Yummy Brothers

See how the Billingslea brothers from Atlanta, Georgia, run their baking business.

December 2025/January 2026

By Susan Cosier

Scholastic: How did you start your business?
Yummy Brothers: Our mom used to make cookies for us all the time. We’d take them to parties and family gatherings. People fought over the last few cookies! They offered us money to make a batch of cookies, so we came together and thought we could make a profit off of it. We made the logo in May 2017, and it blasted off from there.

Scholastic: What goes into making and selling your cookies?
Yummy Brothers: We make 1,500 dozen cookies each week with all-natural ingredients. We rent a commercial kitchen for $3,000 a month where we make more than 90 flavors, like chocolate toffee and lemon white chocolate. Customers can sign up to get a box delivered every month. In the summer, we go on a cookie tour and open pop-ups around the U.S. We also make dog treats, and are working on an album of songs we wrote about cookies. What goes into making and selling your cookies?

Yummy Brothers' Cookies and Cream

Scholastic: What’s the best part of running your business?
Yummy Brothers: Spending time with our family. We don’t spend a lot of time apart since we travel together across the country selling cookies. You have to cherish those moments. We also really enjoy spending time with our mom making cookie dough. We just talk the whole time. Selling cookies also teaches us to be confident.

Scholastic: What math do you use to run your business?
Yummy Brothers: We use multiplication, addition, fractions, and proportions. The math we use depends on what we’re making. Since we have different flavors, we have to measure the ingredients using proportions! For example, 1 tablespoon is 3 teaspoons, so instead of adding 3 teaspoons one after the other, you could just do 1 tablespoon and be done.

Scholastic: What advice do you have for kids who want to start a business?
Yummy Brothers: Have a good attitude—it’s contagious. We’ve been baking and selling our cookies for eight years, and there have been times when people say no, but you have to keep going. You can’t give in to adversity.

USING PROPORTIONS

The Billingslea brothers bake thousands of cookies and dog treats every month. They use proportions to help plan baking large batches of cookies every day. A proportion is an equation that states that two ratios are equivalent. Record your work and answers on our answer sheet.

A. There are 12 cookies in 1 dozen. The Yummy Brothers make 1,500 dozen cookies each week. How many cookies do they make in total?

B. They sell their cookies for $26 per box. How many boxes would they have to sell to pay 1 month’s rent of $3,000 for the commercial kitchen, rounded up to the nearest whole box?

A. A batch of 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies calls for 2 cups of chocolate chips. How many cups of chocolate chips do they need to make 600 dozen cookies?