Company background
The Causeway Cookie Company is a bakery based in Portrush which specialises in gluten, dairy and egg free cookies and edible dough.
Causeway Cookie Company
Challenge
The initial plan for this project was to design magnificent cookie cakes to be the center piece for large celebrations. Although this is still an option for the future of Causeway Cookie Company, the COVID-19 pandemic has halted all large gatherings therefore focus was needed to expand Sam’s retail range to allow her to produce products more suitable for the smaller family/ bubble gathering in the interim to protect her business. The project focused on the smaller cookies however the work completed in this project is still applicable to the gateau.
Solution
To assist and make their idea a reality Causeway Cookie Company made contact with North West Regional College (NWRC) Business Support Centre (BSC) who supported them through the InnovateUs programme which is funded by Department for the Economy.
NWRC Food Technology Technical Consultant, Karen Marran, provided upskilling in product development to include recipe enhancement, ingredient sourcing for integrity and local provenance, development of the product into new concepts and packaging sourcing to match the ethical credentials of the product.
Impact
Having completed an Invest NI Innovation Voucher to develop a vegan cookie base this concept has been taken further using the Innovate US Programme to allow for flavour development and collaborative links to other artisans to boost and support local business. In addition, Sam has been given the skills to allow her to develop this concept further in the future with new flavours and business opportunities.
Future
Sam Swart, Owner of Causeway Cookie Company, described the benefits of working with NWRC’s Business Support Centre via the InnovateUs programme:‘’I cannot recommend the InnovateUs programme and NWRC Foodovation Centre highly enough. The support and invaluable expertise I received from Karen Marran was and is immeasurable. The project was to develop my existing gluten free cookie recipe into a fully plant based gluten free cookie recipe. The seemingly daunting task flowed smoothly and resulted in not 1 but 3 viable end products (edible dough; cookies & crumb) in 3 different flavour variations (Vanilla; Rich Chocolate; and Irish Black Butter). The most exciting of these new products is the edible dough, which will be available for sale mid to late Spring 2021.’’
