O’Fudge’s Cookie Cereal Is Back, Two Years and One Factory Later

Some brands begin with a business plan. O'Fudge began with birthday parties.

Long before the cookie cereal that would become its signature product, O'Fudge founders Sandra Benjamin and Baher Leon were two friends who loved to bake. Schoolmates since childhood, they spent years bringing homemade treats to gatherings and celebrations, where the response was always the same. People wanted more.

"Whenever we had a birthday party, an event, whatever, we baked something, and everyone loved it, so that's where the idea came from," Baher told SceneEats. "We could do this as a hobby, as a business. It's a passion of ours."

That passion turned into a business in 2019, while the pair were still in college. Their first products were cookies and brownies, sold through a student market at the American University in Cairo.

"We had the chance actually to sell the cookies and brownies at the student union market," he says. "We stayed there for just four weeks, and we started with 100 cookies, next week 200, next week 300. The demand kept growing."

Then, overnight, the world stopped.

"I remember it was March, and we had to rethink the whole idea," Baher says.

Like many young businesses, O'Fudge found itself navigating the uncertainty of the pandemic. Rather than disappear, the founders adapted, introducing cookie dough buckets customers could bake at home, a product better suited to the moment.

Two years later came the idea people still associate with O'Fudge: cookie cereal.

It developed a following quickly, and getting it to a larger audience proved harder than expected. Producing cookie cereal at scale needed equipment, manufacturing expertise and investment that two students couldn't secure.

"In order to make the cookies, it took a lot of time," Sandra says. "It needed the machines, factories, a huge investment, and as we said, we were still in college."

Rather than push on, they stepped back.

"We thought back then, we thought it would be better if we paused for a bit," Sandra says. "And when we come back, we come back stronger."

The comeback took years. Over the past year and a half the two have been researching production methods, visiting factories, testing machinery and reworking recipes, and none of it went smoothly.

"We tried many machines, then there were many ups and downs," Sandra says. "Actually, a lot of downs, but here we are."

What's returned is a more mature version of the brand. The recipes have been revisited, the production upgraded, and there's a clearer plan behind it.

"The recipe is definitely different," Sandra says. "We wanted to be sure that it's healthy. Our first one, it was amazing, but it was sugary. So we had to optimise."

The aim was something that still felt indulgent but could be eaten more regularly.

The relaunch also reflects how much the founders have changed since 2019.

"When we started, we had little to no experience as entrepreneurs," Baher says. "But now we're focused. It doesn't mean that it's a foolproof system. It doesn't mean that it's smooth sailing, but we have something solid to build on."

O'Fudge 2.0 launches with the product customers kept asking for.

"There was a huge demand for this, the specific OG cookie cereal," Sandra says. "So we said maybe we can start with this."

Future flavours are under wraps, though the founders confirmed new products are already in development. Cookie dough, peanut butter products and further launches are all part of the longer plan.

"We're not just gonna stop there at cookie cereal," Sandra says. "There are a lot of things in the pipeline."

O'Fudge 2.0 is now live through the brand's own website, with supermarkets and delivery platforms as the next phase.

For Sandra and Baher, the ambition runs past building a snack brand. It's also about what Egyptian products can do.

"We want people to know Egypt has so much potential," Sandra says. "This is what we want for O'Fudge."

Seven years after two college students started selling cookies at a university market, O'Fudge is opening a new chapter, with better machinery, refined recipes and bigger ambitions. The excitement is unchanged.

"We're very excited," Sandra says. "There's many more to come."