That’s the Way the Cookie Crumble

Theodor (Theo) McKnight was the invisible kid. When he was 16 years old, he had to be the least athletic person in Emerson High School. He could have tried his hand at basketball. But whenever he tried to dribble a ball, it didn’t even bounce. This is strange considering that all you have to do is drop the ball to make it bounce. Track was out of the question. He could run at a top speed of 2 miles per hour.

On top of not being athletically inclined, he wasn’t very smart. He wasn’t stupid or anything like that. He was pretty much a “C” student. If he was one of the smart kids, he would have been picked on, but he would still stand out. The dumb kids were made fun of, but people knew who they were. The athletes were the heroes of the school. They went on to college and on to pro teams. They are remembered years later. Some are remembered decades later. The “C” students were the ones that disappeared into the background. They are the ones who nobody remembers, and nobody will miss. You would have to know that they are there in order to miss them.

Theo had only a small group of friends. Greg, Mike, and Nate, all who he’s known since kindergarten. There was also Rhonda, who he met a few years ago in Junior High. It was Rhonda who discovered Theo’s one and only talent.

In 8th grade, Theo was enrolled in a Home Economics class or Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) as it’s often called. It wasn’t his choice; he was just too slow to grab one of the more desirable classes. One of the things that the kids in FCS can do is bake. And Theo baked the best cookies in the history of the school. But he didn’t enjoy it. Not in large batches. It was just something he did for his small circle of friends.

In High School, he did not take any classes that involved baking or cooking of any kind. He took classes that would not get him noticed. He took Spanish. He took typing. He took creative writing. He wasn’t interested in SATs or ACTs or any of those other T’s. All he wanted to do was get a diploma. He graduated and attended a small community college. He got a job at Belvidere Financial Group where he worked in a small cubicle at the back of the building. He spent his days answering phone calls and telling people how to invest their money. He was paid $45,000 a year. It was enough to pay his bills. He lived in the house left to him by his grandparents. No rent. No mortgage. No fancy car. He did what he did his entire life, disappeared into the background. That’s how he wanted it.

On June 3rd, after working for BFG for 8 years, he was called to the main office. Theo was shocked. He even hesitated. He was sure that this must have been a mistake. There was no way they could possibly want him. This is where the top executives were. Normally, if anyone spoke to these people, it was a good thing. A raise for excellent work. A promotion. This was for people that stood out, people that made a difference. Not for people who deliberately stayed in the shadows. Why would he get any kind of praise. But he was not getting any kind of recognition. No, he was being laid off. In fact, his whole department was being let go. They only wanted him to deliver the news. He was given a one-month severance pay and a box full of pink slips. He took the box, dumped it on the floor, and said, “Do it yourself.” He went home that day and called his 4 friends. The same 4 from high school.

They all arrived at the same time. When the door opened, the aroma of fresh baked cookies hit them in the face. They were given strawberry flavored cookies with white chocolate and macadamia nuts. They loved them. He enjoyed watching them enjoy his cookies.

“What are you gonna do”, asked Mike?

“I don’t know”, said Theo. “I have some savings. They will last a little while.”

“Well, at least you already own your house”, said Rhonda. “So, you don’t have to worry about that too much.”

“You should start your own business”, said Nate. “You did go to business school.”

“What type of business would I start?”

“A bakery”, Greg said. “You make the best cookies I ever tasted. I’m not just saying that because I’m your friend. Because I’m your friend, I’m telling you the truth. Come on guys, you have to agree with me.”

Over the years, his baking skills improved. He moved on to other types of cookies and baking goods. Theo would always bake cookies for his friends. He enjoyed it. But he didn’t like baking anything for others.

“Me! A bakery”, Theo said. “Never! I don’t like baking.”

“Yes, you do”, said Greg. “You do it for us all the time. You even invite us over every time you come up with a new recipe. You love to see how we respond. You JUST called us over to taste what you did. All you would do is bake larger batches and get paid for it.”

“I have a slightly better idea”, Nate chimed in. “Don’t open a bakery. Bake small batches for order. We’ll take a sample of your best cookies to the mall. Get a few people to try them. They will call or email you to make an order. From then on, it can be passed on by word of mouth.”

The thought of opening a bakery was a frightening thing to Theo. Baking cookies from home did not sound that bad. He agreed to do it. His friends promised to help. His first batch of cookies was the same ones that he just gave his friends. He called it “SWM.”

“You can’t call them that”, Nate said.

“What”, Theo replied. “Strawberry, White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut.”

“Right! Single White Male. Unless you’re looking for a wife, give it a different name.”

“Ok! Strawberry Fields.”

“That might work.”

Theo baked a single batch of his Strawberry Fields cookies. He didn’t take them to the mall himself. He had his friends for that. They passed out the cookies sealed inside plastic bags with a business card. They expected the phone calls to flood in that same day. According to them, they were the best cookies on the planet. But they didn’t seem to come. They begged him not to give up.

Next, he made chocolate cookies that he called, “Chocolate Overkill”. He would start with a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. He would then take a large dark chocolate candy bar, one that’s at least 85% cocoa. Instead of chocolate chips, he used a milk chocolate and toffee candy bar. Once baked and cooled, he would dip the cookie in melted chocolate.

He sealed one Strawberry Field and one Chocolate Overkill in a bag with a card. Almost everybody that tried the cookies the first time was back for more. This time with questions.

Where can I buy these? Is the bakery in the mall. Do you have your own store? Who makes these? Can I get them in bulk?

What happened was that people were eating the cookies and throwing the cards away. Now they were trying their best to get more. Now the orders have started to pour in. First it was 2 a day. Then 4. Then 8. People were paying top-dollar to get these cookies. Theo was making more money baking cookies than he did at his job. But there was a problem. There was no way he could keep up with these orders.

