Denise Woodard had no intention of leaving a Fortune 500 career until her daughter, Vivienne, inspired her to become an entrepreneur. Vivienne has multiple food allergies—corn, eggs, bananas and tree nuts—and after a particularly scary allergic reaction, Denise was determined to create an allergen-free cookie that kids like Vivienne could safely enjoy.

In 2017, she founded Partake^®, a line of gluten-free, vegan cookies that are completely free of the top eight allergens—but absolutely full of great taste. After hundreds of demos and lots of positive feedback, Partake captured the attention of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, whose Marcy Venture Partners made an investment. Then she reached out to Factory for strategic, design, and new product development support.

Factory’s in-house R&D and test kitchen capabilities give Partake the ability to innovate new products quickly and add seasonal SKUs. We helped Partake develop a new line of soft-baked cookies and break into the baking mix category. Of course, new products need package adaptations, and Factory’s studio delivers quickly with quality – a perfect match for Denise’s entrepreneurial need for speed to market.

All nine flavors of Partake cookies are kid-approved, with a clean ingredient list to satisfy even the pickiest parents. With more new allergen-free products in the pipeline, Denise is fulfilling her mission to create an array of delicious baked snacks in which everyone can Partake^®.