, money just appears out of nowhere. Video by Amyy Woahh #3 - Eating Your Own Product? Jaime Ibanez may be one of the most popular vending machine business influencers, but sometimes, he forgets he is on camera while sharing his tips. 😂 Video by Jaime Ibanez For tips on starting a vending machine business, check out our interview with Jaime here: Jaime Ibanez's 6 Tips For Starting a Vending Machine Business in 2023 #4 - True Devastation? When two soft-baked chocolate chip made with Hershey's® mini kisses cookies drop in the vending machine, your luck is at an all-time high. Video by Classic Cookie on TikTok #5 - Drink Machine Fake Out This drink machine was on its way to delivering that energy drink until it thought it would be funny to psych out the customer. Video by The_Tonz #6 - Vending Machine With an Attitude This vending machine is RUTHLESS and a scam artist. Video by Juliestory #7 - Impatiently Waiting For the Snack To Fall When you only have five minutes for a break, every second counts on getting your soft-baked double chocolate made with Hershey's® cookie. Video by Classic Cookie on YouTube #8 - Vending Machines Are For All Living Creatures Vending machines don't care about who is buying their products - they only care that the right amount of money is inserted. 💴 Video by Oblitum #9 - Visting a Fresh Pizza Vending Machine No time to waste when you first hear that a warm pizza vending machine is in your neighborhood. Video by Puerto Rican Flags Up #10 - Vending Machine That Wants to See You Sweat This snack vending machine wants to see you agonize a little bit before it releases your double chocolate cookie. 😅 Video by Classic Cookie on YouTube #11 - How Much Money Did This New Vending Machine Make? The ups and downs of the vending machine business ride on how much product sells. When the product sells, life is good. When the product does not sell... Video by Pristine Vending #12 - Never Skip Leg Day 🦵 Leg day, meet the gym's vending machine. Video by Daniel Chin #13 - Why Packaged Cookies Are Perfect Packaged cookies just work better in vending machines 💪 Video by Classic Cookie on TikTok Which video was your favorite? Tell us in the comments below. Do you want to skip the vending machine experience to get soft or crispy cookies? Click here to check out your options: Soft Baked & Crispy Cookies Do you need some new cookie options in the vending machines that you own? Click here to fill out a wholesale application to get cookies shipped to your door: Classic Cookie Wholesale Application Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

Did you know that Alzheimer's disease is the sixth-leading cause of death for adults in the United States? (CDC) Every year, more and more adults suffer from this heartbreaking disease. In Classic Cookie's hometown of Sevierville, TN, the disease is prevalent among the adult population. To help find a cure, Classic Cookie teamed up with the local Alzheimer's Association chapter to raise awareness during the organization's Paint the Town Purple August kickoff event. Paint the Town Purple Week - August 2023 What is Paint the Town Purple? To kick off the fundraising season, the local Knoxville Alzheimer's Association coordinated a Paint the Town Purple event. This event included businesses decorating their storefronts and creating purple-themed products to raise money and awareness about the disease. Other activities also were added around the area to engage the community. "This event aims to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s education, support, and research," Sara Dickson, Development Manager of the Knoxville & Tri-Cities Area for the Alzheimer's Association Tennessee Chapter, told Classic Cookie. "We want to #ENDALZ and to do so, we have to jump into the fight. That is why this week is so important. That is why partnerships with local businesses, such as Classic Cookie, can really expand our outreach in Knoxville and surrounding counties. Their efforts have an invaluable impact on connecting people to our Association and the resources we provide. It is through these partnerships, that businesses can utilize our resources to provide for their employees and families." Paint the Town Purple Week starts every year during the first week of August. This year's event took place from July 31 - August 5, 2023. What Activities Took Place During Paint the Town Purple Week? For Paint the Town Purple, many businesses and groups hosted fun purple promotions and activities to engage the larger community. (Listed below) Classic Cookie Classic Cookie committed to giving 15% of all online oatmeal raisin soft-baked cookie sales back to the Alzheimer's Association during August. This is the third year in a row that Classic Cookie has raised funds with their purple-packaged cookies. On top of giving back a portion of sales, Classic Cookie also donated cookies to various local businesses to help in their fundraising efforts. Cruze Farm Cruze Farm, the #1 ice cream in Tennessee, committed to giving back proceeds from purple sprinkle sales at their downtown Knoxville location during Paint the Town Purple. They also gave back 100% of their Classic Cookie oatmeal raisin sales to the Alzheimer's Association. Henley Street Bridge The Henley Street pedestrian bridge in downtown Knoxville lit up with purple lighting