It’s midnight and you want some cookies and milk, but mom is 200 miles away. What do you do?
Students at Binghamton University, along with students from 10 other campuses across the country, are satisfying their cravings for a midnight snack with a few clicks and key strokes. They simply log on to insomniacookies.com, place their order (let’s say, oatmeal raisin cookies and chocolate milk) and 45 minutes later, the delivery man arrives at their doorstep, hair curlers and polka-dot apron not included.
Insomnia Cookies, which was started four years ago by students at University of Pennsylvania, specializes in late night delivery to those students who party hard, study hard or just want an alternative to pepperoni pizza.
‘We have a good feel of the pulse of the student population,’ said Seth Berkowitz, founder and CEO.
The two-year-old Binghamton franchise, the only delivery-only chapter, operates from Old Vestal Road (across from campus) from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., seven days a week. The 10 person staff of bakers, drivers and a marketing team is made up entirely of Binghamton students.
‘This is how I’m paying my tuition,’ said Cary Magaram, store manager and senior politics, philosophy and law major. ‘I’m going to be up till 3 a.m. anyway. Why not make some money?’
Typically, Magaram’s division receives 60 to 70 orders a night. But when business is slow or the marketers aren’t handing out fliers or free cookies at the student union, the employees can be found in the office playing Nintendo 64 or lounging on a mattress. ‘The hours are so late, even I gotta take a nap occasionally,’ said one worker.
The franchise bakes brownies, cookie cakes and eight varieties of cookies. The M&M cookies are sophomore John Willyt’s favorite. ‘The sugar ones is also mad good,’ he said.
For Valentine’s Day, customers can send a ‘heart-shaped cookie delivered to your sweetheart,’ said Magaram.
Of course, delivering late night snacks to college students can sometimes draw a more interesting clientele than daytime food-services might encounter.
‘We’ve had customers who weren’t able to speak when we handed [the cookies] to them,’ said Magaram. ‘They were in a comatose state.’
‘One time a kid had a $6 order. He came with three singles and about $4 in change. One dollar of the change was in Canadian money,’ said Magaram. ‘The tip ended up being 11 cents, not including the Canadian money.’
For student entrepreneurs at Binghamton, Berkowitz advised, ‘If you believe in an idea while you’re in college, try it with college.’ Berkowitz, 25, used to bake his homemade cookies in his college house. Now, as full-time CEO, his duties include ‘coordinating with our marketing team’ at the corporate headquarters on 41 Street and Lexington Avenue.
‘Go with your gut,’ he said.