How a $25M Cookie Company Went Broke

Free: what 40 small businesses really bring in (and the catch), plus this video's 2-minute case file. One email gets it all: https://marcmemo.com/taylor-chip In November 2024 Taylor Chip, a Pennsylvania cookie company, had seven stores, a place on the Inc. 5000, a co-founder on Forbes 30 Under 30, a regional Small Business Administration award and a reported valuation of $25 million. Fifteen months later it was in bankruptcy court. I read the whole court file, and the city's permit records. It wasn't the cookies. It started with two addresses. In this video: The rise: a $400-a-month market stand in 2018, no investors, $15,000 on credit cards Two Philadelphia stores at once: one needed a zoning hearing, the other was in a building that wasn't built yet Planned six months, took two years, and $8,750 a month in rent on Chestnut Street What the court file shows: four credit cards, $146,000, and $55,000 owed to DoorDash The roughly $1.9 million SBA-backed loan, and your call: take it or close? Figures come from the company's bankruptcy filings (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania), Philadelphia's permit records and press reports. Education, not financial advice. Take it to your accountant.