Co-Founder Traci Hozie-Alderson talks to Adam Montiel about the new Made with Ghirardelli® Shortbread Cookies at the Brown Butter Cookie Company (released June 7, 2024 -- interview begins around 12 minutes).

Co-Owner and Founder, Traci Hozie-Alderson was interviewed on the podcast Consumed with Jaime Lewis (released December 4, 2023).

Traci and Christa Hozie were stunned when a small cookie began to dominate their deli business. Amongst a menu of paninis and salads, their “shortbread” cookie, which was offered as a sample to customers, continued to be bought out on a daily basis.

With the help of family and friends, the sisters could hardly keep up as the cookies flew off the shelves. After many late nights preparing cookies for the next day, they decided to “listen to the cookie” and founded the Brown Butter Cookie Company in December 2008.

What began as an inconspicuous sampler cookie would soon become a Central Coast staple requiring the launch of an online shop to sell the sensationally sweet and salty Original Brown Butter Sea Salt cookie nationwide. Since then, the Cookie Company has been featured in the New York Times, Sunset Magazine, The Today Show, Westways, and more!

The passion for these cookies has only continued to grow. In the fall of 2013, the sisters opened their second boutique retail shop on the park in the iconic Acron building, downtown Paso Robles, California. Six years later, in the fall of 2019, they celebrated their 10th year in business with the opening of their third retail location. You’ll find the newest shop in charming San Luis Obispo, California, right in the heart of downtown. The Cookie Company continues to make all cookies here on the Central Coast in their new production facility in Atascadero, and in their flagship Cayucos shop.