Matt Thomas in the front of the store where customers can pose and post a photo on the store’s Instagram page.
Despite the pandemic striking just as they were ready to open a business, Matt and Elise Thomas have cooked up a success with the Cookie Corner on Stuart Avenue.
The restaurant is strategically placed to serve snack hungry residents coming from the movie theater or any of the new establishments popping up around the train station in Downtown Redlands.
When they acquired the lease for the building in the fall of 2019, it was surrounded by empty lots. Eighteen months later, it has become one of the hotspots in town.
In March 2020, the couple was getting ready to open their cookie business right as the pandemic hit. Instead, they decided to renovate the building and get past shutdowns and restrictions that turned out to define much of 2020. During this time they perfected recipes and served their delicious cookies from their home in Redlands, finding customers through Instagram posts and by word of mouth.
People came all the way from Los Angeles, Palm Springs and San Diego.
“Just for this? Yes, we saw it on Instagram and it seemed cool,” Thomas recounted customers saying.
Initially they limited their production to 200 to 250 cookies a week because they baked from their home kitchen through a cottage permit from the city. Since the Cookie Corner store opened in August 2020, they have been making more than 30,000 cookies per month.
“We’ve been really steady since we opened,” he said.
Elise Thomas has always gotten high praise for her baked goods, so when she wanted to open a bakery, Matt Thomas agreed it was a good idea. He worked at a marketing company he helped found but was ready to do something else. They noticed the lack of specialty stores in Redlands and had always been interested in entrepreneurship. With the success they’ve seen so far, it looks like they chose well.
“Our cookies are soft and chewy based on the way we cook them. It is intentionally a little undercooked,” Thomas described their types of cookies.
Much of their marketing is done via Instagram, where they have more than 15,000 followers. Inside the store is a social media friendly wall with their logo and lots of oranges representing Redlands’ history. Outside is a white-and-black exterior where people often take pictures of themselves with their cookies.
These posts are then shared on the Cookie Corner Instagram profile for everyone to enjoy and be inspired by.
Thomas said it hasn’t been easy finding their footing through the soft opening and the pandemic.
“We are not perfect. We know that. We make mistakes but we recognize them and are constantly evaluating ourselves,” he said.
Even with that, they are looking into the possibility of opening a second location. They also still want to host an official grand opening.
Cookie Corner’s menu consists of 40 kinds of cookies. They always have chocolate chip cookies and then three new kinds posted online every Sunday night.
Cookie Corner offers about 40 kids of cookies.
About Cookie Corner
Where: Cookie Corner, 100 W. Stuart Ave., Redlands.
Website: cookiecornerco.com
Social media: @cookiecornerco on Instagram and Facebook.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
Price range: $3.75 per cookie or $14 for four and $42 for a dozen.
A few kinds of cookies: Orange Blossom, Sea Salt & Caramel, Snickerdoodl
The Link LonkApril 01, 2021 at 10:40PM
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Cookie Corner serves chewy cookies | News | redlandscommunitynews.com - Redlands News
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