By: Linda J. Mazurek
- Your Web homepage claims that Boston Cookies are a “distinctive New England tradition.” Please elaborate on this and explain how vegan products can be considered a tradition of New England.
I see Boston as the birthplace of the country, a place of tradition compared to California and other places. I always knew in my heart that Boston Cookies would be a big company some day, and our products would be sold everywhere in the country. I wanted people to associate Boston Cookies with Boston, a placed filled with history and tradition. The fact that the product is vegan is only a quality associated with the product, without taking away from the name Boston Cookies.
- Your Web site also says your products are available in many fine stores. Are there any in Somerville?
We are sold at Whole Foods Markets (North Atlantic division, which includes Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey), and we are available at Fudruckers. Boston Cookies are also available at several places at Logan, Kennedy, and La Guardia airports. As far as Somerville, we do not know if there are stores that carry our product. We sell our products to distributors, and they do not tell us the name of the stores that buy them. (NB: The cookies, distributed by most large distributors in New York State, are particularly popular in New York and New York City.)
- You also say that the lemon poppy seed cookies have won “rave reviews” – from whom?
We have customers calling us all the time and telling us their opinion about our cookies. We noticed that we were getting a lot of calls from customers raving about the lemon poppy seeds cookies. It is a very popular cookie, especially in New York City.
- How did the snack pack collection come about? What makes it different from the regular cookie line?
The snack pack came about at the request of responsible parents who wanted to give Boston Cookies to their small child, but they did not wanted to give them a large 3.5-ounce cookie. The recipe is the same as the large cookie, only the size is smaller.
- Which cookie or line sells the best/is the most popular?
The most popular cookie is the chocolate chip cookie
- Which product is your favorite? Why?
I love our oatmeal raisin cookies. I like the texture of the cookie, and the flavor of cinnamon and raisins.
- How do you keep the passion going, after 30 years? What’s your secret??
It is my life. I don’t know if there is a secret to it. I just know that I wake up every morning, and I have a place to go where I interact with people I’ve known for many years, and it feels good.
- What is unique about your company?
I worked for a couple big companies in my youth. Boston Cookies is a totally different experience. What makes it unique is the fact that it is home, and our customers are members of our family. We still maintain relationships, and we are friends with some of the same people that we met back in 1975, when we were just starting. It is our family.
- Why should we eat your products?
Boston Cookies makes delicious cookies and brownies. All our products are 100% natural, and more important than that, they are made with love.
- Why did you contribute the scone recipe to Savoring East Somerville?
(Iseti Reis) The scone is my favorite product, but we don’t make it any more because it has a short shelf life.
- What’s next for the company, if anything?
Maybe a line of gluten-free cookies. I've been thinking about it for a while now. The government is looking into gluten-free products and will regulate some flours with high protein contents. I will wait for their guidelines and then decide which type of flour to use.
Notes: Ademar graciously gave me a box of assorted cookies and brownies, and I too, fell in love with the lemon poppy, in particular! I got a lovely whiff of lemon when I opened the package, and the cookie's texture was somewhere between a muffin and a cookie; all Boston Cookies are soft-backed. I visited a few days later, on production day, and spoke with Sunrey, Ademar and Iseti's oldest son, who is in charge of production. I learned that summer is their slowest time, so production is run only two or three days a week, from 7 a.m. to approximately 3 p.m.; it increases to four days a week, come fall, the start of their busiest season. They usually make two to three types of cookie per day; the day I visited, it was oatmeal raisin and banana walnut, which were cooling on large racks as I arrived to watch the packaging process. The company makes 2,000 to 4,000 cookies per run.)
0 comments:
Post a Comment