The Coronado Island Cookie Company, founded by Justine and Stefan Freeman, is a family-run business that is about to make its name famous throughout the community. Justine, a part-time Academic Support & Enrichment second-grade teacher at Silver Strand Elementary, was born and raised on Coronado Island. Her husband, Stefan, is an entrepreneur that simply loves “businesses, setting my own schedule, and not ‘working for the man.'” The Freemans began the Company after Justine’s grandmother, Coronado resident Lola Zimmerman, passed. Justin recalled, “For all of our birthdays, she would give us our favorite cookies that she had made. When she passed on, we decided ‘we should do something with that because we all like getting our favorite cookies’! I was the only one who could bake in the family; I decided to make it a company and share her recipes with everybody. We thought that Coronado needed a cookie company.” Their two children are the official taste testers.
The company, sans a storefront but plus a booming online shipping business, has been around for exactly a year this coming Valentine’s Day, but they are here to stay. Currently, their cookies are being sold at Nado Gelato, Alexander’s, Cafe Madrid, Jack Rabbits, and recently added, Walgreens on Orange. Stefan says to grow the Coronado Island Cookie Company, “Storefront would be optimal. We’ve been looking for a retail space, maybe 100 square feet. That’s what we’ve been wanting from the very start. We’d love to branch out to other locations in San Diego, but we want to keep it regional.”
When asked to describe their cookies, Stefan had a lot to say: “Everything is homemade, all one batch at a time. We don’t use any preservatives, so the shelf-life is not more than a week. We offer flavors that you normally wouldn’t see. By far, the best seller is called “Rip Rap”; that is a chocolate chip cookie with sea salt flakes on the top. We offer twists on an existing cookie, something that people don’t have. Every one of our cookies has a name that’s associated with Coronado, the military, or San Diego, so, that’s kind of neat.”
People who have yet to try the Coronado Island Cookie Company’s treats can take part in their Valentine’s Day deal. “This year, we have red velvet cookies with Ghiradelli white chocolate chips. If people want to order the Valentine’s boxes, we’ll deliver them anywhere on island for $20, all-inclusive: the box, the cookies, and a little note.” Or, Coronado residents can find the Freemans at “the Coronado Valentine’s 10k on Sunday the 16th. We’re donating all of our sales to the Islander Sports Foundation and the Steve Wampler Foundation, who’s a local resident that has cerebral palsy.” To find out more information about The Coronado Island Cookie Company’s baked goods, click here.
To see a list of flavors, click here.
To order Valentine’s Day boxes, click here.
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Caroline Minchella
Staff Writer, Intern
eCoronado
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