Local family anticipates cookie bakery opening
This content was reported on and written by a high school student for the University of Idaho’s annual journalism workshop.
Sisters Cookie Company, first opened in 2010 and owned and operated by Connie, Anna and Sarah Rosendahl, is a small-town sweets success story like no other.
The existence of Sisters Cookie Company was certainly unexpected. After their father, Mark Rosendahl, started to work at the local post office in Moscow, the Rosendahl women were encouraged to vend their wares at the weekly Farmers Market. With help from their mother, Connie, the girls, who were eight and 12 at the time, packed 12 dozen chocolate cookies and began what can only be described as a business adventure.
“I told the girls that we would do it for three weeks,” Connie said. “When we arrived on the third week, we were a little bit late and already had a line waiting.”
Timber Lockhart | Guest Writer
Sisters Cookie Company has existed for over five years. The owners consider themselves butter loyalists, utilizing all-natural butter.
Connie said they couldn’t disappoint their customers.
Following their first successful weekend at the Moscow Farmers Market, Sisters sold 24 dozen cookies, and the company continued to triumph from there. Connie said she then took command of the business and proceeded to rent a regular booth, as opposed to a children’s booth.
“If ever a business happened unexpectedly, Sister’s Cookies is one,” Connie said. “We’d found a niche and a need.”
Two years after the start of their business, the Rosendahls’ father retired from the Moscow Post Office due to health complications and the family was placed in a difficult situation. Connie was hesitant to return to her career as a registered nurse.
“My mom wanted to be a stay at home mom,” Anna said. “But we needed income.”
After nearly five years in the sweets business, Sisters Cookie Company has expanded beyond the elementary chocolate chip flavor, although it’s a classic, and into the realm of advanced flavors, including almond coconut, caramel apple oatmeal, oatmeal butterscotch, white chocolate cranberry and multiple others.
“We offer 13 classic flavors and seven gluten-free options,” Connie said. “For a while we offered dairy-free options, but we felt that we were straying from our butter.”
Connie said that unlike other cookie producers, their company stands out, as they use all-natural butter.
“I guess you could call us butter purists, or butter loyalists,” Connie said. “The fact that we use all-natural butter sets us apart from at least 70 percent of other bakers.”
The Sisters Cookie Company recipes revolve around butter and its unique chemistry, Connie said. Although on a large scale, it would be cheaper to substitute butter for shortening, but the Rosendahls have been hesitant to stray from what made their cookies excellent in the first place.
Connie said the family is in no rush to change their butter content in recipes. In regards to expanding their treats beyond cookies, Connie said she and her daughters wanted to remain focused on cookies. The women said they are open to experimenting with new flavors, such as chai vanilla and pumpkin.
However, with an ever-growing business in Moscow, the Sisters Cookie Company employed several college students as bakers, and even a baking manager to prepare to open a bakery this coming July. With most of their sales coming from their summer presence at the Farmers Market, Connie said she and her baking team plan to establish a presence in Moscow year-round.
Their associated color, red, stemmed from summer sales and their red tablecloth, Connie said.
“Red represents summer to us,” Connie said.
Moreover, their scarlet theme matches decor for Christmas and Valentine’s Day sales.
“It all started with a red gingham tablecloth on a card table,” Connie said. “Why Rubbermaid made red lids for us, I don’t know.”
With a bakery opening in the near future, Anna said she is looking forward to beginning a summer internship there.
“Anna and Sarah bake with us when they are on break,” Connie said. “But as an intern, she will work with our baking manager to interpret large orders into ingredients and helping with orders going full circle.”
The Sisters Cookie Company bakery will also sell ice cream in addition to cookies. Connie said their company is working with Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe at Washington State University in hopes of selling at least one of their flavors.
“We want to focus on local ingredients as much as possible,” Connie said.
While Sisters Cookie Company has embraced local and natural ingredients, Moscow as a community has embraced them.
“The loyalty of our clientele obligates me to continue,” Connie said. “They’re so appreciative. We didn’t set out to be a business. People just kept asking us to keep doing what we were doing. We listened to people’s needs and desires.”
Connie said for her, the company is more than making a living — it’s something bigger.
“In everybody’s eyes, this is a good story,” Connie said. “It’s about family members learning to work together.”
When asked if they had any advice for upcoming entrepreneurs, Connie quoted something she said her husband often tells their children.
“He always tells our kids to listen to what people are saying about you,” Connie said. “Hear what people say and take that as them recognizing a gift. Be attentive as to how people identify your skills and gifts.”
Sisters Cookie Company can be found at sisterscookiecompny.com, where they offer a baker’s dozen of unique flavors, gluten-free options, gift certificates, baskets and even the option to join a monthly cookie club.
Timber Lockhart | Guest Writer