Hot Box Cookies cures late-night cookie cravings
Hot Box Cookies bakes chocolate-chip cures for Columbia's late-night sweet tooth.
Oct. 14, 2008
Customers at Hot Box Cookies can decorate and personalize the boxes used for delivery.
Starting Friday, Hot Box Cookies will begin catering to your guiltiest late-night, cookie-needing pleasures. The store will custom-make cookie creations and other gourmet treats.
Beneath the windows of his Broadway storefront sits David Melnick: student, co-owner and cookie maker extraordinaire. A junior at MU, Melnick, along with his friends, senior Corey Rimmel and junior Adam Hendin, is the mind behind Hot Box Cookies, Columbia's first gourmet cookie delivery service.
The bakery promises college students a chance to score warm, freshly baked cookies until 4 a.m. on Fridays and as late as 1 a.m. on weekdays. The store is set to open Friday, when the guys will begin catering their baked goods to Columbia residents - all in the name of gourmet late-night snacking. In addition to the basic cookie package, patrons can enjoy their cookies with the options of milk, smoothies, ice cream sandwiches and cookies a la mode: plenty of variations to easily satisfy the salty or sweet tooth.
The store, boasting an "Opening Soon" sign, passed health inspections Oct. 9 and received its work permit then as well, Melnick says. Now with a permit, Melnick, Rimmel and Hendin can train their employees to bake the custom creations. Cookie orders can be taken over the phone, and customers create their own concoctions with choices of dough and different mix-ins, including macadamia nuts, chocolate chips, Oreo pieces, Butterfingers and Snickers. Melnick's favorite creation is peanut butter cookie dough with chocolate chips.
Owning a business as well as being a full-time student is a challenge in itself, but the owners manage to keep on top of their schoolwork, or at lest attempt to.
"I try and go to all of my classes," Melnick says. "I think I missed more when I didn't have this store."
Having school and a business helps the men stay motivated in doing well with both ventures.
"It's nice having something to call our own," Hendin says. "A lot of people want to own a business, but they don't."
Their parents were hesitant about their initial idea but became very supportive when they realized how serious the new storeowners were. As soon as the bank approved both the business plan Rimmel had presented and the loan, the men were up and running, letting their imaginations dictate the overall feel of their company. The owners, who have been friends since middle school, get along really well as business partners, Melnick says. Frustrations arise with late hours and multiple tasks, as with any new small business, but they manage to work them out and keep focus on the big picture.
"We're looking to open quite a few stories, branch out into a whole chain," Rimmel says.
Because the store is local, they decided to add some Columbia-centric spark to the store's decoration. Cookies come in small pizza boxes and Hendin thought it would be a good idea to encourage customers to decorate them and bring them in to be hung on the wall, adding a unique touch and establishing a connection between Columbia residents and the store right off the bat.
All three of the guys were familiar with cooking before they decided to open the business.
"It's not like we're entering the kitchen for the first time," Melnick says. Going to hometown friend's houses and looking through their pantries to try out different recipes was the inspiration for some of their favorite cookie combinations, such as oatmeal raisin and peanut butter. The combination might sound unappetizing, but it is surprisingly popular among the guys and their friends. The actual recipe for their custom cookies came from a friend's mother and uses 1.5 ounces of dough per cookie. But they took it a step further by taking a standard recipe and adding a few variations, Melnick says.
With ambition, optimism and a little bit of motivation, the determined business owners plan on focusing on catering and perhaps eventually opening up more locations. And no, Hot Box is not a blatant drug reference, but simply a warm cardboard box filled with original, custom-made cookies.
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