each night to show the city's support for Paint the Town Purple. This walking bridge is famous for connecting visitors to the World's Fair Park over the busiest street in the city. Home Instead Home Instead's Knoxville office hosted a few different events during Paint the Town Purple. The first event was a purple-themed baking competition. From mini bundt cakes to crinkle cookies, the competition featured many great dishes. The second event was a purple craft day where visitors could come and create a purple craft with a donation to the Alzheimer's Association. Living in East Tennessee Living in East Tennessee provided a fun segment with the Alzheimer's Association to promote all the wonderful things happening during the Paint the Town Purple event. Nourish Knoxville Farmer's Market Booth The Alzheimer's Association was allowed to set up on Saturday during Nourish Knoxville's downtown farmer's market to spread more awareness. Shoppers could get free prizes and cookies for stopping by the purple booth. Other Activities UT Medical Center - front entrance illuminated purple all week Merchants of Beer - give back proceeds from Berry Margarita drink sales Magpies Bakery - give back a percentage of proceeds from purple cupcake sales Pelican SnoBalls - give back proceeds from purple Forget-Me-Not flavor Women's Basketball Hall of Fame - promotional purple table The Donut Shop - give back proceeds from purple donut sales GROW Salon - give back proceeds from purple fairy hair sales Kendra Scott - give back a percentage of proceeds from store sales Buttermilk Pie Sky - give back a percentage of proceeds from Triple Berry Pie (all of August) Orange Hat Brewery - give back a percentage of proceeds from purple beer (all of August) Ham'N Goodys - give back a percentage of proceeds from purple cookies Smart Toys and Book - give back proceeds from purple pinwheels sales Cherokee Health Systems - 10 Ways to Love Your Brain handouts for patients Hi-Wire Brewing - give back a percentage of proceeds from flagship pours Random Acts of Flowers - delivering purple flower arrangements to select Memory Care facilities Fanatic Brewing Company - give back a percentage of proceeds from each beer purchase Nirvana Comics - throw a water balloon at the owner for every $10 donation and give back a percentage of proceeds from store sales How Was Paint the Town Purple's Impact on the Alzheimer's Association? With all the added activities, Paint the Town Purple 2023 was the biggest week in the event's history. "During last week's Paint the Town Purple campaign, I was incredibly humbled by the outpouring of support from area businesses, families, and individuals that joined together to help fight for Alzheimer’s first survivor," Dickson shared. "So many shared their story and why this cause is important to them. What I love most about the Paint the Town Purple campaign, is that through the involvement of businesses, people can visually see that there are so many navigating this disease and they do not have to do it alone. Too many have been directly affected and lost loved ones along the way." The Alzheimer's Association is now focused on taking the momentum from Paint the Town Purple and using it to prepare teams for their Walk to End Alzheimer's event in late September at Zoo Knoxville. From this, the organization will continue to fund disease research to help find a cure for those who have been affected. More information on Walk to End Alzheimer's (Knoxville): https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2023/TN-Tennessee?pg=entry&fr_id=16948 Continue to support the cause today by ordering your Oatmeal Raisin cookies: www.classiccookie.com #RespecttheRaisin #EndALZ __________________________________________________________________________________ Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

On Monday, June 26, Buc-ee's gas stations opened the largest convenience store in the world. Where did they do it? Classic Cookie's hometown of Sevierville, TN. Why is this such a big deal? What is Buc-ee's? Buc-ee's is a gas station and convenience store chain that started in Texas. In 1982, two years before Classic Cookie opened for business, Buc-ee's opened its first convenience store in Lake Jackson, TX with its now iconic beaver mascot. For nearly 40 years, the brand only opened locations in Texas. In 2019, Buc-ee's opened its first location outside of the Lone Star state. Alabama received the first location on the road that leads to the popular tourist destination, Pensacola, FL. From there, Buc-ee's began opening more stores in states like Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Currently, there are 46 locations with more coming. Why would a 46-store gas station chain be so popular and have a cult-like following? Buc-ee's is unique in the sense that it takes after the Texas mantra, "Everything is bigger in Texas." Most of Buc-ee's locations have tens of thousands of square feet of retail space for customers to shop. Compared to the average convenience store only having about 2500 square feet, this is a massive difference. Buc-ee's also has a multitude of gas pumps with some stations having more than 80 pumps for customers to fuel up with. The bathrooms are also large. Another reason Buc-ee's is unique is that it has many elements that other convenience stores