Eileen Joy Spitalny and David Kravetz have been inseparable — tackling homework at the kitchen table while the smell of his mother’s brownies drifted through the home, staying tight through their college years in California, and carrying with them a shared dream that they’d build a business together.
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The duo’s plan was realized with Fairytale Brownies, using his mom Nancy’s recipe. Spitalny and Kravetz had the confidence that it was tasty enough to build something real.
The company offers 12 flavors, with classics like original, walnut and chocolate chip still leading the pack. Fairytale Brownies’ “Magic Morsel” size — bite‑sized squares of dense, rich brownie — is its most popular. New flavors will come later this year.
“We bake and ship 7 million brownies a year,” Spitalny said. “Half of those go out in the first three weeks of December for the holidays.”
Fairytale Brownies has received rave reviews in publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wine Spectator, and has been featured on segments of “Food Finds” and “Unwrapped” on The Food Network.
Fairytale story
Spitalny and Kravetz complement each other, as she sees the big picture, and he sees the formulas.
There was nothing glossy about the early days. In 1992, Spitalny and Kravetz set up shop in a 1,003‑square‑foot catering kitchen in Old Town Scottsdale. They were young, working long hours, and figuring out the mechanics of running a bakery.
Those early years were defined by creativity and grit. They relied on neighbors — many of them musicians in the Tempe scene — to help wrap brownies or assemble gifts. They built an advisory board of experts in legal issues, food safety, call centers, and strategic management, leaning heavily on the lessons Spitalny absorbed in USC’s entrepreneurship program.
Spitalny laughs, thinking back to how little they knew. Neither she nor Kravetz were bakers by trade. Her husband, Michael — then her boyfriend — became their first official employee, earning about $4.25 an hour. They sold the treats at farmers markets, coffee shops and street fairs, scribbling down names and addresses from visitors who wanted brownies shipped back home.
“We didn’t know we were starting a seasonal business,” she said. “We learned everything the hard way.”
And they learned quickly that their future wasn’t in coffee shops, where unsold brownies had to be picked up at the end of the day. Their future was in gifting — especially corporate gifting. December became their “Super Bowl.” Even today, after 34 years in business, Fairytale Brownies makes most of its annual revenue in that single month.
From that tiny kitchen, Fairytale Brownies expanded to 2,000 square feet, then 10,000, and finally into its current 37,000‑square‑foot bakery, built in 2006, in Tempe. Moving in was a gamble — construction delays pushed the timeline dangerously close to their busiest season — but Spitalny and Kravetz trusted their instincts.
“Not everyone agreed with us,” she recalled. “But leadership means sticking to the plan when the data and experience tell you it’s right.”
Today, the company runs three baking shifts during peak season and swells from 40 employees to about 160. Retention is one of their quiet superpowers: some employees have been with them for 32 years. Every new hire receives “Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute,” a Ken Blanchard book that reinforces the company’s culture of autonomy, problem‑solving, and shared purpose.
Since 2001, Fairytale Brownies has partnered with KABOOM!, a nonprofit dedicated to ending play‑space inequity. Their annual open house, now held each spring, raises funds for KABOOM!’s “Unlock the Possibilities” fund.
This year’s open house is from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26, at the bakery, 4610 E. Cotton Center Boulevard, Phoenix. Fairytale Brownies will offer $1 imperfect treats; $3 bags of brownie/blondie edges; free gifts to the first 100 guests; sample fairytale treats; raffle prizes and mystery gifts. Toasted Mallow will serve treats outside from its food truck.
The event will also feature live music, hula hoops, hopscotch and milkshakes. Fairytale Brownies is aiming to raise $10,000 — and KABOOM! is sending a representative to celebrate the partnership’s impact.
“David and I met on the playground,” Spitalny said. “Supporting play for kids just feels right.”
Though Eileen now splits her time between Old Town Scottsdale and Northern California, she returns for spring training. She was Fairytale Brownies’ first remote employee “long before remote work had a name,” and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her setup became Fairytale Brownies’ model.
There have been hard years — 2008, tariffs, audits, the pandemic — but resilience is baked into the company’s DNA. “When you make a mistake, you learn from it,” she says. “You don’t give up.”
