Andrea Way has had several careers, including ownership of a gourmet kitchenware store in Reno,Andrea's Kitchen Conspiracy, but at 50 she decided cookies are her future.
Way came up with her new business, Cookies on the Way, after a transition in life that brought her to a creative place.
"The whole concept is Internet," says Way.
"They will order on the Internet.
Then I will either deliver locally or ship the cookies."
In fact, the business doesn't even have a physical address just a post office box for orders.
Way calls her product "a chocolate lover's dream"with 14 handmade chocolate chip cookies and six chocolate biscotti in each box, at a price of $26.95 per box.
What sets her cookies apart? "It's my recipe,"Way says."I got kind of fun with this one.
It's an old fashioned chocolate chip cookie." "I wanted something to make me happy and everyone happy.
Everyone loves chocolate chip," says Way.
Her biggest investment will be in the Web site (www.cookiesontheway.com).Way anticipates completion within the next month and hopes to eventually be totally online.
"Everyone is short on time,"Way says.
"What is easier than picking up the phone or ordering online?"
Right now,Way is concentrating on making a name for herself by taking samples to local businesses.Way has already worked with the Casitas housing development, providing cookies as a gift to new home buyers, and hopes to add hotels to her clientele.
Baking out of a rented kitchen and delivering boxes herself,Way has been relying on word-of-mouth to market the cookies.Way says simply having her name in the phone book has been helpful, though her cookies' appeal is visual.
"Visual is everything,"Way says with excitement as she explains the packaging complete with cardboard box topped with ribbon and cookie stickers and the option to include a personalized photograph in each box.
Way's biggest triumph has been faith to take the initial step.
She envisions passing the company on to her son Alexander, 21, and hopes to eventually own a building,where customers can come in to chat, listen to music and drink lattes as they watch, in an interactive kitchen.
Keeping overhead low and selling a lot of cookie boxes will be necessary to make this dream possible.Way estimates that she needs to sell 50 boxes a week to make a profit.
"I'm proud of what I have created.
If it doesn't succeed, it doesn't succeed," says Way.
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