Check Out Whitney Miller’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Miller.

Hi Whitney, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always loved to cook and bake. I grew up learning to cook from my Southern great grandmother and my mom. My great grandmother taught me how to make the best biscuits, lemon meringue pies, gumbo, and more. My mom was creative in the kitchen and inspired me to be creative in the kitchen.
When I was 12-years-old I knew I wanted to be a pastry chef. I taught myself how to make all kinds of pastries like profiteroles, homemade croissants and more.
Even though I always knew I wanted to be a chef, I was given the opportunity to play tennis in college. I was offered a scholarship to play so I went to college instead of culinary school. Culinary school would have also been very expensive.
It was in my senior year of college that I decided I didn’t want to be a Dietitian in which I was pursuing. I found out about auditions for Fox’s reality cooking show MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay. It would be its first season and I thought this would be my chance to become a chef. I was one of over 10,000 who for the show that year and I won the whole thing. On the show, I was known for my desserts. After winning, I wrote two cookbooks, traveled the world cooking in kitchens for food promotions and started a family. A family friend suggested shortly after I loved to Franklin, TN that I start a cookie company. I had an amazing brownie cookie recipe in my second cookbook and it was a favorite whenever I served it at events such as ABC’s Dancing with the Stars after party one year. I prayed over the idea and the Lord led me to start the cookie company, the summer of 2019. Extensive recipe testing began shortly with the mission of creating the best cookies.
I hosted cookie pop ups that year to introduce my cookies to the Nashville area and then began shipping nationwide in January 2020.
I have shipped cookies all over the U.S. including Puerto Rico. It’s been amazing to be a part of people’s celebrations and so much more.
Shipping cookies and doing special events was fun but I always wanted a retail store. In 2023, a retail space became available in downtown Franklin and I jumped on it. It is such a sweet spot and I love seeing people’s faces light up when they see all the cookies in our glass case. We offer 10 cookies in an assortment of flavors including a vegan and gluten free chocolate chip option. We also offer mini cookies that are the perfect little sweet treat. This year we will be expanding into Nashville with a downtown location. Stay tuned!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. There are always challenges. The first challenges were trying to do everything myself. I had to grow the business before I could afford to hire anyone. It was just my husband and I making and baking cookies. For shipping, I had to figure out how I could ship the cookies without them breaking.
The challenges I’m facing now are the growing pains of the business. I need to move into a new kitchen because we’ve outgrown our current location and I’m also expanding into new locations. This is all happening at the same time. haha!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I wanted my cookies to have a wow factor. They are big thick cookies! Our most popular cookie is the stuffed chocolate chip which is our chocolate chip cookie stuffed with our brownie cookie dough in the center. It’s the best of both worlds, a chocolate chip cookie and brownie in one. Our next most popular cookie is the salted peanut butter cup. It’s a peanut butter cookie with chopped Reese’s cups throughout. It’s finished with a sprinkling of flaked salt.
Each month I create two specialty cookie flavors. This allows me to have ongoing creativity in the kitchen. Some of our most popular specialty flavors are pumpkin chocolate chip, lemon crinkle, almond croissant, and hello dolly.
All our cookies are made with real ingredients, no artificial flavors, no dyes and no preservatives. You can taste the difference in our cookies! We put so much flavor into the dough.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Being that I started my business during this time, I would say I learned a lot. I was so glad to have started it during this time actually because people weren’t seeing one another so they were shipping gifts across the U.S. to celebrate all kinds of occasions. I was able to be a part of those celebrations with my cookies. I also saw people shipping my cookies to people just to say I miss you.
It was a struggle for sure with sourcing ingredients during that time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://whitneyscookies.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whitneyscookies/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitneyscookies/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@whitneyscookies