Karen O'Keeffe - Product Manager (original) (raw)

In the summer of 2015 I got it into my head that I wanted to start a cottage food business out of my tiny North Hollywood one bedroom apartment. I had been making marshmallows with interesting flavors (cherry beer, apricot IPA, passion fruit, strawberry lemonade) for a while, and my friends' sweet tooth couldn't keep up with my output. So why not sell them?

Mallow & Hop was a one man operation. (Ok, Eric helped sometimes.) Besides making and packaging the marshmallows, I handled branding, photography, social media and everything else that comes with running a small business in the state of California.

The goal with branding and package design was to mimic high-end artisanal goods with the limited (ahem, monetary) resources on hand and the restrictions put in place by the cottage food law.

Because I did everything myself and printed out labels as needed, I went through a lot of iterations of packaging - testing out what worked, and what could be done cheaper and more effectively - which you can see below.

Coffee & oreo marshmallow covered in milk chocolate.

Vanilla - the Classic. Updated packaging.

Hard candy made with citra hops.

At Artisanal LA with a branded dress.

Original Strawberry Lemonade marshmallow packaging.

Wasabi Pea Brittle - great with blue cheese!

Lemon Meringue Pie bar with lemon marshmallow, white chocolate ganache and pie crust.

Birthday cake marshmallows with 'frosting' and sprinkles.

Original candy bar packaging, revised in 2017.

Gingerbread marshmallow made with molasses and spices.

Original Cabernet marshmallow packaging, revised in 2017.

For more you can visit the old Mallow & Hop Instagram.