do not. Buc-ee's has a beef jerky bar, brisket and pulled pork hot sandwich bar (with meat cutting board in plain sight), fresh fudge-making station, roasted nuts machines, outdoor gear section, and home decor section. They even have signs they sell to customers as they walk into the bathrooms. Buc-ee's Sevierville, Tennessee Location While all locations are unique compared to other convenience stores, Buc-ee's Sevierville station is special. This location is 45% larger than any other Buc-ee's place with 74,000 square feet of retail space and 120 gas pumps. This makes it the largest convenience store in the world. To celebrate this achievement, hundreds of people showed up at 6:00 AM on opening day to be the first customers in the Sevierville location. See the crowd in the video below. Buc-ee's & Classic Cookie One of the best parts about Buc-ee's is the snacks they sell. From their own branded treats to other sweets, Buc-ee's has something for everyone. One of the treats they carry is Classic Cookie. Made in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Sevierville, Classic Cookie's soft-baked jumbo packaged cookies are a perfect grab-and-go treat for any traveler. At the Sevierville Buc-ee's, Classic Cookie has six flavors available for customers: Chocolate Chip made with Hershey's® Mini Kisses Peanut Butter made with Reese's® Peanut Butter Chips Cinnabon® Cookie Snickerdoodle Cookies n' Crème made with Hershey's® White Chips Double Chocolate made with Hershey's® Travelers can find these cookies across from the Icee Machine in the back corner near the drink coolers. Best Stop On The Way to The Smoky Mountains For all travelers going to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg, TN, Buc-ee's is a great place to stop to fuel up your car and your body. From treats like Classic Cookie snacks and beaver nuggets to clean restrooms and cheap gas, Buc-ee's largest convenience store has something for everyone. Do you have a unique cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your machine featured. Are you a convenience store owner looking for more grab-and-go options? Fill out a Wholesale Application to get started with Classic Cookie.

This past weekend, coffee lovers from around the world gathered in Louisville for the annual Coffee Fest. The highly anticipated coffee festival and trade show attracted coffee shop owners, roasters, and enthusiasts nationwide. One of the best aspects of this year's festival is the beloved sweet snack accompaniment to coffee: a soft-baked Classic Cookie. For the first time, Classic Cookie exhibited at the show and had a great time. Here is what happened when they attended. What Good Are Packaged Classic Cookies In Coffee Shops? Cookies have long been a staple product sold in coffee shops. These sweet treats have been cherished for their ability to perfectly complement a cup of coffee, creating a delightful and satisfying combination. With their popularity among customers, Classic Cookie snacks have taken off as great sellers in coffee shops. 1. Success From Other Coffee Shops Classic Cookie snacks have started to become very popular among coffee shop owners. Before attending Coffee Fest, Classic Cookie was encouraged to attend with the success of their cookies in some coffee businesses around the United States. Classic Cookie has received positive feedback from coffee shop owners who started selling the product in early 2023. Over 80% of coffee shops that have placed wholesale orders with Classic Cookie have reordered. Some stores are selling 5-6 cookies each day. Some of these stores include the following: Everyday Works - Dallas, TX Everyday Works has seen Classic Cookie's soft-baked products succeed in the retail area of their coffee shop. The retail space flanks customers on each side while they stand in line to order. Elixir Express - South Bend, WA Elixir Express uses Classic Cookie snacks on their mobile coffee cart. Due to space constraints, weather conditions, and not being able to bake on the cart, Elixir puts the cookies in baskets and hangs them for customers to grab when they checkout. Make Good Coffee Co. - San Diego, CA Similar to Everyday Works, Make Good Coffee Co. has a retail section of their coffee shop where they sell soft-baked Classic Cookie snacks. The retail-ready cookie boxes are easy for them to tear off the perforated cardboard and set on their shelves. Door 204 Coffee - Watford City, ND Door 204 is very successful with its Classic Cookie sales. Using three countertop caddy displays, the coffee shop sells its cookies at checkout as a great grab-and-go option for customers. With the success of cookie sales at these shops and others, Classic Cookie was convinced to attend Coffee Fest to try and reach more shops. 