Iowa Cafe Swamped With Orders For "Obama Cookie"

DES MOINES, Iowa — Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country? Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines.

Ever since word spread about the president-elect and his family's fondness for Baby Boomers' chocolate chunk cookies, the small downtown restaurant can't bake them fast enough.

"Two months ago I was giving these cookies away," said co-owner Rodney Maxfield. "Now, it's like, 'I need two dozen cookies. I need four-dozen cookies.'"

The Obamas were frequent visitors to the cafe in the summer of 2007 when the Illinois senator devoted much of his time to Iowa, where the state's precinct caucuses kick off the presidential nominating process. Obama's main office was next door to Boomers, and his staff made the cafe a second home.

His daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, would stop by with their mother, Michelle, and Maxfield said they loved the cookies. During a stop in Iowa last month, Obama's staff ordered about a dozen cookies for the family. That's when word got out about their affection for the confection.

Suddenly, sales of 400 cookies in a good week soared to more than 1,000 a week, with requests coming from as far away as Mexico. Alas, the price is going up, from 50 cents to 75 cents a cookie to make up for the time it takes to make more each day.

"I think everybody just ... thought, 'Oh, great cookie, great president _ the world is a happy place. Barack's going to fix all the problems and if I have a bite of this cookie it's going to make me feel good,'" Maxfield said.

(This version CORRECTS time to summer of 2007 instead of last summer.)

Comments

[devans00]

Good on them.

I hope the owners of the Baby Boomers Cafe ride the fad make enough money to finance their next dreams.

[notb observer]

"Suddenly, sales of 400 cookies in a good week soared to more than 1,000 a week, with requests coming from as far away as Mexico. Alas, the price is going up, from 50 cents to 75 cents a cookie to make up for the time it takes to make more each day."

I don't understand why the price of a cookie would go up by 50% simply because they are now "famous"... If they were making a profit selling them at 50¢ each, why does it cost more to make more cookies ? If anything, it should cost less, not more, to make them in larger quantities...

Looks like the lessons of Wall Street and the housing market have reached Iowa :(

[beccasmecka]

More time spent making them by one person? Or the need to hire another person to help bake them?

[nabrum]

Exactly. Not Econ 101, it's a time/labor thing, not supply & demand.

[ChicagoDMT]

Econ 101, pal. You set price so that your supply and demand reach equilibrium.

Wall Street was selling nothing for somthing, e.g. credit swaps, plus the executives were taking huge bonuses regardless of profit.

Wall Street could take a lesson from Boomer's.

[notb observer]

I was hoping that they would ramp up production, drop prices back to 50ç and hire Joe the Plumber at minimum wage to be their "Cookie Master"... or maybe Cookie Monster ;)

The irony would be sublime ! Next year at this time, a "Where Are They Now" segment featuring poor old Joe baking Obama cookies for a living (and paying taxes for a change).

:)

[MadeinAmericaProud]

Don't leave out the Rating Agencies who claimed the Nothing Products Wall Street was selling was rated AAA.

On the other hand, the Boomer's in Iowa are selling an honest product. As PE Obama always said change starts from the bottom up. We the people. If the people don't want it, it will not sell. Example, the American car and other made in America products

It is all about made in china, japan,india, brazil,chile, europe and anywhere but the good old USA. We wanted to buy cheaper, so the Big Corp, agreed. The left America to get the cheaper labor. We didn't destroy the Unions fast enough.

Now we know, cheaper is not better. If we would have been a United States thinking people, we would still have millions of manufacturing jobs we control the quality standards and be safer.

[NotMcCain]

A few months ago the business was struggling and they were just giving them away to try to build interest.

Now demand is up and --law of supply and demand-- the price is up, too. I think it's a great story. (Just don't tell them at the Boomers Cafe that we pay $1 here in L.A. for some pretty mediocre individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies....)

Obama has been an amazing gold mine for an awful lot of entrepreneurs....

[MadeinAmericaProud]

PE Obama does not get a cut of the profit.

His name will be used by thousands of people making money. In some case tax free with all these T-shirts, caps, mugs etc.

[Dolphyn]

It's a local cafe, not a factory. They probably don't have the infrastructure or the staff to turn out mass quantities of cookies. Maybe they don't want to get into the mass-production business. Buying and managing a factory is a lot more work than reducing demand by increasing the price.

[RogerOThornhill]

I've been in both businesses and you're absolutely correct.
Besides, food production has to factor in: food costs/ labor costs/ facilities/paper & packaging and now shipping.... 50 cents per cookie for good ingredients is just too low to show a rational profit.
Good for them -- this is the American dream!

