Woman turns late-night cookie craving into booming business

Late-night cookie craving leads to business venture

A woman came up with the concept of a late-night bakery and ice cream shop after craving cookies in the middle of the night.

TAMPA, Fla. - Cookie Munchers, a Tampa bakery and ice cream shop, was born from a late-night college craving.

"In college, I had the munchies late at night and there was no place that was serving cookies late at night and I had the idea," shared Cassie Aran, Cookie Munchers owner and founder. "It's a late-night cookie shop where we're open during the day as well."

It attracts different clientele depending on the time of day.

"It's kind of been like families come during the day, but all the students come at night," Aran explained.

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Customers can grab a bite to eat in person or have the specialty cookie bakery deliver massive desserts to their doorstep.

"We are open from 11 a.m. all the way until 1:30 a.m. from Sunday to Wednesday. And then Thursday to Saturday, we were open all the way till 3:30 a.m. for takeout and delivery," said Aran.

Cookie Munchers sells edible cookie dough, freshly-baked cakes, pints of ice cream and cookies the size of a person’s face.

"We serve big cookies," said Aran with a smile. "We say as big as your face. It's big. It's gooey. It's delicious."

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The cookies are served in boxes large enough for slices of pizza.

"I love presenting it to the customers all showing them the cookie, especially when it has the ice cream on top and just seeing them super lit up... they always take pictures of it and videos," Aran commented.