2. Success Among Coffee Fest Attendees Classic Cookie attended the Coffee Fest in Louisville to interact with more coffee shop owners. Only four hours from their factory in Sevierville, TN, the brand quickly became a hit among show attendees. Many prospective coffee shop owners were interested in the cookies. The snacks do not require them to buy an oven or source ingredients to bake homemade cookies. This saves owners time and money so they can focus on other aspects of their business. For current coffee shop owners, they loved the cookies as a great grab-and-go option for their expanding retail presence. All-in-all, attendees were pleasantly surprised by how tasty the soft-baked and crispy mini cookies were. They loved the co-branded packaging and were amazed by the long shelf-life of the snacks. The high interest in the cookies helped Classic Cookie open up several new wholesale accounts. The flavors these new customers loved the most were: Cinnabon® 3oz Soft-Baked Peanut Butter made with Reese's® Peanut Butter Chips 3oz Soft Baked Peanut Butter made with Reese's® Peanut Butter Chips 2.7oz Crispy Mini Cookie Bag Candy Brownie Round made with Hershey's® Chocolate Chips 3oz Soft Baked The new wholesale customers are excited to sell the product to their customers. What Else Happened at the Show? While Classic Cookie engaged coffee shop owners at their exhibitor booth, Coffee Fest had other programs going on to teach and entertain trainees: the Latte Art World Championships, cupping and roasting demonstrations, and educational panels at the Conversation Corner. 1. Latte Art World Championships The Latte Art World Championship competition was an exciting part of Coffee Fest. The 64-competitor, bracket-style, sudden-death format features head-to-head competition as "a match" between the competitors. The competitor receiving the highest score from the three judges advanced to the next round, eliminating the loser. Competitors produce one free-pour drink for the judges (no etching, tool, powders, etc. - just milk and espresso), which is then scored against the competitor at the facing machine. (Coffee Fest Louisville) This year's winner was Matty Bolchi, a barista who had won previous competitions in New York City and Seattle. This was his 20th competition in 10 years and his 5th championship. Mitchell Gibson and Lane Tanaka followed him as the 2nd and 3rd place finalists. (Full Louisville Bracket) 2. Cupping & Roasting Demonstrations The cupping and roasting demonstrations are a great part of Coffee Fest. This area showed attendees how their baristas can make their coffee cups clean, sweet, and acidic. The demos also displayed how to get coffee cups to have a great aftertaste and feel in the mouth. 3. Conversation Corner The Conversation Corner is part of Coffee Fest's education program. In this area, new and experienced coffee shop owners, workers, and leaders gather together to discuss topics important to current business trends. Some of the topics at Louisville's show included: Bar Design: Principles For Success by Chris Deferio (Owner/Founder of Keys to the Shop Consulting): Session Description: Everyone loves a beautiful bar. That is until they have to work on one that was improperly designed. Then we curse the architect and all involved for creating such a beautiful monster. With the rise of social media and the increased ability to see what others are doing in their shops, we tend to emphasize aesthetics and forget about function. This leads to needless staff and customer frustration that ends up negatively impacting your bottom line. In this session, Chris will be covering design principles that take into account a coffee shop's menu, workflow, ergonomics, and more. These insights will help owners create a bar that baristas love to work on, is intuitive for customers, and yes, looks good too. (Coffee Fest Louisville) Food For Thought: Panel Discussion on Food Menu Development Panelists: Joe Dininger (Heine Bros Coffee), LaChrista McArthur (The Barista Coalition & Hello Love Coffee), LaToya Cook-Bradley (Brew & Sip Coffee Bar), Nathan Quillo (Quills Coffee) Session Description: Know how to make a great espresso, but not sure what sort of food your cafe should serve? An expert in latte art, but confused about what types of pastries are on trend this year? Join this panel discussion on menu development for your cafe or coffee shop, and hear from a range of business owners and consultants skilled in creating menus that customers love. (Coffee Fest Louisville) Specialty Coffee Success No Matter the Size of Your City with Justin Shepherd (Spencer's Coffee) Session Description: Justin Shepherd is the owner of Spencer’s Coffee, which operates three distinct locations in the midsize college town of Bowling Green, Ky. A disaffected journalist, Justin acquired the business in 2005 at the age of 24, growing it from a fledgling coffee shop into a regional staple with a workforce of more than 60 and annual revenues upward of $3 million. Through his transitions from barista to manager to CEO, he has made every conceivable mistake but come out the other side stronger and wiser, and is thoroughly convinced that great cafes can have an outsized impact in their communities. (Coffee Fest Louisville) Another Great Show Coffee Fest Louisville 2023 was a success for Classic Cookie. From talking with various coffee shop owners to learning more about the industry as a whole, the cookie team was grateful for the chance to attend. Would you like cookies with your next coffee? Check out our soft and crispy packaged cookies that are the perfect companion to your cup of joe: Soft Baked Cookies & Crispy Mini Cookies Do you have a unique cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your machine featured. Are you a coffee shop owner looking for more grab-and-go options? Fill out a Wholesale Application to get started with Classic Cookie.

