Milk & Co. is booming for business after it perfected its recipes for the ideal chocolate chip cookies.
Inspired by one of Manhattan’s top bakeries, Levain Bakery, and founder Jordyn Foster’s childhood, Milk & Co. delivers cookies made from scratch, made to order, and are unlike any conventional chocolate chip cookie.
After much searching, Foster was able to create something she can call her own.
“What drew me to making this cookie was - a cookie needs to be indulgent, it needs to be big and chunky and loaded with great ingredients. And a cookie is not complicated. It's one of those nostalgic desserts and that's what it was for me,” said Foster.
The cookies are available for purchase at Killer Cupcakes downtown or can be delivered to your door by orders placed on Instagram and Facebook.
On a trip to Manhattan a year ago, Foster was in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie and found Levain’s Bakery and was immediately inspired.
“Levain’s are these massive gooey delicious cookies and it was nothing like I had ever eaten before,” said Foster.
“Most cookies you get are thin, maybe a little chewy, a little crispy. No wow factor to them.”
Foster moved to Guelph from Mississauga five years ago and said food has been a passion of hers since she was little and was inspired by her great grandmother and her love for baking.
“She was a phenomenal baker. There was never a time when you would go to her house and you wouldn't find sheet trays upon sheet trays of cookies that were sprawled all over her spare bedroom. Her house always smelled like fresh cookies and tea,” said Foster.
When Foster learned that her younger cousin developed a severe nut allergy two years ago, she decided to make some cookies for him from scratch for the first time, not knowing this would snowball into a successful business.
“I asked him one day ‘buddy what do you want’ and he said 'oh cookies!' and I said okay. So the very first cookie I made was a chocolate chip cookie with Skor pieces."
After she took her baked goods to a family event, the feedback was incredibly positive.
“I was now enthralled with the idea of making something delicious from scratch,” said Foster.
So it was two Easters ago that I made mini egg cookies for the first time and that's when it became more of a hobby and I realized you know what, I would rather make them from scratch.
Foster’s then began branding and selling the product because it was high in quality and it was something that people wanted so she went on social media advertising her cookies a year ago and things really began to pick up toward the end of the year.
“I knew I liked what I created. When I started getting feedback from friends and family, I was like okay could they have a bias? But when I started gaining traction with random strangers, that was when I knew 'okay, I have a quality product. Keep running with it.'"
Soon after, Foster received an invitation from Killer Cupcakes for a partnership
“At first I was taken aback in a good way you know these people I never met before, they have an astounding record with their cupcakes. They are absolutely amazing and they're reaching out to take a chance on a 23 year old who has this bakery business she started in less than a year,” said Foster.
Foster bakes in the Killer Cupcakes kitchen on weekday evenings after her full-time job at Cintas as a management trainee. Her cookies are available to purchase there on the weekends.
She said she wishes for this company to soon have a brick and mortar outlet where she can give back to the community.
Foster said the "Co." in the business name stands for cookies, but also for the community and hopes she can fund local charities that would benefit the community.
“That would be my dream for that brick and mortar,” said Foster.
