From Kitchen to Eurasia: Laura’s Biscottis

Seven years ago, Laura Smith began baking biscottis in the kitchen of her Malvern home.

Now, she is shipping the same sweets to England and Korea.

Laura’s Biscotti was first born at the request of Malvern’s Restaurant Alba owners in the interest of adding the Italian treat to their menu in 2006. In the years following, Smith moved her baking station from her kitchen to a larger rental space, and later hired a baker due to the expansion. Both her biscotti and granola are now available at the Malvern Farmers Market, as well as at local venues and on her website.

Smith follows six, self-made biscotti recipes year round: chocolate pistachio, brown butter pecan, almond anise, cherry pistachio, peanut butter chocolate and dark chocolate fig. She also offers seasonal flavors, including summer’s lavender lemon. A snickerdoodle flavor is currently in the works. Almost all varieties contain nuts.

The biscottis contain predominantly all natural and organic ingredients, and Smith now dubs them an “official product” because they contain both nutrition facts and a UPC code on the packaging.

Smith graduated from Syracuse University and initially worked in television advertising until she realized that her work lacked passion. Now a mother of four, Smith values the flexibility of her current endeavour though she noted “making an income” as the most challenging aspect of her startup business.

“I get so much positive feedback. The thing about selling advertising was that I never felt passion for it,” Smith said. “It’s feeling it in your heart. Ninety-eight percent of what I hear is positive, while 2 percent of what I hear is negative. Even if people don’t like it, I know it’s good.”

“It makes you realize that there’s so much more value to life than just money. Doing a good job is important, and the quality of life is important.”

Smith prefers selling her products at smaller venues, where they will be more visible though she has made contacts with Whole Foods and DiBruno Brothers in the past. Retailers including Newtown Square’s Burlap and Bean, Ardmore’s Carlino’s Specialty Foods and Philadelphia’s Talula’s Table now carry her baked goods.

When asked about the future goals of her business, Smith turned to her daughter, Paige Smith-Hogan who helps work the biscotti booth at the Malvern market on Saturdays.

“World domination,” Smith-Hogan joked.