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Mrs. Fields rises again
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October 18, 1996: 7:52 p.m. ET
Though her cookie empire crumbled, Debbie Fields has found a new life
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Debbie Fields' story hasn't always been a pretty one.
She started the cookie business that bears her name even when her husband and parents frankly called it a stupid idea.
And after Mrs. Field's Cookies became a ubiquitous success, she lost the company due to bad business decisions.
But Debbie Fields is quick to say to anyone that she believes in the American Dream.
And now she is back, hosting shows on Public Television and the Food Network, and promoting her new cookbook, "Great American Desserts."
The entrepreneur who seemingly put a cookie shop in every mall in America spoke about her businesses Friday on CNNfn's "Who's In Charge," Fittingly, she made her comments over a bowl of fudgy Brazilian walnut brownies, made from a recipe in the cookbook.
She said that growing up in her large family, the thing she liked to do best was bake chocolate chip cookies, something her father even encouraged her to do. (200K WAV) or (200K AIF).
But when, at age 20, she broached the idea of baking cookies for a living, her parents and husband balked. "They said it was a stupid idea, it will never work, it would absolutely fail, " recalled Fields. "They said you have no money, no job experience and no formal education."
Fields was not deterred. Finding backing for her cookie business wasn't easy. "Trying to get financing was ridiculous," she said. After many rejections, Bank of America finally decided to lend to the fledgling enterprise. The loan officer, said Fields, just liked her cookies.
The business grew steadily, but Fields made the classic entrepreneurial mistake of overexpansion. When the recession hit in the late 1980s, the debt on the company became unbearable.
"The only thing I could do was swap my ownership for a reduction of debt. I didn't have a choice," she recalled. "It was like parting with my family, like giving [your baby] up for adoption."
With no cookie company in her life, Fields found other things to do, however. With her new ventures in television, she has essentially managed to become an entrepreneur again.
But she is still a slim and healthy one. When asked how she managed to keep in shape while cooking and writing about rich desserts, Fields said the secret was moderation and working out.
"You got to have chocolate for the soul," she said. "And exercise for the heart."
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