Debbi Fields Rose on Learning
"Here's a place where you can learn, grow, develop - and where other people are doing and feeling the same thing."
In 1977, Debbi Fields was a young homemaker with a love of cookies and a desire to make herself into a success story. Though her business ideas were novel for their time, she managed to win bank support and baked her dreams into reality.
On August 16, 1977, Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chippery opened its doors to the public in Palo Alto, California. Twenty-plus years later, Debbi Fields' role had expanded from managing one shop to supervising operations, brand name management, public relations and product development of her company's 600+ company-owned and franchise stores in the United States and 10 foreign nations – a business valued at $450 million. She changed the name of her company to Mrs. Fields’ Cookies in order to expand her product line to other types of cookies.
Her motto of "Good Enough Never Is," continues to guide the company’s policies, and as a result, Mrs. Fields’ Cookies earned a reputation for providing the best in product quality and customer service. In 1989, she streamlined operations and production schedules by introducing a state-of-the-art computer system.
Remarried and now known as Mrs. Fields Rose, she sold her business and has been writing books in recent years. Her first, 100 Recipes from the Kitchen of Debbi Fields, was the first cookbook to top The New York Times bestseller list. In order to feel comfortable in her many public speaking engagements, she joined Toastmasters and credits her training with helping her gain poise in front of an audience.