Whether it's late night shifts, crazy customers, or tasty snacks, convenience store life is very unique. These 15 TikTok videos give some of the funniest looks at gas station culture. Check them out below. #1 - Gas Station Customer When you're making too much money that you don't carry any $1 bills. #2 - More Gas Station Customers Customers always seem to be in the rush when they are on the road. #3 - A New Car We knew people had different ways of saying potato, tomato, pecan, and caramel. This one was a shocker. #4 - Gas Station Pizza Folding pizza is like folding paper. #5 - First Time at Buc-ee's Buc-ee's is a great experience even if people pronounce it wrong. #6 - Taking Care Of Your Car Baby Cars are children too. #7 - Putting the Pump in the Wrong Spot That is one expensive mistake. #8 - Naming Your Gas Station We like the name. #9 - Finding Bedtime Snacks The perks of having a convenience store right next to your house. #10 - Live Music at a Gas Station When convenience stores try to give their customers better ambience. #11 - Making the Night Shift Fun Who said the night shift had to be boring? #12 - Life Lessons Hopefully, she'll never forget that lesson for the rest of her life. #13 - Family Road Trip If you don't get that shoe on, you'll be left behind without a snack. #14 - New Screen Prompt Tipping culture hits convenience stores. #15 - Good Gas Station Cookies A peanut butter cookie made with Reese's® is the perfect convenience store cookie. Which video was your favorite? Tell us in the comments below. Do you want to find the closest gas station to you where you can get Classic Cookie snacks? Click here for some locations: Soft Baked Cookies Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

Gold has always been considered one of the safest investments, with its value holding steady or increasing over time. Now, a new innovation is making it easier than ever to invest in gold: the Gold to Go vending machine. In 2009, Ex Oriente Lux AG, a German company, created the first Gold to Go vending machine. Since then, these machines have garnered a lot of attention around the world. What are Gold to Go Vending Machines? Gold to Go vending machines are self-service kiosks that dispense gold bullion and coins to customers. These machines are designed to make it easy for anyone to invest in gold, whether they are experienced investors or first-time buyers. These machines work like traditional vending machines, where customers can approach it and use a touch screen to select the type and amount of gold they wish to purchase. Customers can purchase anything from a 2.5-gram, 24-karat gold coin to a more substantial 31-gram (one ounce) gold bar. (CNN) Prices can vary from $150 to $1400 depending on the size of the gold purchased. Once a customer has made a selection, the machine will dispense the gold in a tamper-proof package, which can be taken home or stored in a secure location. The gold sold in Gold to Go vending machines is sourced from reputable manufacturers and certified by international organizations such as the London Bullion Market Association. This ensures that customers receive high-quality gold that meets industry standards. Why Have People Used The Gold to Go Vending Machines? There are many benefits on why people buy from Gold to Go vending machines. Here are some of the most significant reasons: 1. Accessibility One of the most significant reasons customers use the Gold to Go vending machine is the machine's accessibility. Anyone can use these machines to invest in gold, regardless of their financial background or investment experience. This makes it easier for people to diversify their investment portfolios and protect their assets. 2. Convenience Gold to Go vending machines are also incredibly convenient. Customers can purchase gold at any time without having to visit a bank or broker. This makes it an ideal option for busy professionals or anyone who wants to invest in gold on their own schedule. 3. Security Another advantage of Gold to Go vending machines is their security. These machines are designed to protect the gold they dispense, with tamper-proof packaging and advanced security features. Additionally, because the machines are located in secure locations such as airports and luxury hotels, customers can feel confident that their investment is safe. 4. Transparency Finally, Gold to Go vending machines offer a level of transparency that's often lacking in traditional investment options. Customers can see the current price of gold, as well as the cost of the gold they're purchasing, before making their investment. This allows for greater control and understanding of the investment process. Another Great, Unique Vending Machine Aside from the machine's purpose to make investing in gold easier, Gold to Go is a unique machine that caters toward high-end customers. Machines had been placed in New York, Boca Raton, Tokyo, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other major cities across the world. While they are very rare to find, the Gold to Go vending machines are a great concept for people looking to try their hand in a physical asset. Would you like something softer to sink your teeth in than gold? Check out our soft and tasty packaged cookies that won't put a dent in your wallet: Soft Baked Cookies Do you have a unique vending machine you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your machine featured. Are you a vending machine business owner looking for the best vending machine snacks? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com to see how you can get the best packaged cookies for your customers.

