Meet Marie Oster | Queen Batch

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marie Oster and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have been a frustrated entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. I have a notebook of business ideas and products. But I just never really go there. I started a career when I was young, but put I it on hold ( kind of, I’ve always brought in some income) when I had my third child. Now that they are older ( all four of them), I entered the business world again, since college is very close on the horizon ( my need for making money). Deep down, I guess the structure of a full time career just blows my mind. You are held to the confines of a corporate world for many hours of your day and quite frankly it makes me feel like a prisoner. To be honest, I am a doer, a go getter, but there are many things I want to do and get, so dedicating all of my time to one thing, suffocates me. I wanted the freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted. Pandemic Life was an interesting time, almost a pause in time. I liked it. I didn’t like how destructive to people’s lives it was, I just liked that it felt like the pressure of life was off. I started thinking. I read an article about these women who had lost their jobs and started a cookie company. Within a couple of weeks of going public, they were getting 1200 orders and more! I have been baking cookies, almost everything other night, since I’ve been in high school. I thought….;.I can do that! So I did! I started researching fun recipes, testing them with my neighbors ( they love me) and got a website up and running. I went live in October and have been having a blast making and branding my products. At this point, I am a cottage kitchen since this is a side hustle, but we will see where it will take me.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The name of my business is One Hot Batch. I make gourmet, made to order, small batch big a** cookies. I only have a website and can only ship within Colorado right now. I do have local pickup if they need to have them right away., which who doesn’t? I sell them in batches of 6. Each cookie is 6-8 ounces each! They are more than one person can handle in one sitting-even me. I offer batches that are your traditional OHB ( chocolate chip cookie) or more fun and creative like Batch I t Craysin ( oatmeal, raisin and white chocolate chip) to Cherry Poppin Batch ( dark chocolate, cherry stuffed with white chocolate chips and marshmallow). I have a standard 6 options o choose from every week, but offer a cookie of the week, each week. Since I started, the holidays quickly approached, so a lot of my cookies have been holiday themed, like Franken’s Crib, Santa Baby Batch, and STUFFing IT, Batch. What I love about my business is how fun it can be. I love naming the cookies and I provide a new video with every new cookie drop. It’s called the 20 second Batch Session. It’s suppose to be 20 seconds, but I’ve yet to meet that mark! They’re goofy, quirky and just plain ridiculous. I don’t take myself seriously, I just like to have fun making them. I love my logo, the cookie names and mostly, the joy it brings the Batch Lovers every time they order. My brother texted me one day to tell me he hates me because he LOVES my cookies so much. That sums up my tag line pretty much: Dangerously Delicious!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Longmont so I don’t have the instant access to the city of Denver or Boulder, but I have access to Colorado as a whole! I have also been under the umbrella of raising four kids for 26 years so sadly, my nightlife and hanging out spots have been greatly minimal. But, If my best friend were to visit in the summer, I would first without question, find a quaint cabin in the mountains to spend a couple of days. We would go to Glenwood Springs for the hot springs or Steamboat for the hiking, hot springs and quaint town. If we were pressed for time, I would take them through Estes, head up to Trail Ridge road then drop down to Granby and spend a few days biking, horseback riding, hiking and possibly white water rafting. We would go to a baseball ball game, because I love Coors Field and a beautiful night game then we would walk through RINO and LoDo experiencing the great food and drink that area has to offer. If there was a great band coming through, we would absolutely go to Red Rocks! Sometimes, it doesn’t really matter of there is a good band or not. It’s Red Rocks! We would Bruch at the D Bar in Denver and have some yummy Island on the Montains until we got kicked out. And we would end most days with me baking cookies, because when anyone come to my house to visit, that is the first thing they ask for…my cookies.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Mostly, the people who deserve a shout out are my family…all of them! Everyone from my children, husband, siblings and I can’t forget my neighbors. They are my biggest supporters! My son who dared me to to start, my children who loved the idea and wanted to help with marketing and product design. My brother who was my sounding board and motivator and my other brother and sister who loved my product and encouraged me and praised me every moment they could. I also want to give recognition to the women at SecondAct Women , Barbara Brookes and Guadalupe Hirt, who have an endless amount of praise and support and love for women who are looking to start their Second Act and provide whatever means of support or resources needed to assist with attaining that goal. They are amazing!

Website: onehotbatch.com

Instagram: onehotbatch

Facebook: One Hot batch

Youtube: one hot batch

Image Credits
Soona for the headshot