Jennifer Aldrich and Jon MacAllister say the Internet helped them start a promising relationship. It also helped them start a promising business.
Midnight Cookies is a delivery service that delivers "freshly baked, made-to-order cookies, straight from the oven to your doorstep," the website says.
The small business is located inside of California Chicken Grill at 2022 SW 34th St., but Midnight Cookies is an entirely separate business with different staff and drivers.
Its niche delivery market mainly targets college students. It also gets a lot of walk-in business from California Chicken Grill customers who notice the desk in the back corner.
"We get a lot of the late-night, drunk crowd who just want desserts and don't want to drive yet," Aldrich said.
The two owners work 40 to 80 hours a week, stay open seven days a week and have a nocturnal working schedule. For the small shop's summer schedule, business opens every day at 7 p.m. and closes at 1:30 a.m Monday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, the business closes at 2 a.m. and 1 a.m on Sundays.
Cookies are $1.29 each and a minimum of six must be ordered for delivery. After tax is added, the minimum price for delivery is $8 and there is a $1 charge for orders under $12.
The business has earned itself some loyal fans.
"The amazing thing about this business is that every time they deliver, the cookies are still warm," Cynthia Rodriguez said. "It's as if I had taken them out of the oven myself. But who am I kidding? I can't bake that good."
Rodriguez, an undergraduate biology major at UF, "likes" almost every status update and comment on the Midnight Cookies fan page on Facebook. She describes herself as daring and said she loves to try all the new crazy cookies they have.
Midnight Cookies is proud of their "crazy" creations. Their newest creation is the maple-bacon cookie, Aldrich said. The idea was inspired by the Denny's bacon sundae, she said.
This cookie business had unusual beginnings.
The two met on the website OKCupid, where Aldrich took interest in MacAllister's roles in high school musicals.
MacAllister was a full-time student at UF before being academically dismissed and transferring to Santa Fe College. He worked 40 to 60 hours a week at California Chicken Grill. During this time, Aldrich made the move to Gainesville to be with him.
The move was difficult for her at the time because she didn't know anyone, so she turned to baking.
MacAllister, the creative one of the two, would put new ingredients in his wife's recipes. Some crushed-up Oreo cookies later, the famous cookies-and-cream cookie was born.
Midnight Cookies finally took off Aug. 9 and is close to celebrating its one-year anniversary.
