Downtown Cookies

For Morgan Kramarski and her big Italian family, food has always been a way of life. “When we’re on vacation at breakfast together, we’re talking about what we’re going to have for lunch. At lunch, we’re talking about dinner. The places we visit often revolve around food.”

In her childhood home in Vineland, NJ, Morgan cherished the time she spent in the kitchen with her mom. “My mom is an amazing cook and baker, and I always wanted to help her.” Despite her love for preparing food, Morgan never saw herself pursuing a culinary career. “But I did often think about owning my own business. My dad and grandfather were both entrepreneurs." Morgan ultimately decided to go to business school at Villanova, and afterwards, she began a career in Human Resources for an insurance broker. 

“I absolutely loved it. My team was incredible. I loved my boss and learned everything from her. The environment was great. I loved the corporate world. But then COVID hit, and it threw a wrench in everything.”

The atmosphere that Morgan valued was suddenly gone. “In HR, my focus was people. During COVID, I was stuck at home interacting with everyone via phone; it took the personal aspect out of my job. I wasn’t looking to leave, but I did find myself looking for an outlet to see people and connect.”

Morgan turned to the comforts of what she knew and loved. “I started baking. It was something my mom and I always did when we were bored or when we felt like we needed to connect with people. Whenever someone was down, we’d bring them something homemade. In 2020, a lot of people were struggling. So I started to bake cookies, and I would bring them to different places.” The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “I kept hearing, ‘These are so delicious. You should do something with this.’ It sparked something in me.”

Morgan decided to try selling cookies on a bigger sale, and she began baking cookies for local farmers’ markets. “It just took off. I would sell out hundreds of cookies in 45 minutes. I couldn’t keep up with it and needed to start renting a kitchen. I’d work in HR all day and then go to the kitchen at night.” Customers began placing orders for cookies for events as well. It was clear Morgan had a decision to make.

“It got to a point where I had to decide if I should leave my very stable, amazing corporate job to go out on my own. I was 25.” Eventually she decided to take the risk. “I thought, ‘I have to explore this. I will regret it if I don’t.’ My boss made the decision easier for me. She told me, ‘You always have a place here. If it doesn’t work out or you realize you don’t love it, you can come back.’” Morgan put her resignation in at the end of the summer. 

Morgan found the perfect spot for Downtown Cookies in Haddonfield, NJ, and by September of 2020, the lease was hers. Her dad, a mechanical contractor, knew what was needed to transform the space quickly. “We took it down to the studs. We put a state-of-the-art kitchen in back. We hired a commercial kitchen company to design it for us. I had no knowledge at the time about what I needed in this kind of kitchen.” The learning curve was huge. “With no formal experience in this industry, I had so much I needed to learn. I would ask my neighbors what to expect when the health department comes, for instance.” She also knew she would need guidance in transforming a home kitchen-sized recipe into commercial-sized. “I couldn’t fathom how to do that. My dad’s friend is a part-owner at Liscio’s bakery, and he put me in contact with one of his head bakers. He was so incredibly nice in showing me what I needed to do. It’s a science. It’s not just doubling, tripling, quadrupling the batch. You’ve got to maneuver many different things. There were sixty trial and errors to get to the batch you currently taste. It took a lot of time and effort, but after those sixty batches, I got to what I feel like is my perfection.”

The classic Downtown Cookie recipe started with Morgan’s mom. “When I originally sat her down and told her I wanted to do this, she said, ‘All right. Let’s go.’ She is incredibly smart and she’s a researcher. We kept tweaking things on a much smaller scale to get it right. The cookies themselves were originally much smaller. But I said, ‘Anyone can make a cookie at that size. We need to set ourselves apart. I want to make that exact cookie, but large. That’s what people will remember.”

Once they nailed down the perfect base, they were able to create different types of cookies. “Most of our offerings start from that one chocolate chip base. When we’ve hosted contests and had customers bring in their ideas, we typically start the same way. The only cookies that are very different are the sugar cookie and peanut butter chocolate.”

Morgan’s business plan for Downtown Cookies had two important elements. “I wanted to make cookies that would never be mass produced. We use zero preservatives. I wanted hand-cracked eggs. I wanted it to stay the cookie that you’d find in your grandmother’s house. I knew I would never compromise the integrity of the cookie and the ingredients. The second element of my plan was that I wanted to make this business personal. Everybody loves a story. Everybody loves to connect with a bigger picture. So every cookie we make has a story or person behind it.”

When you walk into Downtown Cookies, the faces of the people behind each cookie are proudly displayed on the wall to your left. Morgan, illustrated in cartoon caricature form, is surrounded by the words, “Welcome to my home! Meet my family.” Images of her loved ones surround her in frames, each displaying a nickname and the cookie inspired by them. All of the art was hand-drawn by artist George Perez.

“Obviously, the chocolate chip was named after my mom, Queen Lisa. My grandmother Helene’s favorite cookie in the entire world was an oatmeal raisin. Our oatmeal raisin cookie was named Heavenly Helene because everyone described her as the best person.” The “Dan the Man” cookie is a sweet and salty mix, just like Morgan’s dad, Dan. “He’s a businessman through and through, but he’s the biggest teddy bear and just such a sweet person who will do anything for anybody.” There are other Dans behind that cookie as well, including Morgan’s grandfather, brother, and nephew, all named Dan. “People don’t come into the store and say, ‘I want the cookies and cream.’ They say, ‘I want a Cheeky Charlotte. I want a Tireless Tony.’” Her husband, Phil, has a cookie named after him as well. It’s the ‘Forever Phil’ tiramisu cookie, inspired by his favorite dessert. “I wanted people to walk in and feel like they are a part of my family.’”

