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Site: www.famouscookies.com Company: Famous Fourth Street Cookie Company Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Industry: Service Results Achieved with AccountEdge:
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Famous Fourth Street Cookie Company
Twenty-five years ago, a space opened up at Philadelphia’s Famous 4th Street Deli. Amid the many display cases housing everything from fresh bagels, sumptuous lunch meats, and other assorted deli fare, one case stood empty. That’s when Janie and David Auspitz, owners of the 80 year-old deli, started selling Janie’s homemade cookies.
The way was then cleared for the modest start to the Famous 4th Street Cookie Company, and word of mouth, only slightly muffled by mouthfuls of cookies, started to get around. Since then, according to a company brochure, the cookies have been enjoyed by two presidents, two vice presidents, three ambassadors, seven senators, twenty-three mayors, eighteen movie stars, fifty-nine ballplayers, and thousands of people just like us.
The Auspitz’s have been receiving photographs of satisfied customers for years, cookies in hand, standing in uncommon locales. Visit the Famous 4th Street Deli, and you can browse through a bulging photo album containing pictures of cookies held in front of the Kremlin (Janie’s favorite picture), in a plummeting skydiver’s hand, or in a group shot with African tribesman, just to name a few.
“It’s kind of a kitschy thing that people created all by themselves,” says Janie. “It just became this contest, and everyone wants the best shot of the cookie on their vacation.”
“It’s amazing how creative some of these people get,” David adds.
The cookies are a big hit at Christmas time. “They also make a great ‘thank you’ gift, although we get plenty of people using them as an ‘I’m sorry’ gift as well.”
An interesting cookie order that came through was from the owner of a local parking garage. It seems that while parking a customer’s BMW, one of the employees accidentally drove it off the garage’s second story. The employee was okay, but the car was not. The proprietor of the parking garage called Famous 4th Street Cookies to send a shipment of goodies to the owner of the car. “I wasn’t sure that the cookies were really enough to say I’m sorry for that one,” laughs David, “but we sent them anyway.”
Janie and David sell the cookies to individuals, but also have a nice wholesale business going. There is a Famous 4th Street Cookie Company location at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, and they also deliver the cookies in unbaked pucks to many locations from New York City to Washington DC.
Results Achieved with MYOB
Despite the worldwide recognition of Famous 4th Street Cookies, Janie likes to keep things manageable. That’s where MYOB AccountEdge comes in. Janie knew MYOB’s Todd Salkovitz, Program Relations Manager, for years, and turned to him to help her get her accounting in order. He convinced her to give MYOB software a try.
“David and I started out alone, doing accounting by hand, until we heard of MYOB through Todd back in 1993,” remembers Janie. “I had portable file boxes, and every time I had to write out an invoice or get paid, I had to find the files and do everything manually. It was just horrible.”
Now 10 years later, she runs the Famous 4th Street Cookie Company on MYOB AccountEdge. She uses it for sales, invoicing, and cash receipts.
“Just to not sit there with piles of paper makes MYOB worth its weight in gold,” says Janie. “And then as we get paid, it’s just a miracle for me, compared to doing it all by hand.”
If you would like to taste the delicious products from The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company, visit their website or call Janie at (888) 625-9870.