Story by Josie Donohue

This southeastern Ohio couple runs two full-time businesses: an exercise facility and a sweets shop.

*Madi and Chase Jenkins sell Mad Batter Cookie Co. cookies at the Meigs County Farmers Market.*

Sometimes, the ingredients to the recipe for success don’t seem to go hand in hand. For Chase and Madi Jenkins, their success stems from owning two seemingly opposite small businesses: a local gym and an e-commerce cookie company.

The Jenkins’s decided to quit their regular day jobs and pursue their dreams of opening their own small businesses. These high school sweethearts turned business partners started thinking about opening a gym in Southeast Ohio after finding that Meigs County did not have access to health programs close to home.

This news motivated Chase to take up a full-time position in 2019 as the small business owner of Uplift Fitness located on Main Street in Pomeroy, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River.

At Uplift, they strive to be “counter-fitness culture” to create an environment where anyone can feel welcome at any stage of their personal health journey. The Jenkins have also curated many resources for their members outside of the physical facility on their website, upliftfitnessohio.com, such as recipes, classes, online workshops, educational programs and much more.

The Jenkin’s pose in their gym, Uplift Fitness.

“We’re always adding and adding because we want to build value. As we go along, the more we interact with people, and we see more needs,” Chase says.

The gym offers two different membership packages: one that provides 24/7 access and one that allows fitness-goers to visit the gym during regularly staffed hours. When in the gym, personal trainers are there to assist and welcome members in with a smile and a friendly face.

Cole Durst, a junior at Ohio University studying exercise physiology, has been going to Uplift Fitness for two and a half years now due to its welcoming environment and opportunity to work with a personal trainer. Durst is currently set to soon become a personal trainer himself at Uplift and looks forward to helping people in the community.

“Chase and Madi have been tremendous to work with,” Durst says. “They definitely give it their all in everything they do and I’m excited to see how much more they accomplish.”

The goal for Uplift Fitness is to create an atmosphere where members can feel comfortable and positive about their wellbeing while also getting stronger not only physically, but mentally.

The Jenkins co-run the gym, but while Chase focuses on fitness, Madi has tuned in to her sweet side.

Mad Batter Cookie Co. was an idea that came to Madi after she was tasked with creating a business plan for her marketing capstone project at the University of Rio Grande in 2019. She was inspired after she started baking and selling sweets to family and friends in the community as a side hustle to make some extra cash.

“I ended up using that business to make an actual business plan and I was like ‘Woah, this is kinda legit—I could use it,’” Madi says.

Post-graduation, Madi realized a routine desk job was not for her, and after some test runs (and taste testing), Mad Batter Cookie Co. blossomed into a full-time e-commerce business in February 2020.

After placing an order online at madbattercookie.com, these massive, freshly baked cookies are shipped to you. According to their FAQ section on the website, “Orders Monday -Sunday night are baked the following week. Cookies are baked fresh Monday-Wednesday each week and mailed 24 hours from out of the oven. We will send you an email with a tracking number when shipped.”

These sweet treats go above and beyond the average store-bought cookies. Flavors like Brownie Batter, Classic Chocolate Chip and Sugar Mama (which is a sprinkle-coated sugar cookie) grace the menu, but there have also been unique flavors of the month such as Strawberry Pop Tart, Margarita and Funky Monkey.

Mad Batter Cookie Co. strives to create cookies that give customers a nostalgia element, making them feel like a kid at grandma’s house again.

“Those flavors that I would have loved as a kid is what I want to put into a cookie,” Madi says.

The best seller is Peanut Buddy, which is a peanut flavored cookie stuffed with peanut butter filling and topped with Reese’s Pieces. These locally famous sugary snacks have been shipped nationwide from the East to the West Coast and the shop continues to grow weekly.

On top of maintaining both businesses, Madi and Chase also co-run a private marketing agency on the side where they provide resources, support and insight that small business owners can use to start growing their own businesses.

These small business owners’ biggest piece of advice for those interested in starting their own shop is to work backward. Rather than starting from square one, they advise that it is better if one imagines the end target and then designs a plan to work toward that goal.

“You don’t have to have money; you don’t have to have a master’s degree,” Chase says. “You just need a community and the right people doing the right things. We’ll make that happen.