When Miriam Lopiansky was pregnant with her first child, she decided to quit her job at a catering company to spend more time with her new baby. So she started her own business from home selling decorated cookies on Instagram and Etsy.
Today, seven years later, her online cookie store has turned into a busy, 6,200-square-foot pastry shop in Lakewood with some 25 employees, and she is among the 300,000 women who operate small businesses in New Jersey.
“It tastes homemade. I wanted pastries that don’t taste commercial,” Lopiansky said as she explained that freshness and a sense of home are most important to her.
At The Cookie Corner , every pastry is made from scratch and sold the same day it is baked. Items that don’t sell are not recycled for the next day.
“Everything is fresh and made by hand. No shortcuts, nothing frozen, nothing premade, no mixes,” Lopiansky said.
For instance, for the mango white chocolate tartlet, the mango puree and mousse are made straight from whole mangoes, since Lopiansky resists using processed foods. So much so that one time, when she was looking for kosher strawberries, which are hard to find, her vendor offered strawberry-flavored icing, cream and additives as an alternative, but Lopiansky declined. Instead, she removed strawberry-based items from the menu until she could find fresh, kosher strawberries.
After two years selling cookies online to customers across the country, the demand increased enough that her home kitchen could not longer keep up. Lopiansky started looking for a location where she could prepare her sweet treats, but she couldn’t find one. The only thing she found was a small retail space, with no storefront window, and no room for tables.
She only had three employees and her sales were slow.
“There was no tables. There was just a counter with a register. We didn’t have anybody to help with the front (of the store). If a customer came, one of the people in the kitchen would come out and serve the customer. That’s how quiet it was,” she said. Teaching herself how to run a business
For the first two years, Lopiansky was losing money and growing her debt, but she kept going. After investing a great amount of money, much of which she had borrowed, she felt like she couldn’t quit. Instead, she stepped back multiple times to rethink her business. “I had to put a lot of thought into this,” she said.
With no previous experience nor education on how to run a food business, Lopiansky taught herself, did market research and consulted with industry experts.
A Maryland pastry chef, who is a friend of hers, helped her with questions about equipment use, how to run a commercial space and large-scale food maintenance. Her older sister, who had owned a bakery in Israel, helped her with pricing and ideas for her sweets.
At some point, Lopiansky did her own market research by sending out over 300 sample boxes to families in Lakewood that would later provide their feedback.
Thanks to the advice she received and the effort she put in, the business kept growing and hit its stride.
“Once we found that balance between aesthetics and flavor, that’s when the business grew,” Lopianski said.
After two years of losing money, The Cookie Corner started profiting. She settled debts, gained confidence and expanded her offerings by adding non-sweet meals and opening a bigger store at 101 Stonewall Court, where she operates today.
After six months constructing her pastry restaurant, Lopiansky was very excited that she could finally have table seating. But unfortunately, once she opened, she couldn’t seat anyone. The COVID-19 pandemic had just set foot in the U.S. and indoor seating was banned.
For many days, Lopiansky just cried.
“The construction had just ended. All of the vendors wanted to get paid and nobody knew at that time how long it was going to last,” she said.Through delivery, curb side pickups, and catering for Passover meals, The Cookie Corner made it through the onset of the pandemic. Once restrictions were eased, Lopiansky’s business became busier than ever. ‘It tastes homemade’ With a high ceiling and muted colors, the venue is warm and homey, yet vibrant with geometric patterns and chic décor. With enough space to seat 40 diners, The Cookie Corner serves as a lounge where guests can get coffee, frappé drinks, breakfast, lunch, and desserts.The glazed cinnamon bun, the butter pecan tart and the avocado sourdough toast are popular favorites.Making everything from scratch is what brings out the homemade flavor of her menu. On one occasion, while she […]
source ‘No shortcuts’: Cookie Corner grew from home kitchen to Lakewood pastry shop in 7 years
Protected by Patchstack