Even though on paper it looks like Downtown Cookies is a one man show, Morgan expresses tremendous gratitude to the many people behind the scenes who have helped her make the business a success. “When I started this job, I worked 7 days a week. There were no days off. My parents were here every day with me. On weekends, Phil was here. I had a support team like no other.”

This includes a strong and dedicated team of employees. “I have one employee, Fran, who has been with me since the day I opened, and she’s been absolutely incredible. She is our manager who runs the front of the house. I go to her for everything. She’s so dedicated; she’s really the face of Downtown Cookies because she’s always there.”

Morgan prioritized personality over experience when choosing her employees. “I can teach you how to ring up a cookie. I can teach you how to roll and mix dough. What I really searched for was personality. We have all become family here. So I would recruit based on who I felt was a really good match for our family and who would have bubbly, happy interactions with customers. People come into the store specifically for Fran. People come in to see all of our employees, because they are so personable. They remember your kid’s soccer game last weekend or the trip you were taking, or would ask, ‘How is your mom doing?’ I think that element sets us apart.”

Through it all, Morgan says she owes everything to her mom. “She has been my rock. Any time a recipe was not working, she would sit down and say, ‘Ok, let’s try this.’ She was the brain that I needed when I was so inundated with other aspects of managing the business. Originally it was just the two of us baking in the back, though she was never on payroll. If I got a huge order on a Sunday night and we weren’t open the next day, my mom would ask, ‘What time do you need me there tomorrow?’ During Christmas, which is our craziest season, we would start at 3 am. My mom and I would look at each other and laugh and say, ‘What did we get ourselves into?’ The corporate orders alone… I can’t even explain to you how crazy it was. Over the course of three weeks, just on Mondays and Tuesdays, we’d bake over 15,000 cookies. It was just nuts. And then we’d have to package all of them and ship all of them out. I could not have done it without my mom and her help.” Over the last few years, Morgan and her team have shipped Downtown Cookies to 45 different states.

Morgan takes pride in how she has run her business. “My cell number is on the website and on my business card and on the postcards. If people need me, I respond within 10 minutes. If you need a last minute order, let’s say you forgot about getting cookies for your daughter’s birthday party tomorrow, no problem. They will be ready at 9 am. Whatever you need me for, I’m here. It has been a 7 days a week job with long hours and early mornings. I started this when I didn’t have any kids. Phil was wonderful and would say, ‘It’s 9 pm and you have an order tomorrow? Ok, let’s go to the store. Let’s go make some batter so we can get it done.’ He has been so supportive. Because of him and my parents, Downtown Cookies became something that I never really thought it could be.’

Morgan stayed true to her goal of sticking to the best ingredients and never mass producing her batches. “I pay an exorbitant amount of money for the best chocolate, but it doesn’t phase me, because that’s how we end up with the product everyone loves. I have an employee who solely cracks eggs in the mornings. I could buy them in bulk, but I just need to know that they're accurate. It’s just the way I am. Consistency and my reputation mean everything to me.”

Because of this, Morgan has struggled with the thought of ever passing Downtown Cookies to someone else. At the same time, she has been feeling a strong pull to spend more time at home with her one-year-old son. She is also pregnant with her second child, a daughter, due later this year. “When I’m home with my son, I’m getting texts for orders. I’m getting emails. I’m removing myself from our playtime, and I hate it. I don’t like the feeling of my son saying, ‘Mommy, Mommy,” and telling him, ‘I can’t, I’m working.’ I have a nanny who is incredible, but I want to be the one there with him. As you can tell, my mom was so invested in our childhoods. I just couldn't sleep at night knowing that my kids wouldn’t be given the attention and love that I was given and that my husband was given. Luckily, my husband and my parents both told me, ‘Whatever you choose, we will support you.’”

Morgan agonized for months over what she should do. “We weighed all of our options and thought of everything. I could possibly train somebody to do what I do, but I don’t think I could actually remove myself from this. I’m so invested in it. I would always be thinking about it and checking up - it’s a separation that I need but that I know I couldn’t get. This is my reputation, it’s my business. It’s my baby. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into it, and I know no matter how much someone else cares, they won’t care quite as much as I do.”

Ultimately, Morgan made the decision to close Downtown Cookies at the end of August. For a business built on family connection and support, this ending feels full-circle. “I want to leave on a high note. I want people to remember that the cookie they got yesterday was the same cookie they got six years ago. I want to be remembered for the heart I put into it, rather than eventually closing because we went downhill.” The response to her decision has been supportive, even if the local community acknowledges the loss they will feel. “I was surprised at how positive everyone has been, but I think they understand my feeling of not wanting to miss a second of my children's lives.”

For Morgan, the best part of building Downtown Cookies has been the people. “There’s a lot of darkness in the world right now. To see people come together and support a tiny business has been amazing. I’m nobody to the bigger world. But in this town, seeing the impact that my cookies have brought has been a gift. My favorite part of this all is seeing people come together over something as simple as a cookie.”