Dancing Deer Baking Co. is a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

based

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

that sells

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

-certified

cookies A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

, brownies,

cakes Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabora ...

and

baking mix A baking mix is a mixed formulation of ingredients used for the cooking of baked goods. Baking mixes may be commercially manufactured or homemade. Baking mixes that cater to particular dietary needs, such as vegan, gluten-free, or kosher baki ...

es in the specialty/

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical s ...

food service The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, grocery stores, school and hospital cafeteri ...

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, business gifts and direct-to-consumer marketplaces. A variety of Dancing Deer products are also available in grocery chains and specialty food stores across the United States and certain parts of Canada, including nationally recognized

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

. The company is noted for producing all-natural, preservative-free products.

History

Dancing Deer was incorporated in 1994 by three founders, Suzanne Lombardi, a baker who originated many of Dancing Deer's recipes, Ayis Antoniou, a business strategist and Trish Karter, an artist and businesswoman. The company started out in a former pizza parlor in

West Roxbury, Massachusetts West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, t ...

on a busy street corner with a couple of convection ovens. At that time, their specialty was cakes, sold primarily to cafes and restaurants. In 1996, they brought out a line of packaged consumer goods under the Dancing Deer label. The company reported revenues of more than $10 million by 2007. In 2008, the company made a strategic decision to focus on growing the corporate gift portion of the business. Dancing Deer has the ability to print the corporate logos on gift tins and boxes and cookies can be imprinted with corporate logos. Revenues from corporate gifts represented about 15% of annual revenues in 2008 and by late 2008 this was up to over 18%. In September 2010, Karter stepped down from her role as CEO of the company to pursue a life outside of baking. Nevertheless, in subsequent years, she made several unsuccessful attempts to repurchase the business from its owners, which comprised the private equity firms Ironwood Capital, Generation Equity Capital, and River Hollow Partners. Frank Carpenito became CEO in 2010 and left the position in July 2016. In 2024, Dancing Deer filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

Company name

The name for the company came from Lombardi's grandmother, Erma Shaw, who owned a gift shop and antique store named Dancing Deer in

Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laborat ...

. The company also borrowed recipes including the famous Deep Dark Gingerbread Cake.

Awards

In 1998, the NASFT or National Association for the Specialty Food Trade awarded Dancing Deer the gold Sofi Award for Outstanding Cookie of the year for their signature Molasses Clove Cookie. Sofi stands for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation and honors the outstanding specialty foods and beverages of the year in 33 categories. It is considered to be the Food Industry's equivalent of the

Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...

External links

Official website

References

{{Portal, Companies, Food Food and drink companies based in Boston Manufacturing companies based in Boston Bakeries of the United States Brand name cookies Organic food retail organizations Food and drink companies established in 1994 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 Mail-order retailers 1994 establishments in Massachusetts