KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Denise Carpenter wanted to have a job she loved and made a big leap of faith late last year.
Carpenter quit her job at an architectural engineering firm and she and her husband, Lewis, bought an Eileen’s Colossal Cookie franchise.
They became the 27th store for the Hasting, Neb.-based company.
A ribbon cutting was recently held at the location at 6206 NW Barry Road by the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The family ties to Nebraska helped in the decision to open a franchise.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Lewis and Denise Carpenter recently opened an Eileen’s Colossal Cookie franchise in a shopping center at Interstate 29 and NW Barry road in Kansas City North.
“I remember growing up eating their cookies,” said Denise, a Hastings, Neb. native. “When you were little, you didn’t want a birthday cake, you wanted a cookie from Eileen’s.”
The couple becomes the third franchise in the Kansas City area with stores operated by other franchisees in Liberty and Lawrence, Kan.
The Carpenters reside in the Northland and thought he location at Interstate 29 and Barry Road was going to be perfect.
So far, the numbers back it up.
As of April 10, they have had 10,297 customers and have sold 119,604 cookies in the five months since the doors officially opened.
There are 13 flavors of cookies and cookie sizes comes in 3, 4, 12, 14 and 16 inches.
“We make everything here, we make everything from scratch and nothing is premade —the frosting or the cookies,” Carpenter said.
Customers can request cookies right from the oven — it takes about 13 minutes — and the business has some freedom to make some special designs on cookies. Currently there are cookies that say Royals and in the fall, Denise Carpenter wants to have some cookies with a block ‘N’ for her Nebraska Cornhuskers.
They also special make cookie designs from company logos to photos – but not what you think. You bring a photo in and the employees replicate it by hand – not by computer.
“They are all artists,” Carpenter said. “They are talented.”
On the business’ Facebook page — facebook.com/eileenscookieskc — they showcase cookie designed the previous week each Sunday. This past week featured cookies for baby showers, birthdays and for teacher appreciation at Park Hill.
The franchise also sales cookie dough and teams with organizations who use it as a fundraiser. Last year, company-wide there were nearly 146,000 buckets of dough sold and results in $850,000 for organizations. This location will also do that and will take orders for sales no matter the numbers from 10 to 100 to 1,000. The dough is made fresh each day at the NW Barry Road location instead of the usual frozen cookie dough sold.
The Eileen’s Colossal Cookie brand is in 10 states, from Wyoming to Texas. The owners of the company — who run three corporate stores — get involved with the set up of the locations and have allowed only two or three openings nationwide per year. The company’s founder was in Kansas City North for the opening of this franchise.
There are a total of 11 employees at the Kansas City North location. The hours are 8 a.m, to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m to 4 p.m. on Saturday.