Challah Dolly’s Pandemic Launch

As millions are unemployed due to COVID-19 and struggling to get by, some have turned to entrepreneurship.

One of those is Dolly Meckler, 28, of the UES. Meckler, a content creator, social media strategist and storyteller, who is the co-founder of Snaplistings, recently launched Challah Dolly.

Meckler worked for HBO for four years, did social media do for YouTube and a year ago, moved to Los Angeles. Out west, she worked as a freelancer creating content and suddenly COVID-19 arrived.

The millennial then decided to do a fun quarantine project, which turned into much more.

“There was a baking frenzy,” she recalled. “I decided to bake challah.”

She would post pictures of the scrumptious bread on her Instagram and soon people were messaging her asking to buy some.

Meckler was soon selling them out of her apartment in Hollywood and even offered curbside pickup.

In June she returned to her roots on the UES and the business has grown.

“People had F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out),” she explained.

‘Power of Social Media’

All of the challahs are ordered via her Instagram and people can choose from plain, everything and cinnamon sugar. Also, she has teamed up with a bakery on the Lower East Side and has done a few pop up events with them.

She sold around 200 challahs for Rosh Hashanah and since the company’s inception, more than 800.

“The power of social media is pretty incredible,” Meckler told Our Town.

Meckler noted that growing up her family often ate out, so she finds it “ironic that she now has a baked goods company.”

While she never imagined it would be big this big, she is proud and has high expectations. According to Meckler, the goal is to eventually sell her challahs in bakeries, coffee shops and supermarkets.

“I know how much work goes into baking bread,” she commented. “It’s always stressful, but I get it done.”