High School Students Are Closing Cookie Delivery Business Because of College

Cookie delivery service Dough Re Mi, run by high school students Sarah Zeng and Alice Huang, is closing permanently next month. Its last day of deliveries will be made on Saturday, August 6.

Zeng and Huang are ceasing their business because they’re going to college in the fall, Rice University and the University of California, Berkeley respectively. “It’s definitely bittersweet to be halting the service,” they tell Eater over Instagram direct messenger. “It was an amazing learning experience for both of us in terms of entrepreneurship, teamwork, and so many other practical life skills. Dough Re Mi allowed us to participate in unique experiences and pushed us outside our comfort zones.”

The duo started Dough in the spring of 2020 since they had already been baking on their own already to keep busy and wanted to raise money for people impacted by COVID. A cookie delivery service made sense since it was a way to interact with people in a socially distanced way and allowed people to enjoy sweet treats.

Dough Re Mi’s small cookies include classic flavors like chocolate chip and peanut butter, as well as specialty ones like matcha-white-chocolate-macadamia and the new chocolate cookie with buttercream frosting, sprinkles, and cherry. There are vegan and gluten-free variations available, as well as dog treats.

They had started out donating 80 percent of their proceeds to All Together ATX, a nonprofit created by Austin Community Foundation and United Way for Greater Austin to help high-risk and high-needs people during the pandemic. Now they just donate that same percentage directly to United Way.

Zeng and Huang are excited about attending college. While they’re not sure if they’d pursue food ventures in the future, it’s still something they’d consider. “We both love baking and doing Dough Re Mi these past few years has fostered a love for entrepreneurship as well, so we’d definitely be open to doing one or both of these in the future.”

Deliveries and pickups happen on Saturdays. Orders can be placed now.