Hands in the Cookie Jar

With more than 300 different cookie
designs and hundreds of themed bouquets, the originality and attention
to detail provided by each bouquet contributes to that wow factor.
Specializing in vibrant-hued, frosted buttercreme shortcake cookies,
the business has morphed from a childhood passion for Hess into a
full‑fledged factory producing thousands of cookies each day.

Corso’s Cookies had a booth for the
first time at this year’s Taste of Syracuse and also debuts at the New
York State Fair, showing off their craftsmanship and selling individual
cookies, including a horse‑shaped cookie developed especially for the
event.

A flour bouquet: Peter and Tina Hess show off one of Corso’s Cookies’ creations, celebrating summer. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

 

But Hess didn’t start her business so
grandly; it began in her kitchen. In 2001, after taking some old family
recipes and baking some edible gifts with her mother, Judy Corso, she
began branching out and selling gift baskets involving her creations.
“I always had a love of art as well as for baking,” she notes. “This
allowed me to add some creativity and artistry.” With her mother’s
help, Hess filled the kitchen with cookies and started passing out
business cards. By 2002 she quit her job as a realtor in Syracuse and
opened up her first shop, located at 107 Montrose Ave., Westvale.

Hess and her mother operated the
business together for two months, baking, frosting, arranging and
wrapping each gift individually, before the task became too demanding
for just the two of them. “We started out with people who could help
with the wrapping,” Hess says. “But the first year I baked every cookie
myself.”

As demand for Corso’s cookies grew, the business flourished. In 2005, Hess’ husband Peter Hess,
40, quit his own job as a business consultant and came on full time to
handle the business aspects of the bakery. Additionally, the couple
created a Web site and began selling through third‑party online
companies like ProFlowers.com and Amazon.com, which sent business
through the roof. “Within hours of being up {on their first third‑party
Web site} we had 20 or 30 orders,” says Peter Hess. “Now we do 90
percent of our business through the Web.” 

In 2006, the couple bought and
completely renovated their current location in Lakeland, transforming
an old warehouse into equal parts cookie factory and office. It is here
that their new workforce, more than 20 employees who bake, decorate and
wrap bouquets all day, create the works of art Corso’s is known for.
The company has even done specialized cookie bouquets for companies
such as Vera Bradley, eBay and QVC.

With expansion the cookie operation has
gone through a few alterations. Old family recipes have been modified
for freshness. Cookie designs, once drawn up and executed by Tina Corso
Hess herself, are now created by teams of professional cake decorators,
who are “master copycats” at designing each cookie. They have
experimented with different frostings to find the perfect one that
looks and tastes good, but can also withstand shipping. 

You will find Corso’s Cookies inside
the Center of Progress Building at the State Fair. The cookies cost
from $1 to $3. For more information, contact Corso’s Cookies at
487-2111 or visit their Web site at www.corsoscookies.com.

—Dan Rys