Sweet sensation: Craig’s Cookies founder feeling the ‘vibe’ as chain poised to open first Ottawa location

Toronto-based entrepreneur Craig Pike believes his business has a recipe for success as it makes its first foray into the National Capital Region.  Pike is the owner of Craig’s Cookies, which will open its first Ottawa location at 70 George St. this summer. The business is taking over the former ByWard Market location of Quelque […]

Toronto-based entrepreneur Craig Pike believes his business has a recipe for success as it makes its first foray into the National Capital Region.  Pike is the owner of Craig’s Cookies, which will open its first Ottawa location at 70 George St. this summer. The business is taking over the former ByWard Market location of Quelque Chose Patisserie, which closed its doors on April 20.  In an interview with OBJ this week, Pike said he “loved the vibe” of the ByWard Market for its connection to Ottawa’s local and tourist populations. He said he also regards Ottawa as a centre of national pride.  “With everything that’s happening in the world right now, what better way to celebrate being Canadian than opening (a store) in Ottawa?” he said. Pike said Ottawans can expect the same delights found at his business’s Toronto locations, from the cookies to the atmosphere. “It’s imperative for us to (have a) welcoming environment, where it feels like you’ve gone to your grandmother’s or grandfather’s home to have a little treat,” he said. “The only difference is you have to pay for it when you leave.”

From potlucks to pop-ups

Pike moved from Newfoundland to Toronto in 2004 to go to theatre school. After some acting success, a decade later he found himself out of work.  “In 2013, I had about a month off of acting work and I had to pay for my phone bill and groceries. I didn’t know how to do that, so I started selling cookies,” Pike told OBJ Thursday.  Pike had been bringing cookies made from his mother’s recipe to potlucks, earning rave reviews from those who tried them. This led him to selling cookies he would bake in his Toronto apartment, delivering them to customers on his bicycle.  “I started delivering cookies on my bike to my friends. I hopped on social media and, at the time, Instagram and Facebook were relatively new, so it was a great opportunity to use those platforms for marketing.” Pike said the growth of what would become a Toronto favourite was “purely organic,” and saying yes to one event in particular led to continued success. “About three years in, I was home on a rainy Sunday afternoon when a friend of mine called and said, ‘Hey, could you get me some cookies for a party I’m having?’ I thought to myself, ‘They’re in the Danforth (neighbourhood) and I’m in Parkdale (neighbourhood). I don’t have any butter or chocolate chips. Do I really want to do this for two dozen cookies?’ There was somebody at that party that worked for enRoute magazine (Air Canada’s in-flight publication). They had the cookies and invited me to be on the cover of (the) magazine,” Pike said.  Following his appearance on the cover of enRoute, Pike got a call from housewares retailer Williams Sonoma asking if he’d agree to have a six-month pop-up at the chain’s store in Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. That led to him signing a lease on a commercial space.  “The way I see life is that when a door presents itself, open it up and see what’s behind it,” he said. “I took the risk and put all my money into signing that lease and had two team members. About two weeks in, blogTO did a great video for us and it got something like 1.4 million views.”  Today, Craig’s Cookies operates six corporate locations – five in Toronto and another in Pike’s native Newfoundland – as well as 11 franchise locations, which employ a total of more than 130 employees.  “Toronto has taken such a huge ownership over Craig’s Cookies and now, it’s a really exciting time to share that love further. Ottawa couldn’t be a better place,” he said.

Recipe for success

With an excess of 100 varieties of cookies on rotation at Craig’s, Pike said “the sky’s the limit” when it comes to creating new flavours.  Guided by the philosophy of “maybe you can put anything in a cookie,” Pike said he encourages his team members to use their creativity to come up with new ideas to push the brand forward. 

Twelve years after starting his business, Pike continues to have sweet success. “I didn’t go to business school, so I saw the growth in the first five years on a case-by-case basis. One cookie at a time. You just don’t know who’s going to experience these little morsels of goodness and how that’s going to grow.” The ingredients to commercial success, he explained, are being true to yourself, finding talented people to help you along the way and learning from your mistakes.  “I think being true to who you are as a human being and having your business reflect your ethics (and) morals (contribute to success). Having a business is such a great opportunity to be able to be a community member, and being a part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, I’m able to have what we do reflect that,” he said. Pike said he hopes to continue to foster that sense of community in the nation’s capital.  “Ottawa is the place where everybody comes together across the country, and it’s such a reflection of what we do at Craig’s Cookies. Those little cookies are just a kind of conduit of bringing people together.”