They’re crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth, guilty pleasures shipped nationwide but available fresh right here on the Central Coast, and customers can’t seem to get enough.
Founded in 2008 by sisters Traci and Christa Hozie, the Brown Butter Cookie Company has methodically expanded its customer base and operations from its flagship Cayucos shop on Ocean Avenue to the recent acquisition of a nearly 10,000-square-foot production facility off Santa Rosa Road in Atascadero.
“The size of our company is our most notable—and noticeable—[achievement],” said Traci Hozie, who serves as the company’s CEO and CFO. “There used to be just a few of us rolling cookies, trying to keep up with the demand. Now, we have 60-plus employees who keep our shelves stocked and website orders fulfilled, three shop locations here in SLO County, and an e-commerce business and shipping department that ships our cookies all over the United States.”
The additional shop locations include Paso Robles, opened in 2013 on 12th Street, and San Luis Obispo, established in 2019 off Osos Street, with plans to relocate to 897 Higuera St. in March.
The increased production space—needed to keep creating the company’s high-demand, signature brown butter sea salt cookies—has translated to more product offerings, including classic varieties such as peanut butter, chocolate chunk, and snickerdoodle, as well as a club subscription program, launched in November.
Joshua Bergren of Morro Bay was the first customer to jump on the company’s inaugural club shipment of three dozen brown butter sea salt varieties, which will be repeated quarterly. The company suggests one box to eat, one to share, and one to hide, but Bergren dismisses the guidance. “No sharing,” he joked. “This is my wife’s and my special cheat treat, so it’s all ours.”
Bergren was also around 15 years ago when the Cayucos business launched, and it was love at first bite.
He pretty much enjoys all flavors, he said, but if he had to pick: original sea salt, bourbon sea salt—”bring it back,” he begged—”and their new brown butter sea salt sugar cookie is the bomb.”
More recent customer Krystine Ralph of Bakersfield is also hooked. She usually hits the Cayucos location on trips to Cambria or Morro Bay. The Paso location is also on her radar.
She was introduced to Brown Butter Cookie Company five years ago at her sister’s insistence.
“We were on our annual birthday trip to the beach,” she explained. “On our way, we stopped in Paso Robles and … [my sister] said she wanted to stop into this amazing cookie store a coworker introduced her to. I got a few packs to try them out.
“They were so delicious that we stopped again on the way home in Cayucos to get more for myself and my husband. Now, it’s tradition.”
Her favorites are the original and cocoa brown butter sea salt cookies.
“I love to have them with a cup of coffee,” she continued. “They are to die for, delicate and flavorful. Not one of the flavors is bad. I also enjoy the cinnamon and espresso.”
Hozie herself prefers to pair the cocoa variety with red wine. The cookie is “irresistibly decadent and simply delicious, an artisanal food lover’s dream,” she said. “The rich yet subtle cocoa floods your taste buds as it simultaneously crumbles and melts with every bite.”
In fact, cocoa is the company’s second most popular cookie behind the original. However, its newest flavor, pecan brown butter sea salt, almost beat cocoa in 2022 for the No. 2 spot.
“All brown butter sea salt cookies are made with brown butter,” Hozie said. “First, we gently brown the butter to create a rich nutty flavor. After hand-rolling each cookie, they are sprinkled with a touch of sea salt as they come out of the oven. They are then sealed by six and packaged into our signature gift box by the dozen.”
The company has also introduced a duo flavor box “that was thoughtfully crafted with wineries in mind,” Hozie added.
“We designed a special product that is not offered in our retail shops or online store, to create awareness for our brand and to share a locally made product with Central Coast visitors,” she explained.
The box contains a half-dozen of each top-selling flavor, original and cocoa, and is only available to wholesale and corporate clients.
The new Atascadero facility is enabling the company to keep up with demand—at least for the present—and gives Hozie a chance to swing by all the shops multiple times per week, and even help brown the butter, the technique that started it all.
However, while brown butter is undoubtedly integral to the company’s product line and success, its stated secret ingredient is actually its employees.
“A growing business is like lifting and moving a piano,” Hozie said. “You have to do it in unison, with lots of people, and everyone has to hold up their section. We couldn’t be where we are today if our amazing team wasn’t holding up their piano section.” ∆
Flavor Writer Cherish Whyte is cuckoo for brown butter cocoa cookies. Reach her at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Volunteers 2023.