Four years ago, Erika Olson was in entrenched in a traditional corporate career path, and felt like she needed a break. After taking some time for herself, she decided to go into an industry a bit sweeter than the workaday downtown hustle: the cookie business.
It took some doing, but Olson opened Cookie Love (1488 Pine St.) a year ago this month. She chose May 15th for her opening—an auspicious day, as it also turned out to be International Chocolate Chip Day.
Today, she runs a "lean and mean" business with just three employees, and estimates that she bakes about 300 cookies a day. We stopped by the other day to learn more about Olson's tasty entrepreneurial endeavor.
Where are you from and how did you get here?
Well, I grew up in Sonoma County—Santa Rosa—and I've lived in the city off and on since 1996. Oh my gosh—two decades! I've lived all over this city.
How did you get into the cookie business?
Good question. Previously, I was very much involved in corporate life. Then about four years ago, I decided I had had enough. I was working for a big European company and had been there over 12 years, and I was just tired. I had been in corporate life for almost two decades. I got tired of having no life. So I decided to start my own business, and really discover what it means to have no life! [Laughs.]
When did you begin making plans for Cookie Love?
I started on this venture about two years ago. I spent a good amount of time doing some research and creating a business plan, and then it took me about eight months to find my space. I knew nothing about the restaurant or food business in San Francisco, so it was quite an education. It was a huge learning curve.
Why did you decide to start a cookie shop?
I always loved cookies, and I always loved to bake cookies. When I graduated from college, I was living in Seattle at the time, and I wanted to start a cookie dough company. I went through some of the investigative processes at that point, but I was just too young. I didn't have the confidence and I didn't have the experience, so I got a "real" job, and that just kind of took over my life. But I've always had that fondness and desire for cookies.
The way I got back to that was when I was living in Noe Valley, which I did for seven years. I would come down to the Castro all the time, and I fell in love with Hot Cookie. So, it just kind of got me thinking about cookies again, and I realized I didn't want to go back to my corporate life—I wanted to start my own business. I always thought it would be great to have a brick-and-mortar, and I eventually landed on a cookie shop.
I felt like cupcakes are ubiquitous—they're everywhere. But for cookies in the city, there's only Hot Cookie and Anthony's, and that's it. I think Hot Cookie is the most brilliant, fabulous place on earth, and in the most amazing location—but they are only there. They don't have other locations, and neither does Anthony's. They are both great businesses, but I felt like there was room for another cookie-centric business in the city.
Why did you choose Nob Hill?
I actually lived in this neighborhood for several years in the late '90s, but wasn't really thinking about it at the time when I was looking for locations. An old friend suggested that I look over on Polk, because she said it was really changing and turning into this really vibrant area—but that it was still changing.
In my effort to find a space, I was realizing that I was priced out of most neighborhoods in the city, but this was one that seemed doable. It's also very centrally located, and I knew one of my objectives was to target the corporate market, for catering and that kind of thing. It's been kind of fun coming back to this neighborhood that I knew so well in my 20s, and becoming a part of this vibrant area that's changing in so many ways.
Do you like this neighborhood better now than when you were in your 20s?
I think I like it better now. I have to say, back in the late '90s, I would very rarely venture south of California or Pine streets. Now, it's becoming more interesting, and I think there's a lot more to offer. One of the great things about opening up here has been all the locals who have come up and said how happy they were that I opened up a business like this in this neighborhood.
Photo: Courtesy of Cookie Love
Why are people so obsessed with the smell of fresh-baked cookies?
I think it takes people back to their childhoods. For me, one of my favorite memories of all time is sitting in the kitchen with my mom, baking cookies and taking those old-fashioned hand beaters you use for the dough and seeing who could lick theirs clean first. It puts a smile on my face and takes me back to a time when life was really simple, when the most complicated and exciting thing about the day was baking cookies.
What do you think sets your cookies apart?
I think the quality of ingredients is key. Although I was a casual baker for decades, it wasn't until I started taking it seriously and researching ingredients that I learned that there were other options besides Nestle or Ghirardelli. Not to knock those at all, but for the casual home baker, your options are limited at the supermarket.
Once I really started researching cookies and ingredients, I discovered things like whole ground vanilla beans. I had no idea such a thing existed, and what an impact it made on a cookie. Also, the quality of chocolate; you can go crazy on chocolate! I use Guittard, a family-owned Bay Area company, and their chocolate is wonderful. It's been a lot of fun discovering the versatility of ingredients and what you can do with all these amazing products.
How do you decide which types of cookies to make?
Oh my gosh, it's what keeps me up at night. I'm thinking about it all the time. My latest cookie that I'm going to introduce in May, for my one-year anniversary, is a banana butterscotch cookie. I've been wanting to do a banana cookie for so long, and I've tried and failed numerous times. Then I came across these butterscotch chips at a food show, and was like, 'Wow, these are amazing, I have to come up with a cookie around them.' That's when I came back to the banana, and decided to mix it with the butterscotch because I thought it made an interesting combination.
I get a lot of people in here who don't necessarily want chocolate in everything, so I like to have some non-chocolate alternatives. Honestly, I'm always thinking about what I can do next, what flavors work, what flavors don't work.
What's your personal favorite?
The milk chocolate blueberry. That was one of the first cookies that I came up with, and I think it's still one of my favorites. I really like the banana—that may be inching into second place—but for me, I really love the chocolate blueberry and I really love the ginger spice.
What are your plans for the future?
I really want to build this business into something that's solid and sustainable, and is known for serving the best cookies in the Bay Area. I want to solidify that, and then, who knows? Would I open another location? Possibly, if the right opportunity came about. But my focus is to make this location, and the business that we do out of this location, something that sustains itself and keeps growing.
Update, 5/12: To mark the anniversary, stop by the shop for one free cookie with any purchase on Sunday, May 15th.
