My Big Fat Cookie: Building a Bigger, Better Chocolate Chip & Business

Many things came out of COVID, including more time spent in the kitchen as eating out at restaurants during the pandemic was reduced. But chances are you didn’t realize that, among the results of COVID culture, was a better, bigger chocolate cookie.

At least that’s the case when it comes to a Calverton-based cookie company that started in a kitchen and has grown to sales at stores, airports and amusement parks nationwide.

“I started at home during COVID. We had people coming over,” said Nicole Canestro, who with her husband Christopher co-founded My Big Fat Cookie (mybigfatcookie.com), now based in the Stony Brook University incubator at Calverton. “I made cookies at home, posted them online. People started to inquire about buying them from us.”

Nicole and Christopher Canestro launched and built My Big Fat Cookie, making big chocolate chip cookies and other similar baked goods about five years ago. It’s a story of culinary courage, triumph during COVID, entrepreneurship, a couple starting a business in a kitchen and gradually turning a passion into a profession.

“We get young, old, kids, adults,” Nicole said. “We have people in their 60s, 70s, 80s. They’ll cut the cookie into smaller pieces, have a bite one day and a bite another day. And we have younger people who eat the whole thing at one time.”

The Canestros sell through a wide range of locations including in the Hamptons, such as Goldberg’s well known bagel stores. Particularly during the summer, their East End business is robust.

They also sell on the South Shore from Babylon to Patchogue, along Montauk Highway, at the Bay Shore ferry in the summer, at Tase of New York in Grand Central Station. You can buy their cookies at JFK International Airport, as well as across Long Island, and they sell and ship nationwide from Virginia to California, Florida and Texas.

“A lot of people in the summertime frequent the Hamptons,” Christopher said of East End sales. “They’re out there having vacations. It’s a good quality customer and name. and high foot traffic.”

Building a Better Cookie

My Big Fat Cookie launched as a business out of a home kitchen. A physical therapist, Nicole baked at home for pleasure, family and friends, while Christopher worked in insurance.

“She’s always been an at-home baker. She loved baking,” Christopher added. “The cookie craze was starting to come about when COVID was happening.”

When COVID restrictions were lifted, Nicole decided to make cookies for visitors. “The people we had over loved them,” Nicole said. “I posted on Facebook. People inquired, ‘Can we buy them? How much are they? Are you selling them?’”

Nicole got a cottage baking license, letting her bake and sell baked goods out of her home. They launched in March, 2021, out of their house, selling at the Patchogue farmer’s market in the train station parking lot and by summer of 2021 moved into Stony Brook’s incubator, where they got clients such as Orlando International Airport, their first large account outside of New York State.

“In the beginning, people thought it’s just a silly cookie company. It’s a hobby. It’s not going to amount to much,” Nicole said. “Once we got an airport in Florida and we started getting more and more, it was like, “Oh, wow. So it is something.”

Nicole handles day-to-day bakery operations, inventory, how much and what to make, while Christopher handles the back end such as paperwork and sales, accounting and local deliveries.

“We’ve just been growing,” said Chris, who left insurance in June of 2023. “We sell around the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.”

Commercial Kitchen

They work out of a commercial kitchen at the incubator, regulated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

They use a full kitchen, large refrigerators and freezers, double rack commercial ovens and storage rooms, so they’re able to mass produce. They ship through FedEx, UPS and the U.S. postal service, primarily wholesale to retailers.

Accounts range Koho Coffee in Patchogue to Knott’s Berry Farm Theme Park in California, some Six Flags amusement parks, Splish Splash water park, Hudson News and a wide range of locations via Door Dash. “We have some pretty large accounts,” Nicole said.

They make about 40,000 plus cookies (typically 4 to 4.5 inches wide and one to 1.5 inches high) monthly with their large chocolate chip as the most popular.

“The large cookie craze has taken off since COVID,” Nicole continued. “A lot of companies started doing larger cookies.”

They use a cookie base that is not filled with the “junk” in some other cookies, adding premium ingredients in terms of chocolates, organic peanut butters, and non-GMA sugars.

“It’s a fresh baked cookie with no preservatives,” Nicole said. “Our cookies last three to four weeks at room temperature. You can freeze them up to a year.”

The company name is memorable and, they believe, good for marketing, both helping get accounts and make sales. “People laugh when they read it,” said Chris. “It’s definitely something people remember.”

Most marketing is by word of mouth, referrals and social media as well as getting the brand to wholesale clients where customers help spread the word. They give clients signs and some marketing materials to display at their stores and some influencers online on Instagram and elsewhere get the word out.

“Our cookies have been somewhat viral for the last year on TikTok,” Nicole added, noting one post got more than 10 million views. “Somebody sells them online through TikTok who gained a lot of publicity.”

Through an affiliate program, people with a social media following sometimes get a commission and they develop new products.

Cookies range from $6.50 and up just shy of half a pound on their web site, ranging from 6.4 ounces to 7.3 ounces for smores. And they sell marshmallow treats, brownies, banana bread, lemon blueberry bread and more.

Inflation increased costs, with chocolate probably up about 30% in the last year and 50% over two years and eggs rising.

“We kept everything level,” Nicole said. “We didn’t feel it was right to pass on and increase the cost of our cookies and make them not economical for people to purchase.”

Holidays boost sales, with Halloween (complete with pumpkin flavors) leading to a bump, but Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s are even bigger. And they donate to charity.

Their son, diagnosed with cancer at four months old, is doing well. They recently donated some proceeds in September to childhood cancer groups, and d their cookies were used to fundraise for schools such as the Sachem and Rocky Point districts.

“It’s long hours,” Christopher said of running the company. “Up early to bed late. It consumes your conversations. You do live, eat and breathe your business.”

The couple works together, raising a family as well as they bring their business to others’ lives. “We were going in two separate directions in work. It’s nice to be able to work closely and be together,” Nicole said. “We split it up that way and it works well. We communicate during the day. It’s nice working with your spouse.”

Christopher hopes they are building something that could be a legacy for their children as they age.

Nicole likes that they built a business out of something they love, and adults and children get a kick out of what they bake. “I love that people are enjoying it,” she said.