You're in a tight spot. You need to bring in money fast for your organization in order to pay for expenses. You have to cover these costs, but you're unsure of the most efficient and meaningful way to bring in enough money. Does this sound familiar? If you are an athletic coach, nonprofit leader, band director, church pastor, or in charge of any other group, you have faced this dilemma before. How are you going to pay for uniforms, competitions, trips, etc.? You need to plan a great fundraiser. In order to make the most money possible, you need a plan that is organized and ensures people will want to give money to your organization or cause. You need to max out on your fundraiser. To help you, here is the "Max My Fundraiser" Plan so you can get started the right way. The "Max My Fundraiser" Plan In the "Max My Fundraiser" Plan, there are five steps you should follow to ensure success. The five steps are: Design the Fundraiser Organize the Fundraiser Promote the Fundraiser Manage the Fundraiser Evaluate the Fundraiser *To jump to a specific topic, click on one of the steps above. Step 1 - Design the Fundraiser Before you start with anything, you need to design the fundraiser. Designing the fundraiser can be done by yourself, or with relevant stakeholders (coworkers, parents, players, etc.). The more people on board in the beginning can help the entire fundraiser be more effective in the long run. However, if you are looking to do something quickly, the better option may be to design the fundraiser by yourself and then present it to others for approval. To start designing, you or your group must answer these questions: What is the goal and objective of the fundraiser? (i.e. how much money are we trying to raise?) Who do we want to target as our customers for this fundraiser ? Relatives General public Students Families Other groups What are we going to do as the fundraiser? How will this fundraiser appeal/benefit our target customers? How much money are we willing to spend for this fundraiser and will it allow us to make enough profit? The answers to these questions will give you a good framework for molding your fundraiser. Once you have the answers, you are ready to organize everything. Step 2 - Organize the Fundraiser After designing the fundraiser, you need to organize people, resources, and time to make sure you meet your objectives. To organize these different categories, here are some guiding questions: Organizing People How many people do we need to work the fundraiser? Who can we get involved to help work the fundraiser? If possible, these people should be different from customers you are targeting. These will be the volunteers/stakeholders who could reasonably be motivated to sell, promote, or work your fundraiser. A youth sports team will have players on that team volunteering while a nonprofit might have community members who want to be more involved with the cause. What role/job do we need these people to help with for the fundraiser? Do you need people to be out selling? Do you need people to work an information booth? Do you need people to take tickets? Do you need people to make deliveries? Do you need people to make food, wash cars, cut grass? Organizing Resources What equipment/supplies do we need to make this fundraiser happen? How can we get that equipment/supplies? (Do we need to pay for it, or can we get it donated?) Do we need any special facilities for the fundraiser? (If yes, what do we need to do to get those facilities?) Organizing Time By what date do we need to get tasks done in order to set up, promote, and perform the fundraiser? Create a timeline when each task needs to be completed. If you are as detailed as possible, those you show this timeline to, especially those working the fundraiser, will have a clear vision as to when everything needs to be finished. They will also see that if they do not get certain tasks done by certain dates, then achieving the fundraising goal will be harder. In our timeline, how much time will each task need to be completed? How long should my workers expect to devote to the fundraiser? Setting realistic expectations for workers will help them understand what is needed from them. This will allow you to find better workers that will contribute to your fundraiser. As you use these guiding questions to organize your fundraiser, you will be ready to move forward. Step 3 - Promote the Fundraiser Once you have organized your people, resources, and time, you