Bite Me Cookies now baked in Village of the Arts and sold in your neighborhood
Cindy Unzicker, owner of Bite Me Cookies by Cindy, now has a new base of operations in Bradenton’s Village of the Arts. And she’s delivering to a neighborhood near you in her distinctive cookie van, the one with the long eyelashes over the headlights.
Unzicker started her business, making huge, luscious cookies in 2015, and has been delivering them in her van, accompanied by flashing lights, appropriate cookie music, and announcements on her speaker system, since 2017.
The van, and her six-inch cookies help Unzicker do her thing, which is delivering happiness, one home-baked cookie at a time.
With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Unzicker pivoted her business in a new direction: delivering to neighborhoods.
“I have met some amazing people through my delivery business,” Unzicker said. “It has gone remarkably well during the pandemic. I visit about 12 subdivisions a month.”
By popular demand, she has taken her cookie van to Lakewood Ranch, Palmetto, Parrish and Sarasota, as she continues to expand the neighborhoods she serves.
Unzicker now bakes her cookies at 1508 11th St. W., in the quirky Village of the Arts neighborhood, where she fits right in.
“It lets me be me. I can paint my house fuchsia and paint cookies on the sidewalk and nobody thinks anything about it,” she said.
While Village of the Arts is where she bakes her cookies, using recipes from friends and family that have she has tweaked, all sales are from her cookie van.
Among her cookies are chocolate chunk, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, white chocolate, macadamia, double chocolate, coconut-pecan, lemon blueberry white chocolate, M&Ms, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
The chocolate chunk, lemon blueberry white chocolate, and pumpkin spice have been particularly popular, she said.
Unzicker has a full-time job as manager of investor relations for the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. Bite Me Cookies is a sideline, income supplement, and a business that she can passionately pursue in her retirement years.
“When I was trying to decide on a business, people suggested cookies. They make people happy. They are made with real butter and real sugar,” she said.
“I am very outside-the-box in my thinking. I consider myself lucky to have two jobs that I love,” she said.
Cookies sell for $3 each. For more information about Bite Me Cookies by Cindy, or to request a neighborhood visit by the cookie van, call 941-812-2238 or visit bitemecookiesbycindy.com.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