“You need a bigger kitchen”, Nate said.

“You need a staff”, said Rhonda.

“You need a bakery”, said Mike.

“I said that from the beginning”, Greg said.

“I don’t think a bakery is a good idea”, Theo said.

“Think”, Greg continued. “With a baker’s kitchen, you would be able to keep up with orders. If your customers have to come to a bakery, you will see the faces of who’s making the orders. They could pay ahead of time. With a staff, get us, I mean them, to follow your recipes, you would only have to be there part of the time. While we’re talking about staff, you could hire us.”

Nate was a professional chef. He could prepare a meal and charge $1000, and people would pay. Greg has won many Barbeque tournaments. Rhonda and Mike couldn’t boil water without burning it. Rhonda did know how to make ice cream. It wasn’t the kind you had to cook before freezing it. What did any of these people know about baking.

“I guess y’all could learn the trade”, Theo said.

Theo had never written down his recipes. He made them all by memory. So, the first thing he had to do was make written copies of everything he does. He had to make them as detailed as possible. It took a while, but in the end, even Mike was at least able to get stuff ready. Collect all of the ingredients, the right cookie sheets, set the oven to the correct temperature.

Next, he had to lease a building for his bakery. If Mike wasn’t good for anything else, he was a great realtor. The building on the corner of 23rd and North Street was perfect. It was just big enough for 3 ovens. That’s 3 batches at a time. If you have 3 double ovens, that’s 6 batches at a time. Theo was now known for his Strawberry Fields, Death by Chocolate, Happy Almond, Lemon Love, Cinnamon Sweetheart, and Peanut Butter cookies. He could make a batch of each one. Not to mention basic cookies like sugar and butter cookies, Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle cookies, as well as Pinwheel and Spritz cookies. Any 6 different batches could be going at the same time.

With Mikes help, Theo was able to get a small business loan. He had to put his house up as collateral. He gave the banker a few of his cookies. He was hooked. He could tell that this was a business that would go places. The loan was approved right away.

“This has to be successful”, Theo said. “I could lose my house if it’s not.”

“We are all here to help you”, said Rhonda.

The first time he saw his name on a huge sign, Theo was amazed. After spending his entire life in the shadows, he has finally stepped into the light. He didn’t know how to handle it. He would now be someone else’s boss. With his friends there to help, he figured he could handle it. When Theo’s Cookies opened its doors, the entire town seemed to be lined up outside. By now, all had heard about how good they were.

He baked over 1000 cookies that day. Every single one sold. At 50¢ per cookie, he felt he did a good job. Most of his customers told him that they would be willing to pay $1.50 a cookie. “Your cookies are delicious. Don’t cheat yourself. You need to triple the price.”

The next day he did exactly that. $1.50 was the new price. He baked 2000 cookies and still sold out. He couldn’t keep up. His friends were helping him out, but it still was not enough. Theo had to hire more help.

Joe worked with Theo at BFG. It’s not like they were friends or anything, but Joe was someone Theo could go to when he needed help. Since Joe had not found a job since BFG closed. Now, Theo was someone Joe was able to go to for help. However, unbeknownst to Theo, Joe would always cut corners to get a job done faster. Normally, it would not cause a problem. But in the baking world, it could be tragic. To cut costs, Joe ordered cheaper ingredients. He increased the temperature of the oven to speed up baking time. Worst of all, he didn’t tell anyone.

When the cookies came out of the oven, they looked no different than every other batch before it. When they were transferred to the cooling rack, it was discovered that they were dry and crumbly.

“What happened?”, Theo shouted. “Joe! What did you do. I can’t sell these. An entire batch destroyed. Throw this crap away.”

Joe was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. He was so sure that he was fired that he started to grab his stuff and leave.

“I’m so sorry Theo”, Joe said. “I thought I was helping. I’ll just go.”

Theo was ready to close the bakery down for the day. However, when he turned around, instead of disposing of the so-called crap, his friends were eating the crap. It may have been dry and crumbly, but it was good. It was very good. Theo tasted it and was impressed.

“Joe, what DID you do.”

Joe turned around and he tasted it himself.

Theo, who had just locked the doors before tasting, reopened the doors. “We are going to sell this. I will give a raise to whoever come up with a name for this and a way to sell it.”

Almost at the same time, Joe said, “Cookie Crumble” and Greg said, “Sell it in a cup by the ounce.”

That day, Theo continued to bake more cookies. He used all the correct ingredients. This is what the customers were coming to buy. He also made several batches of Cookie Crumble and added it to the menu the next day. It was just as huge of a success as his normal cookies. The new menu item read “Joe’s Cookie Crumble”. All credit going to Joe.

The press caught on to the success of Theo’s Cookies. They set up an interview with him that would be shown nationwide.

“Theo”, the interviewer started. “Your friends tell me that you were pretty much an introvert growing up. How do someone like you open such a thriving business?”

“It started out of necessity”, Theo said. “I had a job I loved. In a small cubicle where nobody could see me. The business closed down and everybody was laid off. It was my friends that suggested that I bake cookies for a living. At first, it was done from home. A neighbor would call or email me with an order and my friends would deliver. Within a short period of time, I was getting more orders than I could do from home. On top of that, people wanted to meet the baker.”

“So, you opened a bakery! I heard that your new business partner made a huge error, yet you still made him partner. Why?”

“Customers loved his mistake. So, we kept it on the menu.”

“He got the wrong ingredients. He set the oven at too high a temperature. He knew nothing about baking.”

“Well, that’s the way the cookie crumble.”