Erin Kennedy had a lot to celebrate this past Valentine’s Day as the baking entrepreneur’s business recently hit the one year mark. Kennedy is the owner of OMG OCPs, a homemade oatmeal cream pie business; she has been baking cream pies since 2013 and they hold a special place in her heart as her uncle David (who lived next door to her and passed away when she was in the 10th grade) was a fan of Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies. Eight years ago, after seeing a recipe for oatmeal cream pies and botching and fine tuning the recipe, Kennedy realized she had something special after seeing people’s reactions.

“In the beginning, it was just The OG and everyone would ask me for the recipe; I quickly learned I had something special and thought it may be wise to keep it tight. Immediately those requests for the recipe turned into requests to purchase or ‘You should sell these’ comments [and my] response was always ‘I’m not a baker, I just make this one cookie really well, but I can’t create a business with just that,'” Kennedy said. “During the holidays of 2020, with some extra time on hand, I decided to play around and see what I, a non-natural-baker, could do to expand on The OG recipe without changing it. I gave them all out as gifts and the feedback was fantastic.”

Starting a business wasn’t on Kennedy’s radar, but 11 months later she felt she needed a dramatic change in her life, and after surveying her Facebook friends (and receiving requests and an ask for 96 individually wrapped cookies for a local elementary school’s Teacher Appreciation event), OMG OCPs was born.

Kennedy wanted to start with four base flavors – OG, chocolate dipped, cinnamon chip and maple bacon – but the latter was changed to oatmeal raisin because USDA doesn’t approve bacon in a home kitchen. She said the menu is still growing and there are a list of flavors to come.

“There are eight base flavors and four seasonal [flavors now]: OG, chocolate dipped, cinnamon chip, oatmeal raisin, mint chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter and sweet heat,” Kennedy said. “Chocolate caramel sea salt, lemon, pumpkin spice and orange chocolate sea salt have been seasonal releases thus far. The ideas for them really just come from flavors I personally love, which makes the possibilities pretty endless.”

Kennedy said customer response is the favorite part of her business and OMG OCPs is the perfect name.

“As soon as someone tries that first sample, I know some form of ‘omg…’ is coming because their shoulders drop,” Kennedy said. “It’s truly a physical reaction of release and succumbing to the deliciousness.”

Chocolate dipped
Cinnamon chip
Oatmeal raisin

Kennedy runs the business full-time and starts her day early mixing and baking (about five hours), running personal errands, ingredient shopping and delivering food orders in between and then completes production from the morning. Deciding to make the leap to full-time entrepreneurship was a big risk, but she said the gains and lessons learned have been worth any financial loss from a corporation salary.

“First and foremost, it’s so much more than just the product and production. Cookies are made and then sold, but in between that there is social media, marketing, finances, insurances, legalities, packaging, inventory. I used to think I was great at time management, but that’s flown out the window,” Kennedy said. “Now it’s just about getting it all done all the time. My biggest advice would be find a mentor, someone who has done it before or similarly, and communicate with them. I have had seven million ideas in my mind at once, talked to my mentor for 30 minutes and magically all those ideas turn into actual actions, timelines and structure.”

Kennedy has dreams for OMG OCPs, which include owning a storefront like a donut shop “with a case full of flavor varieties that anyone could come grab either a dozen for work, or just a few to sit and enjoy as a family” that also honors those closest to her.

“I used to work closely with refugees in Richmond, and my late Uncle David, whom the OCPs love originated from, was able to work with a disability for ARC, now SOAR365,” Kennedy said. “To honor both, my greatest goal is to be a place of employment for local refugees and those with disabilities.”

Keep up with OMG OCPs via the official website www.omgocps.com (Kennedy offers the option to ship) and follow on social media facebook.com/omgocps and instagram.com/omgocps.