Small Business Spotlight: Rude Cookies

Our small buisness feature of this month is Rude Cookies from Glasgow, a company that is a personal favourite of our head editor, Kirsty. They make some delicious cookies which also have great artwork on them!

What inspired you to start Rude Cookies?

It all started as a joke! Magda was baking Christmas cookies and made a couple of rude ones. We decided to put them on social media for a laugh and called our page Rude Cookies. We were originally going to post our uncensored bakes only to entertain people. We are both very sarcastic, have a good sense of humour and nothing offends us. We thought like-minded people would enjoy a bit of fun in these crazy times as much as we enjoy making them. It’s like therapy, but with wine and lots of laughter.

What are your favourite cookies that you have made so far, if you had to choose?

Magda: I love making portrait cookies or anything that’s detailed and hand painted. The bigger the challenge the more excited I get about making it. I avoid making cookies with any text on them as I’m really shit at calligraphy, and being left handed I can’t really see what I’m writing. Agnieszka can do it beautifully though. Aga: I really miss getting tattoos lately so edible I‘m a crazy cat mum so there’s no such thing as too many cats, even on cookies. And cats are arseholes so they’re my eternal inspiration.

Where do you come up with the inspiration for your unique and brilliant cookies?

Literally everywhere! We have the best customers in the world who give us a lot of weird ideas. We like putting rude twists on cute themes and doing things that people don’t expect. We both have crazy ideas and we push each other’s creative limits.

As it's women’s history month, what does female empowerment mean to you and who are some women who inspire you?

Female empowerment to us means focusing on the bond between us rather than being jealous of each other. We are sisters, not competition. Empowered women grow strong together, learn from each other and celebrate each other’s successes. We celebrated International Women’s Day by making 100 cookies with empowering messages and gave them out to women of Glasgow so we could brighten up their day. The smiles of women who got a cookies saying ‘fucking gorgeous’ were priceless. Any woman that runs a small business is an inspiration. People don’t often realise how many jobs a small business owner has. We look up to a lot of very talented cookiers, and hope we’ll be as good as they are.

Here at CTV, we are big fans of your tees! What made you decide to start creating them as well as your cookies?

We always wanted to create more than just cookies! We made tees for ourselves as part of our baking uniform and people liked them so much we just had to sell them. Our main focus is always around cookies, but creating non-edible things brings us a lot of joy too.

How do you ensure sustainability in your business?

We only make cookies when we get the orders in or we plan to give them away, nothing goes to waste. Most of our packaging is made in the UK and is either recycled, recyclable or biodegradable. Even our tees are sustainably made and printed locally by the girls from Wild & Kind. We sell them on a pre-order basis only so we don’t hold stock that might

Why do you believe shopping small is so important?

When you shop small you support another person’s dream. We do a wee happy dance when we get an order in and celebrate all the wee successes. It’s also great to know that the thing you just bought was made with love and care, not in a faceless factory. We also put all of the money we make back into the business so we can bring you more than just cookies.

Is there anything right now you want to continue the voice on?

Women supporting women. When you stop being jealous you quickly realise, how empowered other women can make you feel. When you actively encourage one another, you build a unique connection that strengthens and inspires both of you.

This issue is all about time, if you could live in another time period which one would you choose and why? (including a time period in the future)

Magda: I always wanted to go back to a time when the air and soil were pure, and all the produce grown was organic – just imagine how delicious everything must have been! All I can think about is food! Aga: I am quite happy where I am. I think my generation was the last one to have a childhood without computers and mobile phones, but also experienced enormous technological development. Yes, I’m a bit of a nerd.

Where can our readers find you and your work?

We are on Instagram @rude_cookies and on Facebook – Rude Cookies Glasgow. We are currently working on launching our website. We’re also planning a few pop-ups: we will cookies and other goodies will also be available

Interviewed by Kirsty Taylor