Restaurateur makes dough

Start with a secret ingredient, add a pinch of entrepreneurial spirit, center the idea around making the perfect cookie, and you get a recipe for success.

Tim Howell, owner of the Trattoria DeAngelo Italian restaurant at 123 E. Pikes Peak Ave., has mastered the recipe of success in the cookie business by relocating Rocky Mountain Cookies, formerly based in Parker, Colo., to his restaurant location.

The move was not in his plans when he first purchased Rocky Mountain Cookies from a Breckenridge businessman last November. It soon became apparent to him, however, that having the cookie operation in his own kitchen would be an advantage, so he relocated the business a month later. Howell embarked on a remodeling plan in his restaurant that included adding 250 square feet of walk-in freezer space, plus the construction of a separate mixing room.

The unique way that Howell markets and distributes his product is part of his recipe for success. The process includes mixing the cookie dough and then freezing it into drops. The product is then packaged and sent to customers. Shipping frozen drops of cookie dough to the customer ensures a freshly baked cookie is made and demand is created.