Zeilinger Named One of Ernest & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year/Northeast Ohio

December 11, 2013

Picked as best in the Retail and Consumer Products category

Jimmy Zeilinger, owner and CEO of Brand Castle, LLC, was a winner of the Ernest & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, an honor bestowed upon a handful of business leaders in nine different categories. He won in the highly competitive Retail and Consumer Products category.

Zeilinger’s business began when he sought a fun and easy way to cook with his kids. Since Brand Castle’s inception in 2005, it has grown to include more than 300 SKUs sold at major retailers nationwide. Many of those products are licensed by industry luminaries like Crayola, Disney and Kellogg’s. The company’s products merge arts and crafts with entertainment, which essentially captures its longstanding successful formula. The products also taste great since they are made with gourmet ingredients.

“It’s creativity that got us to where we are today, along with listening to the market and responding in a fun and humorous way,” says Zeilinger. “We really are the first company to inject humor into baking.” Case in point, the Ugly Christmas Sweater cookie baking kit. Also, the ninja gingerbread figures for Christmas, known as “Ninjabread.”

Consumers literally and figuratively eat it all up.

About Brand Castle

Located in a suburb outside Cleveland, Ohio, Brand Castle was founded in 2005 by Jimmy Zeilinger and his wife, Andrea. The company is the leader in interactive baking kits for consumers of all ages. It offers an extensive selection of kits sold under the brand names Crafty Cooking Kits, Aspen Spice and In The Mix. It also offers licensed brands including Disney, Kellogg’s, Marvel, Dreamworks, Synder’s and Motts. Several million kits are sold annually nationwide.

Brand Castle’s interactive baking kits can be purchased in a wide range of distribution channels including grocery, drug, craft, mass, club and specialty. Among the well-known retailers carrying Brand Castle products are Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops, JoAnn Fabrics, Toys R Us, Cost Plus World Market, Walmart, Walgreens and Target.

The company prides itself on providing consumers with high quality, great tasting baking kits that create lasting memories shared between family and friends.

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