A Look into an Elon Student-Run Business: “Nate’s Cookies”
If you’ve been on Instagram recently, maybe you’ve heard of “Nate’s Cookies,” an Elon student-run business created by sophomore Nathan Moskowitz.
After seeing on Instagram how the cookies were selling out every single week, The Edge sat down with Nathan to ask how this experience has been for him.
“It’s been very overwhelming,” Nathan starts off. In the beginning, Nathan was making just 18 cookies a week. “Now, we’re at 108,” he says.
Nathan first created the Instagram in January, “I originally wanted it to be a word-of-mouth business, just for close friends,” he explains.
But since then, it has only gotten bigger, quickly becoming something larger than Nathan could have ever imagined.
In the beginning, Nathan was baking out of his apartment kitchen and completing orders on his own.
“At first the business was just going to be me,” he says. “Then when it started to get larger, I was like ‘oh shoot, I need people to help me.’”
Nathan’s employees aren’t just any workers though, they all go to Elon and specialize in different parts of the company from marketing to finances, media analytics, and helping with baking. They were even given partial ownership of the company, making it a valuable experience for everyone.
Being a full-time student, as well as a full-time baker and business owner has put a lot of pressure on Nathan, but having a team of people and friends he can count on makes it bearable, he says.
“Not only are they my team,” Nathan says, “but they’re also there to help me and I’m there to help them when we’re all stressed out.”
Nathan is Journalism and Strategic Communications double major here at Elon. “But my passion is food,” Nathan tells us. “My whole life I’ve wanted to go into food.”
Nathan plans to go to culinary school after college to get his masters and PhD. For the future of Nate’s Cookies, however, Nathan hopes it will one day expand to become a real face-to-face business.
“It would be called ‘Nate’s’ and it would be a casual fine dining café,” he tells us.
As more people jump on board to join Nate’s Cookies, whether that’s helping out, investing, or funding, Nathan feels his expansion dreams could one day become reality.
“The team is starting to see it become more and more possible,” Nathan says, even mentioning how several people have approached him about signing contracts for after college.
“It’s changed from just a hobby I could do during college to something that could last,” says Nathan.
For now, Nate’s Cookies is selling two types of cookies: “The Dark Horse” and “The White Knight.”
The Dark Horse cookie is 77 to 80% dark chocolate, espresso, brown butter, and toffee, and the White Knight is caramelized white chocolate, walnut, and raspberry.
“We’re also playing around with the addition of either miso or potato chips,” Nathan mentions. The testing for these cookie variations has just started and final products will be released by the end of March.
The team has also let one of their followers—part of a group of people they call “cookie connoisseurs”—be a part of the testing of new cookie variations.
Nathan’s focus in starting the business was the nostalgia of a chocolate chip cookie. “I wanted the two factors of the company to be nostalgia and exclusivity,” he says, something that is hard to maintain as they start to expand outside of Elon.
Soon, Nate’s Cookies will be available at all Elon dining halls, The Blend & co. in Burlington and their new location in Greensboro. The company is planning to collaborate with local farms and brands around Elon, and they will soon be releasing Nate’s Cookies merchandise through All That Jas.
Check out their Instagram,@nates_cookies, and get your hands on some of the famous cookies by going to cookiesnates.com, where you can also send in feedback and suggestions for the team!