Why I Left the Fashion Industry to Bake Cookies

Cookies are timeless.

I've always been a huge cookie fan and I've always loved to bake cookies. When I first got out of college, I wanted to start a cookie dough company. Then I got a real job working for Bulgari, so there went that idea. I worked with them for more than 12 years, but I knew it was time to do something a little more grounded and something that would connect me more to my community in San Francisco, so I opened up a cookie shop Cookie Love.

Cookies just have this way to automatically uplift you. Whenever people come into the shop, they always leave happier than when they entered. Cookies are not a trendy item. I don't think they ever will be. There is just a strong sense of nostalgia and positive associations with cookies. One of my strongest memories is baking cookies with my mom as a kid and then waiting until my she was done mixing so I could lick all the dough off the hooks. This is a memory that other people also have. I grew up around Mrs. Fields, but she is tired, old, and boring.

I was initially inspired by Hot Cookie. I lived near that place for seven years and I have nothing but good things to say about their stuff, but I knew I could build something completely different—something a little more experimental.

So I did a ton of baking and experimented with different cookies. I would take them to bars at first to get people to try them and give me their feedback. I'm big on texture, so I don't like cake-y cookies. Some cookies—especially the ones with fruit in them—tend to end up being like muffin tops. Although the most popular cookies at Cookie Love are still chocolate chip and a s'more-like one I call "campfire cookies," my current favourites are the milk chocolate blueberry, the lavender white chocolate, and a matcha white chocolate one. My newest cookie is a butterscotch banana one, which took a while to perfect but is definitely as good as it sounds.

The process of turning cookie-baking into a full-scale brick-and-mortar business was very educational, to say the least. I'm not a professional baker and I don't claim to be one. I can't bake a cake. I just bake cookies. I didn't have any experience in the food industry at all, but something told me that I could do it if I tried.

I learned basic baking things—like knowing that it was better to use ground vanilla bean over vanilla extract—along the way. I also didn't know anything about the technical side, like zoning, change-of-use permits, and that in order to get approval from the health department, your restaurant has to have light-reflective paint. I also learned about electrical requirements in buildings, and that you can't just plug in an industrial oven and start baking.

I feel ridiculous admitting challenges like this now, but I didn't have anybody help me much. Nonetheless, I wasn't afraid of working hard and making these mistakes. You are constantly learning things in this industry, which is one of the biggest reasons why I left my previous job. There wasn't anything new, interesting, challenging, or different to learn anymore.

As a small business owner, I can assure you will never have to worry about that happening anymore.

As told to Javier Cabral

Erika Olsen is the owner and baker of Cookie Love in San Francisco.