[BannedInBoston]

I'm going to resist the obvious joke.

[RogerOThornhill]

Oh, don't hold back...let us all share in your special sense of humor...
rolling in the dough?....in the chips?....food for thought?....or...is it ....something else....?
C'mon....

[Badunkadunk]

paleeeze.

got some ocean property Kansas at the Obama Inn, he and his family loves the Pacific ocean.

send payment to:

56689 Sucker Born Lane
Chocolate, Kansas 00000

[springsm]

Oh please Hon, if you are from Kansas then YOU are the sucker. Are you jealous? Or are you Joe the Plumber guy? Whatever...that is a very cyncial petty way to look at things. But Kansas...?

[Knowitall]

Sounds like plain ol' jealousy to me.

[iswideopen]

Will they accept orders from CA? Can someone please let me know? (I would need walnuts or pecans added to my order, though)................

[SPQR1052]

Baby Boomers Cafe
313 E Locust St
Des Moines, IA 50309
[phone]

[MadeinAmericaProud]

It will not be an Obama cookie after the burger king have it your way order is added.

[Bitsko]

Like there's anything else to do in Des Moines besides Adventureland Park? Just kidding Des Moines. Saw Bob Dylan there back in 2002 and spent a fun time in your lovely town.

[acidfree]

Actually Adventureland is in Altoona, not Des Moines.
If you want to lose the pounds that you put on eating those cookies, Des Moines has a world class triathlon every year...one of the largest in North America.

[Bitsko]

LOL! Thanks for the tip.

[Rumplesnort]

"Barack's going to fix all the problems and if I have a bite of this cookie it's going to make me feel good,'"

--Wash that cookie down with some Obama Kool-Aid

[Crozier]

NO, I SUGGEST THAT YOU DRINK BUSHROVE GRAPE FLAVOR....A TRILLION DOLLAR KOOLAID.

[amaraya]

Right - that's EXACTLY what people are thinking. Well done on the intuitive perception.

[Bitsko]

Not really.

[hortonhearsawho]

Check ebay for jonestown koolaid....

[walsenberg]

sounds like sour grapes to me mr rumplesnort.

[timetorevolt]

Sounds like you been eating too much of W's Crawford Ranch Cow Dung for the last 8 years. I'm sure your going to miss it but you can always go to rehab.

[MadeinAmericaProud]

The state of Alaska has been selling moose poop products for years to include something called moose poop ice cubes.

I higher recommend buying the cookies, that way you can continue to spread more poop like we just read.

When Google first went on the open stock market, it started at a hundred dollars a share, for several years it was selling at $500.00 a share, it's down to $200.00 per share.

Get your kool-aid now while it still free.

[captainindustry]

Like Seinfeld says, "Look to the Cookie!!"

[chickenpieeggs]

I heard this is his family's favorite children's music artist...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo5cCmbnWTc

[Bitsko]

I wonder if they'd like Adrianne Calcanhotto?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWK0ZRAZYH4

[SPQR1052]

I detest "lazy" reporting!

Baby Boomers Cafe
313 E Locust St
Des Moines, IA 50309
[phone]

[Rog49Thomas]

You might try certain of the foreign media then.

Otherwise you are doomed to a SETI like existence with the US MSM.

[SPQR1052]

I am in Europe and watch all forms of media - my last job stateside was with CNN KTVK 3Tv Phoenix, Arizona. I am well aware of how the media operates and it has gotten worse since I left in 2000. Reporters don't report (vast majority) they are too lazy and always, always after a quick sound-bite, and in political environments often use "talking points" distributed by campaigns instead of reporting.

The media went bad during DEREGULATION when parties were permitted to own vast stakes in print, television and radio. This killed the family owned operations and was the single enabler of the rise of corporate media organizations which is truly a bad thing. One entity or individual (ex. Murdoch) controlling information is not good in a democracy. Look no further than Italy at my cousin Beurlisconi!

Just give the people the facts and allow them to discern the worthiness of it - at least hope that they can.

Anyway love these cookies wish they had a website - haven't located it but the address and telephone number is above. Knock yourselves out.

I am all for good things and good people getting recognition that's another reason I resigned form CNN. I am not a "gore seeker.

[lisakaz2]

The O'bamas helping biz one cookie at a time.

[dessertsfirst]

Love it!

[hortonhearsawho]

The Cookie Crumbles and we all get some!