Can you remember the first time you had a cookie that changed your life? You know, the cookie you still think about whenever anyone brings up cookies? The best cookie you’ve ever had?
For a lot of people, that cookie is Sweet Martha’s chocolate chip cookie at the Minnesota State Fair. They’re so popular that they’ve built up to the point of making 38,000 cookies in just 12 minutes.
In the 12 days that the fair is open, Martha hires 400 people to scoop hot and fresh cookies to hungry fair-goers and rakes in about $3 million in revenue.
Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar sells roughly 3 million chocolate chip cookies a day, and most of those cookies are sold by the bucket at $16 a pop.
The cookie business started in 1979 and has been operating for nearly 40 years. It’s the highest-grossing state fair booth in the U.S. What started as a frozen yogurt business became a cookie empire.
Martha and her partners applied for the fair with their frozen yogurt business and were rejected. They applied again the next year, saying they also had cookies– but they didn’t.
In the 3 weeks before the fair, Martha and her partners took all of their mother’s recipes and combined them together, forming the chocolate chip cookie everyone in Minnesota waits for all year long.
The stand also has an all-you can drink milk bar and coffee is available. Other than that, these cookies are all they sell.
Whatever Martha’s secret is, I need to know it for my recipe. I’ve never heard of a cookie packing this big of a punch!
What’s your favorite cookie of all time?