First year students Nicholas Ailstock and David Kobe created a way to mix business with pleasure.
The pair have combined classroom skills and Grandma's chocolate chip cookie recipe in their business, DePauw Cookies.
After listening to an alumnus talk about the success of his business during the McDermond Lecture series, Ailstock knew it only made sense to start thinking about putting his goals of being a future entrepreneur to work. When Ailstock began to bounce the idea around with Kobe, the two decided to combine their skills to create DePauw Cookies.
Since Ailstock and Kobe saw the lack of midnight snack services on campus, the two first-years decided to take advantage of a classic gulty pleasure treat: cookies. Ailstock and Kobe launched DePauw Cookies during the second week of October, only baking cookies from scratch.
Ailstock and Kobe base their business on the well-known cookie business, Insomniac Cookies. The late night business is known for delivering a variety of cookies, but the first-years decided to start off with only one type of cookie.
"What's better than a chocolate chip cookie? It's classic and everybody loves it." Ailstock said. "It's a good place to start."
Ailstock said they are planning to see which flavors of cookies are in high demand through tweets from their Twitter handle, @Depauw_Cookies. The bakers use this page to receive orders from hungry students and also via phone. After an order is made, Kobe is usually the one to deliver.
"I just hop on my skateboard with a brown bag and roll over there like a classic delivery guy," Kobe said.
Although the business is off to a good start, the pair has faced challenges. They have been working on technical things, such as getting a business license. Kobe also said that working in the kitchen is tough too. He said that keeping up with the orders can become difficult since their requests for cookies fluctuate throughout the night.
DePauw Cookies only operates on Fridays from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., a time when most students are starting off their weekend of partying. Ailstock and Kobe don't mind baking cookies instead of dancing at fraternities, but others are surprised by this sacrifice.
"People are most thrown off by us giving up our Friday nights in college, to what seems stupid to them, to sell cookies," Ailstock said.
The business is not currently making much profit so most of the money goes back into the business to keep it up and running. With the explosion of student-run businesses on campus, Kobe mentions that there isn't much competition. Instead, the student entrepreneurs from businesses such as Pizza Dude and ITS For You usually share advice with one another. The first-years said that it is sometimes hard to put the advice into practice though.
"It sounds kind of remedial, but keeping a spread sheet, keeping track of what you make profit ... it's a lot more complicated than we thought it would be," Kobe said.
Both Ailstock and Kobe hope to make more money through their business so they can also give back to charities. Cookie businesses such as College Cookies run by Purdue alumni Kerry Kirk and her family sell a variety of cookies, giving a dollar for every sold box to help support education in the developing world. Ailstock and Kobe plan to start giving back on a small scale by working with Greek chapters and other organizations.
For now the two businessmen are enjoying their run with baking cookies and delivering to the grumbling stomachs of DePauw's campus. Despite the hard work they're putting into building their business, they enjoy seeing the satisfaction that their customers get from their cookies.