Debbi Fields Mrs Fields Founder Chapter 1 Cookie Entrepreneur It’s Sunday and you’re meeting friends at the mall arcade You walk through the double doors and toward the sounds of video games Then another sense takes over The scent of fresh-baked cookies is in the air You follow your nose and aren’t surprised to see a Mrs Fields sign You know the cookies there will indeed be freshly baked And each warm cookie will be soft chewy and super tasty Mrs Fields is one of the best-known names in cookies It is also a name that belongs to a real person Debbi Fields is the baking entrepreneur behind these famous sweet treats Fields began her cookie empire in California when she was just 20 years old Today there are more than 700 Mrs Fields locations in ten countries Fields is the namesake founder and public face behind Mrs Fields Each cookie in these stores is made exactly to Fields’s specifications This hands-on boss and baker discovered her cookie making skills at a young age She has been perfecting them ever since 4
Many people have tried to recreate Mrs Fields cookies at home but the original is hard to beat 5
Debbi Fields Mrs Fields Founder Chapter 2 California Childhood Debra Jane Sivyer was born on September 18 1956 in Oakland California She went by Debbi Debbi had four older sisters Linda Mary Marlene and Cathy The Sivyer sisters father was a welder Their mother took care of the household and children Debbi’s family did not have a lot of money But Debbi says her mother could make a dollar stretch forever Debbi’s parents taught their daughters that there was no sense in dreaming or wishing for something Instead they believed that you could get what you wanted by working hard The Sivyers also taught Debbi that family and doing what makes you happy were more important than money Learning how to fail was another important family lesson Debbi credits learning these lessons for her future success in the cookie business 6 Food Bite In addition to baking Debbi loved to water ski and snow ski She learned to water ski when she was five years old
During Debbi’s childhood the kitchen was the family’s main gathering place Debbi began baking at age 13 in her parents kitchen There she used what was on hand to make chocolate chip cookies This included imitation chocolate chips imitation vanilla flavoring and margarine instead of butter These ingredients cost less than pure ingredients But at the time Debbi felt the cookies she made with them were top quality 7
