Chefs in the Bay Area are being creative with their food businesses in this tough economy, which is why we've seen a wave of restaurant chefs turning to trucks to sell their food. Another way to beat the high costs of rent is to sell your goods from a window, just like the people behind Goody Goodie Cream and Sugar in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood.
Started by former pastry chefs Remi Hayashi-Girouard and Mary Moran (friends since college), Goody Goodie makes small-batch cookies and sweets with local ingredients. Their specialty is the chocolate chip cookie, and since this summer they've been selling their cookies from a tiny window storefront on Folsom Street (between 8th and 9th).
Yesterday I dropped by to check it out because I thought it was such a cute idea to have sell stuff through a window. Goody Goodie is on a quiet stretch of Folsom, next to an art gallery. It's not what you would consider a walking neighborhood, but I bet the rent is cheaper than say the Marina or Pacific Heights.
Goody Goodie sells five types of cookies and a macaroon. Part of their branding is the phrase "bite me" and you can actually get T-shirts with that saying on it.
The cookies are sold for $2.75 each, but you can also buy mini bites for a dollar each, and that's what I did. When I was there yesterday, there were five flavors: the "Goody Goodie" which is the signature cookie with a 4-to-1 ratio of chocolate to cookie, a peanut butter cookie, the "old school" which is another chocolate chip cookie using a blend of chocolates, the "circus" which is a blend of candy popcorn and chocolate chips, and the Coconut "Five-O" made with coconut and chocolate.
Even though I thought the naming of Coconut "Five-O" was so cute and reminded me of my birthplace, I didn't try it because I'm not a big fan of coconut flakes. But I got a mini bite of each of the other four cookies.
Later on I found a nearby cafe that I could sit down and try the cookies. To tell you the truth, I couldn't tell which cookies were which, other than the peanut butter (which was good but a bit soft) and the "circus" only because you can see bits of white from the popcorn. But really the cookie tasted mostly like a chocolate chip cookie. So did the others, although some had more rich chocolate flavor depending on the chocolate content. They were all good, but nothing amazing. Just cute and sweet, a nice bite if you're strolling in the SOMA area and walk by this little window.
Goody Goodie Cream & Sugar, 1246 Folsom St., San Francisco. PH: 808.554.6464. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. www.goodygoodie.com
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1 comment:
That's too bad the flavors of the cookies weren't more distinctive. But maybe they'll evolve as time goes on. Have to say it is a cute idea to have a cookie window like that.
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