Just a month after JTM Foods broke ground for its Wichita, Kan., facility in August 2022, the company acquired McKinney, Texas-based Cookies-n-Milk, which is the largest producer of edible cookie dough in the United States and also makes baked cookies, brownies and donut holes. About 70% of production is edible cookie dough.

“We saw it as a category that was in many ways similar to handheld snack pies in that it was a category that was underdeveloped,” said Monty Pooley, JTM president and chief executive officer. “It was a category that harkens back to mom’s homemade cookie dough and one we felt complemented our existing line to the extent that we could bring this new solution to customers.”

Pooley said he saw the business as one that had done a great job of developing the product but knew that JTM could expand its reach.

“Those relationships we have with customers in the industry and our ability to take this new idea really allowed us to accelerate that business,” he said. “We knew there was a lot of upside.”

The edible cookie dough is sold in nuggets in a cup to make it an easy grab-and-go snack. They are sold at convenience stores and the company is ramping up existing sales at grocery stores, said Larry Bilello, chief commercial officer.

“The edible cookie dough was initially sold in buckets or containers, but spoonable isn’t convenient or shareable,” he explained. “Growth in the category is poppable nuggets.”

This article is an excerpt from the June 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on JTM Foods, click here.