From Handbags to Cookies: The Story of The Flakery
What happens when a former handbag designer trades sketches and samples for butter, flour, and a really good cookie? For Caitlin Cortez, founder of The Flakery in Katy, Texas, it became an unexpected second act built on creativity, motherhood, and the courage to start something entirely new.
There are some career paths you can plan, and others that seem to find you. Caitlin Cortez never imagined that leaving a dream career in handbag design to stay home with her children would eventually lead to another creative chapter entirely. What began as afternoons spent baking with three little ones grew into The Flakery, a bespoke cottage bakery in Katy, Texas, known for cookies with big flavors, clever personalities, and a devoted following. We sat down with Caitlin to talk about the unexpected road from fashion to flour, building a business from home, and learning to trust that sometimes the next dream looks nothing like the first.
From Handbags to a Home Bakery
Tell us about your career in handbag design and how you came to be a baker.
After college, my husband and I moved to Houston for my husband’s job, and, to be honest, I never thought I’d be able to find a design job there. In my naivety, I only thought that good design jobs were in New York. Lucky for me, I was wrong. I quickly found Elaine Turner, an accessible luxury handbag and shoe brand, but it took about a year for the stars to align and a position to open.
I started as the Handbag Designer and eventually, as the company grew, moved on to be the Associate Creative Director. With most smaller companies, like Elaine Turner, there is an opportunity to touch so many parts of the business and learn things you wouldn’t necessarily learn otherwise. Our four-person design/production team was responsible for everything from trend research/concept development all the way to scheduling the vessel that brought the product to the Elaine Turner stores. The responsibilities were endless, but I had landed my dream job.
After 7 years and two babies, I started to feel the pull to be at home with my kids. My husband and I were trying to balance high-demand careers, and I was seeking more simplicity. I made the difficult decision to leave my dream job and, over the next several years, enjoyed my life just being a mom, so much so that I had another baby. After the newborn overwhelm of our third baby faded, I started to desperately crave the creative life I had left and felt like I needed an identity outside of motherhood. I had always loved baking. In fact, my then-boyfriend, now husband, bought me my first Kitchenaid mixer as a Christmas gift in high school. He braved Walmart on Black Friday and stood in line holding what would eventually be my future business without even knowing it. My kids and I started baking during the mid-afternoon, ‘what the heck am I going to do with y’all’ hours of the day. I had my youngest strapped on my chest and my other two on stools beside me and we made mess after delicious mess. I eventually started an Instagram to chronicle what we were making and share recipes….and that was just the start.
The Story Behind The Flakery
Tell us about your bakery and how you came up with the name “The Flakery?”
The Flakery is a bespoke cottage bakery that specializes in cookies. My business model is unique for a bakery in that every cookie is made to order. I host a presale on Sunday, then bake all week to fulfill the orders so customers can pick up on Fridays. I have a roster of about 75 cookies that I rotate on the menu each week, so there is always something for everyone. The menu includes drop cookies, sandwich cookies, cake cookies, cookie brittle, and even cookies with candied bacon on them. I truly try to give each cookie a personality and flavor profile to leave you wanting more.
The name is a happy accident. My Instagram name is The Flakey Baker, but I wanted my company name to feel less singular. I wanted it to feel like a brand and not a person. One day, my best friend and I were daydreaming about business plans via voice memo- because that’s the easiest way to have a full conversation when you both have small kids. I’ll never forget she sent me a 4-minute and 31-second voice memo, and right smack dab in the middle of it, she said, “I can just see The Flakery on the door,” and I was like, THAT’S IT! I don’t even think I finished listening to the voice memo, sorry Jessica, but I took that idea and literally ran with it. When I decided to make my hobby a business, I called it The Flakery and never looked back.
Taking the Leap Into Entrepreneurship
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting your own business?
My biggest challenge was that I truly had no idea what I was doing, and to be honest, I’m not even sure I know what I’m doing now. I think entrepreneurship is a collection of both calculated and blind risks, as well as a borderline unhealthy relationship with the phrase “it can’t be that hard.”
The truth is that it IS that hard. It’s probably the hardest job I have ever had.
If I had to name the biggest challenge, though, for me over the last 4 years, it would be imposter syndrome.
I think we all feel this to some extent, no matter what field we are in. We start to think it’s only a matter of time until people figure out how unqualified we are for this job! As someone who graduated with an Apparel Design and Production degree, who am I to moonlight as a baker?! Who am I to teach you how to bake?! Who am I to own a bakery?! Especially when there are so many classically trained bakers and chefs online. Can you say “intimidating?!” Learning to believe in my food perspective and approach has had a lot of growing pains. There have been 3rd-degree burns, sleepless nights, tears, and more research than you can fathom along the way. All the effort adds up to experience, and experience isn’t something a textbook can give you, or at least that’s what I tell myself.
The Cookie That Changed Everything
How has it evolved since the beginning?
Oh, my goodness, let me count the ways. Just before I started sharing our baking adventures on Instagram, my family had become obsessed with the Holiday Baking Championships on The Food Network.
During this obsession, I got a wild idea to invest a million hours of my life learning how to make decorated sugar cookies as my new creative outlet. It was artsy and edible; what more could I ask for? I shared my decorated sugar cookies with friends and family on Instagram. Soon after, my inbox was full of requests. While I was immersed in decorating cookies, I started to miss playing in the kitchen. So, one night I decided to take a break from decorating and recreate my favorite childhood treat, a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie. Let me just tell you, this cookie was like lightning in a bottle.
I named the cookie “Double D Debbie” because it was like Little Debbie went to summer camp and came back with boobs- the ultimate Oatmeal Cream Pie glow-up. I casually shared this cookie, with a slightly inappropriate name, on my Instagram stories, not thinking much of it, and my business literally changed overnight. I ended up phasing out decorated sugar cookies and instead started hosting weekly presales of drop and sandwich cookies. This became my bread and butter for a long time. I still host presales but have also started getting back to the roots of my Instagram page by sharing recipes. There is such an art to baking, and I think many people are intimidated by it. My goal is to show people how fun and joy-filled baking can be so that they can create magic in their own kitchens.
There’s much more to Caitlin’s story.
This is just a portion of our full conversation with the woman behind The Flakery. In the complete Front Porch Life feature, Caitlin shares more about building a business around family life, where she finds inspiration for her unforgettable cookies, the lessons entrepreneurship has taught her, and what she hopes comes next.
The complete interview appears in Front Porch Life Magazine and is available inside The Collection, where members can enjoy this issue along with our library of past issues and subscriber-only stories. If you love discovering the people, homes, food, and small businesses with stories worth telling, come join us inside.
