Craig ShoupNashville Tennessean
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It's a Nashville tradition since 1983. But Christie Cookie Co. isn't just a local business helping to expand the waistlines of Middle Tennesseans and tourists.
The company makes the dough used to create the delectable hotel cookies that greet DoubleTree guests.
But it begs the question of how a Nashville cookie shop partnered with a behemoth in the hospitality industry.
Let's see what's cooking. Er, make that baking.
Question: How did Christie Cookie partner with DoubleTree hotels?
Answer: The famous cookie offers an assortment of flavors, blending oatmeal flour with cinnamon, chocolate chips and walnuts to created the perfect sweet treat.
It's a partnership that dates back to 1996 when DoubleTree wanted to contract with a baker to provide a consistent cookie product throughout its hundreds of hotels worldwide.
Too many cook(ies) in the kitchen
Coco Kyriopoulos, the director of direct to consumer for Nashville-based Christie Cookie Co., told The Tennessean that DoubleTree was looking to create a unique welcome for hotel patrons.
But as the cookies took shape, each chef at different hotels had their own way of making them. Some preferred more cinnamon, others more walnuts than chocolate chips.
Struggling to find consistency, DoubleTree, a Hilton Company, wanted its chefs to stick to a certain recipe, Kyriopoulos said, so the company canvased the nation's top bakers through a bidding process. Christie Cookie Co. came out on top.
Patrons visiting Christie Cookie's two Nashville locations purchase the same cookie, while the sweet treats at DoubleTree locations are made at the hotels, although Christie Cookie supplies the dough, ready to bake.
"In our national bakeries, it's always one of our best-selling," Kyriopoulos said. "People know the DoubleTree cookie, but if you don't know, you're like, 'Wow, this is a really good cookie.'"
Now, 27 years later, it's estimated that the Nashville baker has supplied millions cookies.
That's a lot of dough.
Sorry, we couldn't resist.
"It's validation," Kyriopoulos said of the partnership. "People know the DoubleTree brand, but not everyone yet knows the Christie Cookie brand. And so it does validate the quality of our bakery."
It's no secret recipe
Ever take a bite into those soft, sweet cookies that left you wanting more? You can find the recipe online, Kyriopoulos said.
But we're not sure if it'll be the same without a receipt, room key and that sweet sensation.
And for anyone asking if they would ever change the unique recipe — think again, Kyriopoulos said.
Whether it's the DoubleTree cookie, the classic chocolate chip, rock road or oatmeal raisin, the tradition that started in Nashville in 1983 isn't going anywhere.
The final frontier
In addition to being a trailblazer in flavors, Doubletree cookies were the first cookies baked in space, Kyriopoulos said.
In 2019, a box containing the famous cookie traveled to space, into an oven for the cookie's maiden voyage outside the Earth's atmosphere, Kyriopoulos said
"We're trying to get fresher foods for astronauts, and so it's sort of a funny story," Kyriopoulos said. "I don't think they ate it."
Until space travel becomes cheaper, you can get your Christie Cookie fix at one of two Nashville locations: 1205 Third Ave. N. in Germantown and 2606 12th Ave. S.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on Twitter @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.
