If there’s any business that could be considered “homegrown” in the state of Connecticut, it’s Pepperidge Farm.
America’s Cookie Empire rose from humble beginnings in 1937 when housewife Margaret Rudkin began baking bread without preservatives for her son who suffered from allergies. She named her company after the family property, Pepperidge Farm, and it remains based in Connecticut to this day.
Thus when it came time for the annual Pepperidge Farm sales meeting last year, Laurita DeSiena didn’t stray far from corporate headquarters in Norwalk, brining 100 salespeople from Team Cookie to Mystic for the company’s annual three-day retreat and awards night.
“The sales manager at the Mystic Marriott pursued me for a year,” DeSiena says. “She was so good at what she did that I said, ‘We have to give this a shot.’ The Marriott people were wonderful. I don't write a lot of letters of recommendation, but I did for her. She was that good, and very, very willing to help us.”
The glaze on the Pepperidge confab was a visit to Mystic Seaport, a recreated 19th century seafaring village made up of dozens of authentic period buildings, staffed with historians, musicians, storytellers, and craftspeople. At one time, Mystic boasted five shipyards, and today is home to nearly 500 vessels, the world’s largest collection of ships and boats. Period ships are available for tours, and visitors can even observe ship restoration in progress. Although it was after hours, DeSiena says parts of the seaport were opened up for her group to enjoy.
“It's like a little seaport village,” she says. “It was all the history of the place that everybody seemed to enjoy. You were able to roam in and out of these little stores, for horses, saddleries, that type of thing. A lot of people found that interesting.”
Although based just an hour and a half away, Pepperidge Farm had never done an event at Mystic, but everyone got right into the spirit.
“We had a cocktail hour and then had our lobster bake dinner in a boathouse underneath a tent,” she says. “We had our sales award night there, and quite honestly the meeting was over before we knew it. They all really enjoyed it.”
The mood was firmly in place as the members of Team Cookie arrived into Mystic.
“I dressed as a pirate, if you want to know the real truth,” DeSiena admits. “A couple of us dressed up. We greeted the buses, and they all had pirate hats and earrings, that type of thing. It was fun.”
DeSiena adds that she usually doesn’t bring groups back to the same destination, preferring to mix it up for variety, but in the case of Mystic, she says she definitely would.
Her favorite Pepperidge Farm cookie?
“I guess I have to say Milano. I think that's everybody’s!”
