Kathleen King Takes Cookie Company To New Heights

Kathleen King has come a long way since her days selling chocolate chip cookies at her father’s North Sea farm when she was 11 years old.From humble beginnings—the handmade cookies helped raise money for new school clothes—Ms. King has expanded her company, Tate’s Bake Shop, exponentially over the years. Today, it is widely considered one of the most successful businesses on the East End. And recently, it took an even bigger step forward.

This fall, Ms. King is pulling back from the business end of the company a bit to give herself a little time to breathe, but at the same time her product, which many have called the world’s best cookie, continues to find new customers. Earlier this month, an international private equity firm announced that it has made a substantial investment in Tate’s Bake Shop in an effort to expand marketing and product locations for the bakery, which already has a national retail presence.

“I took on investors because we are going to grow the business, and I took them on so I can have more free time and less stress,” Ms. King said this week. “I know they can bring the business to the potential I know it has. They are a great group of people who are fair and have integrity, and I think they will protect the brand the most.”

The Riverside Company, which purchased a majority share of Tate’s for an amount Ms. Tate declined to disclose—some reports have suggested it might be as much as $100 million—focuses on acquiring and investing in growing businesses valued at up to $250 million. Founded in 1988, the firm has invested in more than 70 companies worldwide in more than 350 transactions. The company has headquarters in Ohio and New York, as well as 20 offices worldwide.

The new partnership with Tate’s is designed to enhance distribution, production and manufacturing, Riverside Company partner Alan Peyrat said this week. It will not change the day-to-day operation of the bake shop in the village.

While Ms. King was only 11 when she started baking her cookies, her baking prowess grew very quickly. Eventually, she started distributing the cookies to her friends at Southampton High School as she continued baking on the side. During the summers, she said, she was working in her parents’ kitchen 10 hours a day, seven days a week, to meet demands for her cookies.

After high school, Ms. King decided to kick it up a notch. She spent two years at the State University of New York at Cobleskill studying restaurant management before returning to the East End at 20 years old and renting a space that was previously a bakery on North Sea Road in Southampton.

The business quickly took off. “I decided I might really have something with these cookies,” she said.

By 1983, the business was ready to expand further. Ms. King purchased her own building down the road, opening the current bakery and retail store on North Sea Road. “This location is beautiful, and it was for sale and I needed to expand,” she said. “So I was able to buy this building when I was 23 years old, because the owner held the mortgage for me.”

To keep up with demand, Ms. King made her next big change seven years ago, opening a 40,000-square-foot factory in East Moriches and moving all cookie production to the new facility. Now the company produces an average of 2.5 million cookies a week, with 12 varieties sold in the Southampton store, and cookies sold in specialty stores across the United States.

“The business was growing,” said Ms. King of her move to open the larger facility in East Moriches. “We rented a smaller place, and we outgrew it, so it was time for our own place.”

Ms. King is confident her cookies can continue to reach new heights. “The biggest change is greater opportunities for my employees for growth and expanding the national and international level so the cookies can become available for everybody,” she said.

In her new role as the brand’s “ambassador,” Ms. King said she will be able to take a step back and enjoy her success while working to create new recipes. Ms. King also sits on the company board, so she will still be instrumental in decision making, with a focus on protecting the brand’s integrity.

The primary goal for now, she said, is to expand the number of locations where the cookies are sold. Earlier this year, the now-famous cookies were introduced at Costco wholesale stores as a specialty item. Although the cookies are not available on a daily basis, they are reportedly making an impression on customers: Ms. King reports said she gets emails each week from cookie lovers asking how to order her products.

While growing on a national level is her goal, Ms King said she is grateful for the East End community that has supported her over the years. A Southampton High School graduate, she was inducted into the inaugural class of alums honored on the Southampton High School Wall of Distinction last week for her business accomplishments.

“Southampton Town has always been very supportive and very kind to me, and I am very grateful they have supported me through all of my ups and downs and now, making this transition,” Ms. King said. “I feel it is a blessing to live here.”

Ms. King currently lives in Water Mill with her husband, Zvi Friedman, and their son, Justin Friedman.

“I wanted to be the best cookie in America, and we achieved that,” she said. “That is really a great thing to be able to sell the cookies all over the world.”