Cookie Chicks Bake Yummy Gourmet Cookies
Cookie Monster might want to move to Comstock Park just to be near Cookie Chicks. Owners Holly del Rosario and Tami Pelham, who started the cookie making business in 2015, moved to 3979 West River Dr. in downtown Comstock Park in 2017 to accommodate their growing business.
del Rosario and Pelham met while volunteering at the Cannonsburg Challenged Ski Association, a program that provides adaptive ski lessons for people with disabilities. Pelham, brought cookies for the kids and volunteers who raved about how good they were. In 2015 del Rosario was looking for a job after being downsized from her job in communications marketing at Amway, and they went into business using Pelham’s recipes.
They had been operating out of del Rosario’s home in Ada where she has a commercial-grade kitchen, but as the business grew, they needed a space dedicated to their business. del Rosario said the Comstock Park location has worked well for the them.
“When I was considering locations for my business, I didn’t really know about (Comstock Park), she said. “When I read an ad on Craigslist about a great space, centrally-located to all the highways, plenty of parking with an address on the busy West River Drive with reasonable terms, I knew that I would not find any better fit than here.”
del Rosario said the location, along with support of the community worked out so well that they expanded into the suite at the front of their building and opened Cooking Connection where small food start-ups have a chance to “test the viability of their business without a huge cash outlay.”
Cookie Chicks makes “bake to order” cookies made with natural ingredients – pure cane sugar, pure vanilla – and no preservatives. Their motto is “a Cookie Chick cookie is worth the calories.” The business is by order and many of their customers are corporations who order gift boxes of cookies for clients or cookies for events. Cookies can be custom packaged with a special logo or for a holiday or special occasion like a birthday. Their delivery area extends throughout West Michigan.
The space is a homey kitchen with white cupboards the two found at a Habitat for Humanity Restore. A massive ten by four-foot stainless steel table dominates the main room, and there is a stainless steel refrigerator, commercial sink, and a microwave. del Rosario said the idea was to make the kitchen “look less commercial, more like a homey feel for other uses.” The 750 square foot space is available to rent for events like cooking or wine and bouquet classes.
del Rosario said the equipment is intentionally like that found in a home kitchen. She employs special needs individuals. “The equipment is what the special needs staff would find at home, so it helps them learn to be independent,” she said.
del Rosario has a degree in marketing from the University of Connecticut and a Master’s degree in international marketing from Thunderbird University in Arizona. She lives in Ada with her husband who is an engineer. The couple has one grown son and a son who is a senior in high school. When she’s not working (which is rare) she enjoys cooking, skiing, time with family and friends, going out with their two therapy dogs, and volunteering.