are ready to promote your fundraiser. Promotion is a simple number's game - the more people that know about your fundraiser, the higher the chance you have at raising more money. To do this, you need to make sure people not only see, but remember the fundraiser you are putting on. This will sometimes take multiple interactions the customer has with your materials or team for them to contribute. The biggest question that you need to consider is where will our target customers see our promotional material? When you answer this, your strategy on what materials you get should go hand-in-hand with locations where customers will most likely see your information. Different types of promotional materials to use can include: Digital flyers Social media posts Physical flyers Physical banners Brochures Digital signs Billboards Radio ads Yard signs Press releases Emails With these promotional materials, you should encourage all who are involved with the fundraiser to share them with friends and family. This will increase your chances of getting a larger group of people to pay money for the fundraiser. Step 4 - Manage the Fundraiser With your efforts in getting the word out, you will now need to deliver on your fundraiser by taking action. While you are taking action and implementing plans by going out and doing the fundraiser, you need to make sure you manage everything well. Without proper management, your fundraiser can quickly spiral out of control. Part of managing the fundraiser includes the following: Making sure your plans are being properly enacted Making sure your people, time, and resources are all in the proper place Making sure your people are trained to deliver exceptional service Keeping track of orders and donations Keeping donors informed about the progress of the fundraiser Address any concerns or issues that arise from customers, volunteers, or others You can manage these things through a few tools like paper signups, Google Spreadsheets, or other online project management tools. As long as you are organized (like in Step 2), you will be able to control most of the fundraiser's operations. There will be things here and there that will be hiccups, but if you are not ready to manage them, they can be massive disasters. At the end of the day, as you provide great service, customers will be excited to donate to your cause. Step 5 - Evaluate the Fundraiser Once your timeline is complete and products/services have been provided, you must evaluate the fundraiser. Fundraisers that are truly successful tend to be reoccurring and grow each time. With repeat fundraisers, you do not have to reinvent the wheel each time your organization is ready for a cash injection. The key to making these fundraisers more successful each year is to evaluate the first one you hold. When you evaluate your fundraiser, you have to look at certain data to see whether the activity was worth it. These data points include the goals you set in Step 1, the pros and cons of hosting, and the time it took from start to finish to make the fundraiser a reality. From these data points, you can then determine if the fundraiser is doable for the next time you need money. If the fundraiser met expectations, great! You already have a list of customers to resell to when you are ready again. If the fundraiser was not worth it, that's okay too! Through the process, you have learned what does and does not work. When you look for a different fundraiser, you can apply your knowledge to make that one even better. You must evaluate your fundraiser if you want to gain momentum on your efforts. Otherwise, you may miss opportunities to make more money in the future. Time to Get Started! Fundraising for your organization can be overwhelming, but, by following the steps of the "Max My Fundraiser" Plan, you can get and stay organized. As you follow these steps, your fundraising efforts will be more successful. What are you waiting for? Go out and raise some money! Interested in selling cookies or cookie dough as part of your next fundraiser? Send us an inquiry at this link, and we will connect you with the right people: I'm Interested in a Cookie Fundraiser Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

As much as you might want to snack on a nearly half-pound bag of gourmet crispy cookies in one sitting, sometimes, you just can't. Even if you get a 7oz minis bag, there is no easy way to clip or close the bag to save extra cookies for later. Today, all that changes. Classic Cookie is proud to launch a new product: 2.7oz crispy mini snack bags. The New Look For Crispy Mini Cookies The new 2.7oz mini bags contain crispier cookies with a crispy texture that sets them apart from Classic Cookie's soft baked snacks. The crispy cookies are made with high-quality ingredients including real butter, pure can sugar, Hershey's® and Reese's® inclusions, and pure vanilla extract. Two initial flavors have been released with the first set of 2.7oz snack bags. The first flavor is Chocolate Chip made with Hershey's®. Full of rich Hershey's® chocolate