Midnight Cookie Co. specializes in late-night craving satisfaction, courtesy of smartphone apps. It opened locations in Edmonds/Shoreline and Everett in 2018. (Midnight Cookie)

Midnight Cookie Co. specializes in late-night craving satisfaction, courtesy of smartphone apps. It opened locations in Edmonds/Shoreline and Everett in 2018. (Midnight Cookie)

Cookie delivery proving to be perfectly baked for these times

Midnight Cookie Co.’s new owner is seeing a sales uptick during the quarantine.

By Jana Hill / Special to The Herald

When Paul Quinn decided to get back into the food business a decade after closing a cake shop, the timing could not have been more inopportune.

It was late March, and the coronavirus emergency had shut down Snohomish County and the rest of the nation.

Quinn and business partner Manish Gaudi had taken the reins at Midnight Cookie, which sells fresh-baked goodies at locations in Everett, Edmonds and Seattle. The business, founded in 2017, specializes in delivering cookies to your door until 1 a.m.

The quarantine-friendly home delivery service, along with what Quinn called channeling his “inner Martian,” enabled Midnight Cookie to survive and thrive.

“Inner Martian” refers to the recent movie in which Matt Damon plays an astronaut marooned on the Red Planet. He survives by focusing on and solving each problem, one at a time. In Midnight Cookie’s case, Quinn and Gaudi reviewed their business plan, consulted state regulations on food service during the pandemic, and reported back to their 16 employees.

Since the business was already formed around takeout and delivery orders, the need for change was minimal.

“We’re already set up for this. We’ll just keep going,” Quinn, Midnight Cookie’s COO (cookie operations officer), told the troops. (Gaudi’s title is cookie executive officer, by the way.)

Midnight Cookie saw an uptick in orders, indicating — probably not surprisingly — that when people are stuck at home, they crave sweet comfort.

“People need just a little bit of ‘happy,’” Quinn said, “and cookies are a good way to get it.”

Cookie businesses across the nation are seeing 20% sales growth during the pandemic, according to www.statista.com.

As Quinn and Gaudi planned for the spring 2020 changeover, prepping for menu of 15 cookie types selling for $2 to $2.25 each, plans stayed mostly intact, with just face masks and social distancing as new elements. A commercial kitchen is already focused on cleanliness, but bakeries are a social place, he said. One challenge has been reminding walk-in customers to stay apart.

Midnight Cookie also sells combos, from six cookies for $10 to 24 for $38.50.

Now, Quinn is moving on to another problem: developing a delectable gluten-free recipe. The challenge is texture, and he won’t roll it out until it is just right.

Quinn said he learned cooking basics from his mom. He said he and his brother were latch-key kids who did much of the cooking in their home.

He got into the baking business as an apprentice to Duff Goldman, star of a long-running reality show on Food Network called “Ace of Cakes.” That experience led Quinn to start Jet City Cakes in 2008 — the year the Great Recession kicked off.

He closed his sculpted cake business in 2010 because “I wasn’t making enough money, and I wasn’t having enough fun.”

Since then, he had considered other business endeavors, such as whiskey and beer. But he landed on cookies.

Pricey cakes didn’t do well during down times, but cookies appear to be much more recession-proof. Midnight Cookie’s customer base is hard to pin down, Quinn said. Cookies seem to have a wide reach.

“Anecdotally, it’s all over the map. Everyone loves cookies,” he said.

And the cookies will carry on. Quinn estimates they are currently baking 75,000 cookies a month. He continues to channel his inner Martian, applying focus through a chaotic era with a productive mantra: “Get the cookies baked.”

If you go

Midnight Cookie’s Everett location, where the cookies are baked, is at 607 SE Everett Mall Parkway, No. 8. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The Edmonds location, 9643 Firdale Ave., is open from 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Sunday. Delivery is available within a 3-mile radius of either location. For more information, call 425-512-9127 for Everett, 206-542-7994 for Edmonds, or go to www.midnightcookieco.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.