Cookie Good 2024: A mouthful of paradise
Ross Canter is the co-founder of Cookie Good, a renowned bakery known for its creative and delicious cookies. With a background in the movie business as an executive and producer, Ross transitioned into a full-time writer before venturing into the world of baking. His passion for baking began during college, where he started a brownie business, challenging himself to create unique flavors. Ross brings his creative flair and meticulous attention to detail to Cookie Good, ensuring that each cookie flavor is carefully crafted to perfection. Through his innovative approach and commitment to quality, Ross has helped Cookie Good grow into a beloved bakery, spreading joy and delight one cookie at a time. DeliveryRank finds out more.
Ross, can you share the inspiration behind the concept of "feeling Cookie Good" and how it influences your approach to baking and business?
It comes from my life as a writer. I spent a lot of time in the movie business as an executive and producer but always dreamed of being a writer. Finally transitioning into a full-time writing career, however, I discovered that the process was emotionally challenging. There’s a constant internal struggle, a roller coaster of self-doubt as I worked to finish a script and then waited endlessly for people to read it (and the longer they took to respond, the more I assumed they hated it). That said, there are moments of total joy when you achieve a breakthrough and produce something truly surprising (or you finally hear from your producer who actually liked what you wrote) -- I lived for those moments.
By contrast, baking has always been a passion of mine that never caused me any self-doubt. During college and my time as an intern in the movie industry, I started a brownie business to make some extra cash. Back then, there were only two kinds of brownie: chocolate or chocolate-walnut so I thought it’d be fun to challenge myself to create at least five different and new flavors each day. I enjoyed the process of transforming the basic chocolate brownie into something unique. I later focused that creativity on cookies, moving beyond chocolate chip or oatmeal-raisin to craft new flavors based on my favorite desserts or sugary breakfast cereals that I’d bake as gifts for my agents and producers, and for bake sales at my kids' school.
One day, while venting to a friend about the emotional trials of being a writer, I compared the process of writing to baking, remarking that I had no self-judgment when making cookies. I could take a few ingredients that wouldn’t be much on their own, combine them in just the right way and end up with something delicious and comforting and, most importantly, didn’t make me question my existence as a human being. I really wished I could feel cookie good about my writing.
Years later when my wife, Melanie, and I were starting our cookie business, that idea, that feeling was the inspiration for our company’s name. For us, feeling cookie good means so many things. It’s the freedom from self-criticism, the freedom to be creative, and the freedom to let go and simply enjoy the end result. It's about that moment you first bite into a cookie, when the chocolate and butter and sugar hit your tongue and suddenly whatever’s been bugging you disappears and you can’t help but smile. Specifically, for us, it’s about nostalgia and how each bite transports you back to childhood memories. Most of our flavors are inspired by treats I ate as a child or wished I could have (ironically, we didn’t have a lot of sweets in our house). This sense of joy and cookie-goodness runs through our entire business: from our bright and colorful cookies and the insane aroma that hits you when you walk into our shop (or open up a box at home) to the our simple but happy packaging; from our team of employees who are more like family to our loyal customers who are more like friends, this feeling is everywhere. And not because we’re smart and intentionally designed it to be that way, but somehow it just is.
What sets your cookies apart in terms of taste, ingredients, and the overall experience they offer to customers?
I put a lot of thought into developing each of our flavors so one of the most personally hurtful comments we ever received was from a Yelper who dismissed our cookies as simple sugar cookies with random toppings. This couldn't be further from the truth. Every batch of cookie dough is specific and uniquely prepared. We doubt someone would feel nostalgic biting into a sugar cookie with Cap’n Crunch on top...but a cookie that’s got tons of ground Cap’n Crunch cereal mixed into the dough, is packed with Crunchberries, and baked to be crunchy on the outside yet chewy on the inside will most definitely take you back to a Saturday morning in your pjs watching your favorite cartoons.
Since many of our cookies are based on familiar desserts (or ice creams or candies or cakes), people will have an expectation of what it should taste like before they even take a bite. So, we work really hard to not only deliver on that expectation but go beyond it. You’re going to get lots of toasty graham cracker, milk chocolate, and marshmallow in our S’mores Cookie but to next-level it, we use a near-excessive amount of the best, creamiest milk chocolate chunks and chips and we even torch each marshmallow to the point you can almost taste the campfire.
