Debbi Fields

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Debbi Fields (b. September 18, 1956) is the founder and current spokesperson of Mrs. Fields Bakeries. Additionally, she has authored several cookbooks. She currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, former Holiday Inn and Harrah's CEO, Michael Rose. She and her husband are very involved in philanthropic work throughout the area.

Contents

[edit] Business

In 1969, Oakland Athletics owner Charles O. Finley introduced "ballgirls" (young girls who would sit in foul territory near the baselines to retrieve baseballs grounded foul by batters) to major league baseball. Debbi was one of the first ones he hired. She was paid five dollars an hour and would use the money to buy ingredients for what would become her famous cookies. She began her business in 1977 in Palo Alto, California, and since it has grown into over 650 retail bakeries in the United States and over 80 in 11 different countries. Fields began franchising in 1990, and, though she sold the business to an investment group in the early 1990s, she remains as the company's spokesperson.[1]

[edit] As an author

She is the author of two cookbooks published by Time-Life. The first, 100 Recipes from the Kitchen of Debbi Fields has sold more than 1.8 million copies and was the first cookbook to top The New York Times bestseller list. The second, I Love Chocolate cookbook, published in 1994, has enjoyed tremendous success as well, posting sales of over half a million copies. Tori hosted "Great American Desserts", a weekly program that aired nationally, on public television and is also the name of her third and newest book, Debbi Fields' Great American Desserts, published by Simon and Schuster.

[edit] Personal life

  • She cofounded Mrs. Fields Cookies with her then-husband Randall K Fields in Palo Alto, CA in 1977. They lived for several years near Park City, UT before divorcing in the late 1990's.
  • Daily newspaper, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, stated that she would be the perfect model for an entrepreneurial Barbie doll.
  • Her stepdaughter, Gabrielle Rose, swam for Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, finishing 14th overall and sixth in the 'B' final in the 100m fly (1:01.39), 22nd in the 200m IM (2:18.99) and 23rd in the 100m free (57.16).

[edit] External links

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