chips, this crispy take on a sweet classic is beyond compare. The second flavor is Peanut Butter made with Reese's® peanut butter chips. These peanut butter minis are king. With crowns of rich Reese's® peanut butter chips through and through, peanut butter lovers have something to celebrate. The Best Grab N Go Cookie Bag The new snack bags are perfect as a grab n go item due to their convenience, portion control, and shareability. One of the key benefits of the 2.7oz crispy mini bags is the convenience they provide. These bags are perfect for people who are always on the go and want a quick snack to keep them going. The mini bags can be easily stored in a backpack, purse, or glove compartment, making them a great option for road trips or flights. Another advantage of the Classic Cookie 2.7oz crispy mini bags is their portion control. The mini bags contain just the right amount of cookies to satisfy your sweet cravings without overindulging. Each cookie is small enough to fit in your mouth, making them easy to eat without making a mess. The new mini bags are also a great option for sharing with friends and family. The small size of the cookies makes them perfect for sharing, and the choice of two popular flavors ensures that there is something for everyone. You can also use these mini bags as a quick and easy dessert option for parties or gatherings. You Ready to Try? Classic Cookie's commitment to quality is reflected in the new 2.7oz crispy mini bags. The cookies are made with premium ingredients, offer convenience as a grab n go item, provide portion control for snackers, and can be easily shared with family and friends. Overall, the Classic Cookie 2.7oz crispy mini bags are a great addition to the brand's product lineup. The new mini bags are available in stores and online, so be sure to try them out and experience the delicious taste and crispy texture for yourself! *For businesses, the cookie bags will fit in vending machines and have peggable packaging to hang on clip strips and hooks on retail displays. Check the new cookies out for yourself today: www.classiccookie.com/crispy-minis Which flavors should we do next for our 2.7oz Crispy Mini Bags? Comment with your suggestion below. #CrispyCookies __________________________________________________________________________________ Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.

On January 18, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville officially brought in Tennessee-made Classic Cookie. Classic Cookie's soft baked and crispy cookies were placed in all Provisions On Demand (P.O.D.) Markets on campus. The P.O.D. Markets combine the corner store with the style of a modern market, featuring grab 'n go dining options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack time including: cookies, candy, chips, drinks, coffee, freshly-prepared sushi, salads, sandwiches, fresh produce, and other traditional essentials found in a convenience store. (Campus Dish) Vol Dining, the management team overseeing all campus food and beverage retail operations, is excited about the cookies. According to Vol Dining staff, campus stores never had an option for an indulgent soft baked cookie. While they have stocked protein/vegan cookies and other crispy cookie brands, stores needed a single serve cookie that tasted just like a homemade product. Classic Cookie is a snack that fills in that gap and will give students what they want. Vol Dining has also made a commitment to bring in more local products for the students to enjoy. When staff discovered that Classic Cookie was made 40 minutes away from campus in Sevierville, TN, they immediately jumped at the chance to bring the brand in. During the first day of the semester, Classic Cookie and their local distributor went on campus to hand out samples to students to kickstart the new products. Students went crazy over the cookies! One young man tried the Cinnabon® soft baked cookie and told sampling reps that it was, "the most beautiful cookie I've ever eaten." One young woman tried a Cookies n' Créme made with Hershey's® white chips sample and immediately bought an entire 8-count box of the same flavor off the shelf. Other students were surprised at how flavorful and soft the cookies were. Students who tried the crispy mini cookies also had rave reviews about the product. Classic Cookie is a great snack addition for a college campus. University students have little time when trying to balance classes, homework, work, and social activities. Classic Cookie is the perfect grab-and-go item that students will love when taking a break or prepping for a test. If you are interested in bringing Classic Cookie products to your college, email us here: Contact Classic Cookie __________________________________________________________________________________ Do you want to try Classic Cookie snacks for yourself? Browse all cookie flavors here: Classic Cookie® Snacks Do you have a Classic Cookie story you want to share? Email us at contact@classiccookie.com for a chance to have your story featured.