Rural Missouri - December 2020 - 40

Sweet
Designs

Family business creates
thousands of unique
cookie cutters
photo courtesy Beautifully Delicious Kansas City

by Savanna Kaiser | info@ruralmissouri.coop

we were thrilled to purchase their business and have since
added over 100 more designs. "
There's an art to manufacturing cookie cutters. Tammy
he beep of the oven is the moment you've been
estimates they can make up to 6,000 in one day. Coils of
waiting for. The house smells of sugar cookies,
steel are run through a machine to cut them to length and
vanilla and Christmas. Iconic holiday shapes -
give one sharp side a hem.
stars, wreaths, presents and trucks carrying trees
" When it ﬁrst comes out, the steel is straight as an
- will be ready for sprinkles and frosting soon. When your
arrow, " Tammy says. " We put the strips through a roller
guests arrive, you'll greet them with a plate of your hometo give it a little arc, much like you would roll clothes
made treats. After all, cookies always bring people togeththrough an old fashioned washing machine. "
er. That's the vision that Joel and Tammy Hughes had in
After that, it's time to bend the tin rings into shapes
1993, when they ﬁrst started CookieCutter.com.
and spot weld them closed. Most designs are bent by
" My mother-in-law, who was an entrepreneur, suggested the idea as a way for me to be a stay-athand, snapping the levers on custom steel plates to give
each shape perfect indentations. However, for large
home mom and sell mail order because that's
quantities, they use one of two hydraulic machines.
what it was back then before computers, "
" It completes the bending process in a matter
Tammy says with a laugh.
Pleasant
of seconds, " says Tammy. " We have several videos
Before the internet, Tammy says they sent
Valley
of the process on our Instagram and Facebook.
out a small hand-drawn catalog with sketches
People are always surprised to know what goes
of their products. " Out of our duplex, we would
into making the cookie cutters. " They also
put little sets of six cookie cutters together in
have 3D printers and offer a selection of plastic
a bag, staple a label and include a cinnamon
cookie cutters as well.
dough mixture and spices for people to make
CookieCutter.com is the only cookie cutter
ornaments. "
manufacturer west of the Mississippi River and one of only
The husband and wife team from Pleasant Valley
four in the country. Joel says they manufacture 800,000
started out with 50 cookie cutters and sold them at quilt
cookie cutters a year, and the company sells its products
shows. As the business grew, they expanded to seven
online through its own website alongside retailers such as
employees, and moved their workplace to their current
Amazon, Walmart and eBay. Most cutters range in price
3,200-square-foot shop. They began manufacturing cookie
from $1.50 to $1.75.
cutters in 2016, when the H.O. Foose Co. from PennsylvaWith more than 1,300 designs, they work year round
nia asked if the Hughes family wanted to buy their busicreating their unique products for kitchens across the
ness.
world. Besides shipping throughout the U.S., they also
" It was a perfect ﬁt for us, " Tammy recalls. " We'd
have regular customers in Australia, Spain, New Zealand
bought our cookie cutters from them since we started, so

RURAL MISSOURI | DECEMBER 2020

http://www.CookieCutter.com http://www.CookieCutter.com

Rural Missouri - December 2020

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