Fox23.com:
She’s known as the creator of the cookie bouquet, and she’s from right here in Tulsa.
Her cookie bouquets have been around for 25 years now. FOX23’s Janna Clark goes on the road to meet a mother and daughter team, who may have rescued their own product.
Putting a cookie on a stick is a little tougher than it looks.
While cookie baker Jason does his thing.
Michelle, the decorator, does hers.
But who’s really behind the cookie craze is a mother and daughter.
Renee Willhite owns the Tulsa cookie shop, called Cookies by Design.
But her mom is her boss.
“She motivates me. I need a kick every once in awhile,” Renee said.
It was Gwen Gilliam’s dream to bake cookies and make them into a bouquet.
It all started 25 years ago, when Gwen lost her job.
“I just decided it was time to do something on my own,” Gwen said.
Gwen started baking cookies out of her kitchen at home.
Just 3 months later, she opened a little shop in Catoosa. Then the next year, she moved the shop to Tulsa.
Now it’s at the Farm Shopping Center.
“I was focused I had my little plan,” Gwen said.
But her little plan didn’t include owning a major cookie company with 187 franchises.
“No, but my dream did,” she said.
Logo from Cookies by Design