A Sunshine Coast family business that began as a humble market stall has grown into a viral cookie sensation, now operating across three locations in the region.
Soulfull Tribe founder Angie Fitzpatrick, 42, is a Coolum Beach local, mum to 17-year-old son Cooper and owner of two “needy” French bulldogs.
While her husband works FIFO, Ms Fitzpatrick has been quietly building one of the Coast’s most talked-about cookie brands.
“I founded Soulfull Tribe eight years ago as my side hustle while working full time,” she said.
With a long-standing passion for baking, Ms Fitzpatrick started by selling her bake-at-home range at Eumundi Markets on weekends. While the products were popular, customer feedback quickly revealed a gap in the market.
“Everyone loved my products, but they really wanted something that they could eat there and then, so I started baking,” she said.
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To stand out from other market stalls, Ms Fitzpatrick invested in ovens and a van, baking cookies fresh onsite — a move that would define the brand.
“People literally travel from interstate just for our fresh baked cookies and we have a huge Melbourne following that travel here for holidays,” she said.
“We also have lots of regulars from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, even as far north as Rockhampton that visit us on their weekends.”
The success at Eumundi Markets led to an unexpected opportunity, with shopping centres approaching Soulfull Tribe to expand into retail kiosks.
Today, Soulfull Tribe operates at Eumundi Markets, Sunshine Plaza (outside Target) and Kawana Shoppingworld, with hopes of growing its local following even further.
The cookie menu continues to evolve, with major expansions planned for the year ahead.
“We have some really exciting things in the works this year, including a dessert bar, more mystery cookie flavours, bake at home dough, mini cookies and savoury cookies — just to name a few,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.
While every cookie has its fans, one flavour continues to stand out.
“People come back again and again for our classic salted choc chip,” she said.
“Our cookies are like nothing else on the market. All our cookies go through a super-secret production process that makes them taste and look so good.”
Despite rising rents and competition from larger brands, Ms Fitzpatrick remains passionate about keeping Soulfull Tribe local and hands-on.
“We are a small local business and it’s really hard to compete with the big guys and rising rents in these centres, but I’m giving it my all,” she said.
“My team and I make all our dough by hand at our shared production facility in Coolum.”
Freshness remains the heart of the brand, with Ms Fitzpatrick fighting to ensure every location can bake onsite.
“I fought really hard to acquire the power we needed onsite to allow us to bake all our cookies fresh at every location,” she said.
“I am so confident that our cookies will be the best cookies you will ever eat. Just look for our pink and red check branding or follow your nose to find us.”
