The Costco Connection

by Shana McNally

 

Cookies Made With Love

IN 2004 THINGS looked grim for the Stachler family. Dad Ken and daughter Susan underwent back-to-back chemo for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease, respectively.

Mother Laura was distraught until she learned that ginger helps cancer patients fight nausea. Having grown up in the restaurant industry, baking was something she knew and could do for her loved ones.

Enter Susansnaps, a gourmet cookie company co-owned by Laura and Susan and named after Laura’s sister Susan Carver Smith who succumbed to Hodgkin’s at 28.

“What was once just a small idea has now turned into a thriving company, and it started with some flour, sugar, eggs, and spices from the Perimeter [Georgia] Costco,” says Susan, who handles marketing and packaging and, like her dad, is doing OK.

The Atlanta-based commpany produces up to 10,000 of the chewy/crunchy cookies a day. A portion of the sales goes to the non-profit Susan Carver Foundation, which Laura established to support cancer research and cancer patients. “I’ve always wanted to give back, but never did I think I would be raising money for a cause I benefit from,” says Susan. -Shana McNally