Gluten-free Kalamazoo Cookie Company finds sweet success

Editor’s Note: This story is part of Momentum: The people and companies shaping what’s next, a weekly series that explores new ventures, founder support, and the resources powering entrepreneurship and small businesses across seven counties in Southwest Michigan. This project is sponsored by Southwest Michigan First.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever met anybody who didn’t like a warm cookie.”

Tyler Dilworth, 32, believes that idea is enough to build a business around it. After operating Kalamazoo Cookie Company out of his Kalamazoo home for about five years, he opened the company’s first storefront April 1 at 4023 Douglas Ave., taking over the former Skillet Breakfast Cafe building. 

The storefront is also home to a niche that has fueled the company’s growth: every cookie Dilworth makes is gluten-free.

“I’m the only (entirely) gluten-free bakery in town,” Dilworth says. “I had a couple show up from Marshall the other weekend. Battle Creek’s not unusual. A couple from Indiana came up, and I ship all over.”  

He credits his Instagram page for attracting customers from as far away as California and Maine, although shipping remains only part of the business.

About 15% to 20% of sales come from shipped orders. Another 30% to 40% comes from customers who order ahead for pickup, while the rest consists of custom orders for weddings, graduation parties, bridal showers and retirement celebrations.

While the business is built around gluten-free baking, Dilworth says many customers don’t realize they’re eating gluten-free cookies until he tells them.

Filling an order that large might sound daunting, but Dilworth says event baking is actually one of the easier parts of the job.

His largest order has been for 600 cookies, divided between chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and pistachio. “It was part of a dessert table for a large wedding.  I think they had over 5,000 pieces of desserts for their guests,” he says.

Making 600 cookies sounds overwhelming, but it’s not for Dilworth.  “Events are easier — just get here and let that oven burn. I can do about 100 cookies at one time in the kitchen, so that makes it a lot simpler. And I’ve got family so I say, ‘Come and help me.’”

Asked about popular flavors, Dilworth replies, “Chocolate chip is always the king. For events, people like a frosted sugar cookie. The ‘sleeper’ favorite is always the molasses cookie; people don’t expect to like it so much, but once you’ve had it, it’s really a good flavor.

“And one that just left the menu was a limoncello cookie — very citrusy, and it had white chocolate in it. That one I was only supposed to have for about a month, and I kept it for three months. For summer I’m doing a honey cornbread and blueberry cookie, and I’ll also do a cherry and white chocolate one.”

Whatever the flavor, Dilworth keeps a consistent standard for size and ingredients. His cookies measure about 4 inches across and weigh roughly 3 ounces. He also makes 1-ounce “minis,” but those are mainly a supplement for event orders.  Six to eight flavors are regularly available at the store, and 30 flavors can be made for events. All cookies are made using King Arthur gluten-free flour.

Behind the recipes is a lifelong interest in baking that began long before Kalamazoo Cookie Co. existed.

Family inspiration

Dilworth says he has a passion for baking but no formal training for it.  Instead, he learned at home. “My mom is from a very Italian family, so we were always in the kitchen. From the third grade on, it was kind of like, ‘Learn how to use this space.’,” he says. “When you’re a kid, desserts are easier to make than full meals, so it started with desserts.”

He says that during the COVID-19 pandemic, his mother brought chocolate-chip cookies to his home and “my wife would not stop talking about how good those cookies were. I thought, ‘I’ve got to make a better cookie than my mom. This is my new goal.’ A thousand chocolate-chip cookies later, that’s the cookie you’ve got now. It kind of started from a competition with my mom, for sure.”

Dilworth continues, “When I was a kid, every summer I would go up to Harbor Springs.  There’s a cookie shop up there called Tom’s Mom’s Cookies, and my grandpa and I would go to this cookie shop every summer. I wanted something like that.  I didn’t really know it would end up being cookies specifically, but I wanted to do something that people could come to and make a memory with it.”

That focus on creating memorable experiences also shapes how he runs the business today.

Freshness is central to Kalamazoo Cookie Co.’s approach; its website urges people to place an order online and schedule a pickup time that allows for the baking. However, the store gets some walk-in customers, so Dilworth is prepared. “I’ll make about a dozen variety packs in the morning when I get here,” he says. “And I’ve got frozen dough in the freezer so if anybody just wanders in, I have something I can offer. But otherwise everything is baked fresh.”

The storefront may be new, but it represents years of planning and preparation. In his early 20s, Dilworth worked in a business that made custom furniture, followed by a career as a cabinetmaker. He enjoys using his hands, and that includes making special cookies, which he did in his home for several years while keeping his job and saving money.  At the end of last year, he bought the building on North Douglas that had been a breakfast restaurant.

Eventually, he says, he might increase the kitchen’s production capacity and perhaps create a café in the large former restaurant space.

Can Do Kalamazoo 

Before taking the leap into a storefront, Dilworth sought guidance through Can Do Kalamazoo. In 2022, he took a course offered by Can Do Kalamazoo, a 19-year-old, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs. “It’s essentially like a food-based, small business incubator,” he says. “The course I took is a 16-week class where every week they run you through a different aspect of running your own business, from the financial side, the marketing side, the kitchen, getting licenses, everything you need to know to get rolling.”

Dilworth especially praises Sheena Foster, who conducted the course.  “She was amazing,” he says. “She gets all these experts from around town who specialize in getting small businesses tax compliant or people who specialize in food-based marketing or getting you in touch with wholesalers or whatever. She cultivates this great space for people who have a good idea but don’t know what to do with it. I cannot praise them enough; they are an incredible resource.”

By the end of last year, he was ready to buy the former breakfast restaurant on North Douglas and turn it into his bakery. As Dilworth completes his fourth month of selling cookies in a storefront, he remains eager and confident. 

Four months into the storefront venture, the business appears to be delivering exactly what he hoped: warm cookies and customers willing to travel for them.

“If you treat people well and you make a good product, things will work out,” he says. “I also firmly believe you can never have too many sweets.”

Can Do Kitchen has opened registration for its next First Path series, which takes place in August. First Path is a four-week workshop designed for aspiring entrepreneurs who are ready to explore an idea, ask questions, and take the first real steps toward building a business. For more information, please see the Can-Do Kalamazoo website.