Business News
FRESH-BAKED BUSINESS
From oven to grateful mouth, these cookies are the pride of a local entrepreneur
12/11/04
By LEAH ETLING
From oven to grateful mouth, these cookies are the pride of a local entrepreneur
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Florists encourage you to say it with flowers.
Christina Gumpert wants you to say it with a cookie.
The 31-year-old's cookie delivery service, Hot Cookie, is an innovative way to say thank you for a job well done, good report card or just because.
Because, as Ms. Gumpert points out, "you can't eat flowers." Her creative cookies are made from recipes she has been using since she started baking as a teenager and contain no preservatives. They are baked and delivered the very same day, giving them the fresh taste you'd expect from something you made yourself.
She offers peanut butter, peanut butter chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, chocolate chip and butter cookies. The butter cookies are one of the most popular and the recipe that Ms. Gumpert will never give up. Her Web site claims it originated with Marie Antoinette.
Ms. Gumpert delivers the cookies for free in Santa Barbara or ships them anywhere.
She moved to Santa Barbara two years ago to study business, economics and global studies at UCSB. Hot Cookie began in May when she realized there was no similar service in town.
The cookies arrive in a white bakery box, individually wrapped, and cutely tied with pink and brown ribbon for $19.95 per dozen.
Packaging and creative cards for the recipient are all designed by Ms. Gumpert. She even assists lovelorn men with pithy messages. What girl wouldn't want a box of cookies from her sweetheart?
The cookies can also be found at Reds coffeehouse and Panino sandwich shop. But the primary storefront for Hot Cookie is online.
Ms. Gumpert's Web site, www.hotcookie.com, reveals some of the secrets of her cookies in their individual profiles.
Peanut butter: "On the first day, God created light. He proceeded to create a bunch of other stuff until the 31st day, when he created peanut butter. The 31st day, you say? Isn't that a little late? Well, it takes some time to find true inspiration. And yeah, it was good. Have your own piece of heaven with this cookie, a cookie that will delight you with its pure dedication to peanut butter."
She is looking forward to her first Christmas season in the cookie business. "I'm so excited," she said, exuberantly reciting her cookie decorating and packaging plans.
The business has also given her with a new nickname: "Cookie girl" But as her biography on the Web site points out, she can live up to it.
Her photo tag line reads, "Hot cookie herself."