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

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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.

Howell worked as relationship manager for the private banking department of First Commerce Corp. in Baton Rouge before opening Trattoria DeAngelo in 1998.

Rocky Mountain Cookies gained popularity when introduced 10 years ago as a cookie with only natural ingredients.

"I'm not saying our cookies are health food, but they are all natural," said Howell. "That's a claim food producers can't make these days. There's nothing artificial about the ingredients. That's why they're so good.

"I could give someone the recipe, but I'm positive the results would not be the same. There's an interesting timing aspect to mixing the ingredients," Howell explained. The original recipe has been changed and improved in the last 10 years - since the company began.

"A lot of people in the cookie business ship their product both ways (baked and frozen). But we decided to stay with a formula that is all natural," Howell said. "Could we bake it and ship it? Sure, but it would lose its character. We have a philosophy here at the restaurant and it extends to the cookie company, and that is, 'do it right.' "

Sales topped $1 million in 1997 but, as the company grew, the previous owner could not maintain the ongoing sales efforts, physical, production, and delivery schedule to make the business successful. Howell had a strong belief that he could do more with the company. He decided to focus on customers along the Front Range, in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Grand Junction, Silverthorne and Steamboat Springs to make his company stronger. Now, RMC ships an average of 250 cases per week and is running at a pace that will, hopefully, bring in $350,000 in sales this year, said the former banker.

"By investing in production, I'm confident we can regain the success of the past," Howell said.

The company is working with a West Coast distributor with connections in Portland, Ore., Seattle and the state of California. The company also distributes to a variety of restaurants and coffeehouses in Breckenridge, Aspen and Vail.

"Every week we are picking up a new client," Howell said.