Our cookies are not oversized, nor are they mini; they're designed to be enjoyed either individually or shared. We often hear about people gathering around a box of our cookies at a party, breaking off pieces of different flavors and sharing them with others – we love that!
Could you describe the process of creating new cookie flavors and how you ensure they evoke the nostalgic and comforting feelings you aim for?
The process of developing new cookie flavors is a lot like my process of writing. Inspiration strikes and then I get to work trying to bring to life what was birthed in my brain. For example, the idea of turning Cheetos into a cookie popped into me head one day (some people might think of a Cheetos Cookie as a gimmick, but I genuinely love Cheetos!) and later that night I sat in my backyard and started “building” the cookie in my head. There’s something about the quiet and the cold that helps me focus and think. I imagined the taste and texture, how I’d balance the cheesy and sweet; if the cookie would be crunch or chewy, fluffy or thin – one thing was sure: it’d have to turn your fingers orange with Cheetos dust. The next morning, I got into the kitchen and made the cookie. While some ideas come together quickly, others, like the elusive Butterscotch Pot de Crème Cookie, remain in the R&D phase (I will get that one right one day!).
Your bakery's story includes a transition from baking at home to baking in a commercial kitchen and eventually your own bakery. What were some of the challenges and rewards of this journey?
We started Cookie Good in during the 2008 writers’ strike. I’d been through a months-long writers’ strike when I was an executive and was afraid this one would drag on too. So, just as I had years earlier, I turned to baking to make a little extra cash. Surprisingly, it was Melanie who does not bake and hates the mess I make in the kitchen, who suggested starting the business. We sent emails to friends and family, and orders soon began pouring in. A local restaurant heard about us and we started supplying them with cookies (a cookie-drop of 10 a week cookies quickly grew into 150+). A producer friend asked us to ship 25 boxes to New York. We hadn’t even thought about shipping cookies. We did a quick postal experiment – the cookies travelled really well – and we were suddenly in the cookie-shipping business.
Ironically, the 2008 strike lasted only a few weeks, but the demand for our cookies kept coming. Even as I sat in Starbucks back at writing, orders continued to flow in and I’d have to rush home to bake. We outgrew our home kitchen and found space a few hours each week in a commercial bakery. That soon proved to too limiting and we knew that we’d have to find our own shop. We’ve had our bakery in Santa Monica for almost 10 years – we have a team of about 15 people, we ship cookies nationwide (we’re even on Goldbelly), and we have an amazing base of customers who incorporate our cookies into their weddings and celebrations.
That said, I think one of the biggest challenges facing any new business is...just starting. It’s completely overwhelming to contemplate: the costs, the time, all of the unknowns. It’s so much easier to stay home and watch Netflix. And truth is, if someone in 2008 had asked if we thought we’d ever have our own bakery, we’d have said: absolutely not. That’s not to say that we didn’t dream about it but whenever we sat down to actually plot out a practical course of action we’d start to hyperventilate.
Then I remembered something I learned when I started writing. Consumed by the pressure to fill up a 110-page screenplay, I turned to Anne Lamott’s book, “Bird by Bird” for some simple but much-needed advice. In it she talks about the benefit of taking things "bit by bit, step by step" – so, rather than focusing on 110 pages, focus on 1 page and then another. Point being, by breaking down the task into smaller, more manageable parts, it was much easier to keep moving forward. That approach of not getting lost in the end result, but rather, concentrating on each step of the journey, has been key to our success at Cookie Good.
"Cookie Good" is not just about delicious cookies but also about giving back and making an impact. How do you incorporate your values into your business practices and community involvement?
We receive numerous daily requests for gift cards and sponsorships and we wish we could give to all of them. It’s really hard to say “no”. But we do run two major campaigns each year in support of the Breast Cancer Care & Research Fund – an advocacy group very near to our heart. Melanie had breast cancer 30 years ago and has been living with it ever since. BCCRF has been a tremendous support for Melanie and is at the front lines in the fight to end breast cancer.
In May we have our Mother's Day Cookie Box (with cookie flavors all based on our mothers’ favorite cakes – Chocolate Blackout Cake, Lemon Pound Cake, Strawberry Shortcake, etc) and in October we do a box of pink cookies in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A portion of all sales for both months goes to BCCRF.
Beyond our charitable efforts, we strive to spread joy and happiness through our cookies. This sense of joy is central to our promotion of feeling "cookie good."
If you would like to find out more about Cookie Good, please visit https://cookiegood.com/