Sweet, Sweet Success

Stacy’s Cookie Lounge is taking edible artwork to a whole new level

By Jessica Koslow

Imagine walking through the doors of Stacy’s Cookie Lounge at happy hour. There are drinks being poured (lots of tea) and cookies all around: Super Snickerdoodle, El Gringo Picante and gluten-free chocolate chip, just to name a few. You melt into a comfy couch or sit with friends at the bar. There’s even a cookie decorating class at a back table. It’s a snapshot of girls’ night heaven.

For now though, Stacy’s Cookie Lounge is Stacy Parker’s apartment in Playa Vista, which churns out dozens of gourmet and hand-decorated cookies each day — mostly for corporate clients like Google, Prada, Univision, Twitter, Hulu and Estée Lauder

“About 90% of my business is decorated cookies,” shares Parker, who moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue acting. When her acting career didn’t pan out, Parker went back to the 9-to-5 she had for 20 years in construction management. But she never stopped believing in herself, and in November 2015 started making and selling cookies.

“I started my business with organic gourmet cookies,” Parker says. “I added organic gluten-free and vegan cookies, like chocolate chip and oatmeal, and sold them at the farmers market in Marina del Rey.”

Then came a very special call that would launch her career path in a new direction.

“In January [2016], I got a call from someone in advertising and marketing. They wanted to send cookies to their client who had a commercial during the Super Bowl. So I made football-shaped decorated cookies. They started ordering more and more decorated cookies for their clients. I had to start watching YouTube videos and buying new supplies.”

This switch to decorated cookies was the perfect outlet for Parker’s creative side.

“I’ve had an artistic bug since I was a little girl,” says Parker, who was born in Washington, Missouri. “When I was 4-years-old, I would look forward to the coloring contests in my local newspaper. I would look for the character to draw, dump my crayons out and submit my picture to the grocery store for judging.”

While her first year of business was slow, her decorated cookies have now allowed her to move on from her day job last October.

“We all have something we would rather be doing,” says Parker. And now, luckily, she’s doing that something — full-time.

“I always enjoyed decorating cookies with my mom when I was little, like Christmas cookies and Halloween cookies,” says Parker. “But that wasn’t really what the objective of my business was. I wanted to make people happy. I have always made goodies for my friends to watch them smile.”

Parker likes coloring, and her colorful abstract paintings hang on the wall of her apartment. Now she paints on cookies. Sometimes she sketches out her designs, and other times she’s so busy she wings it.

 

The 15-year vegetarian runs her entire business by herself, with the help only of a few part-time assistants. Most of the time, it’s just Stacy in her lounge.

Like today. It’s Monday morning, and Parker was up working until 5 a.m. Yesterday, she had to deliver cookies in the shape of a crying Drake emoji to one client. Today, she’s fielding new orders by phone and putting the finishing touches on cookies with a Facebook design.

“This business has become my passion,” she says with a huge grin. “These cookies are like edible art. Many people keep the cookies as souvenirs. This one real estate agent asked me to create custom-cut cookies in the shape of the house he was selling for his open house. He said this was the first cookie he had not eaten in 10 years. My sister still has cookies I made for her like two years ago.”

Parker once made 350 cookies for Prada to replicate the brand’s doggie key chain for a Chinese New Year celebration at their L.A. stores. She created a night repair serum cookie for Estee Lauder’s launch of their #travelbeautifully campaign.

Cookies are a great promotional item and stay fresh for up to a month in their heat-sealed package. And, who doesn’t love cookies?

Many of Parker’s clients are finding her online, and her Instagram account (@stacyscookielounge) is flooded with images of Bubble Guppies, Indiana Jones, snow globes, the Hungry Caterpillar and many more — all as decorated cookies.

Parker hopes to one day turn her cottage industry into a pop-up lounge. For now, she’s just focused on making people smile— and doing the something she used to rather be doing.   

Call (310) 651-0834 or visit stacyscookielounge.com for product and ordering information.