Insomnia Cookies officially opened its doors on 708 Commonwealth Ave. on Sept. 3, and received positive responses from Boston University students. The new store is the latest addition to BU’s on-campus dining options.
The store’s main draw is its late-night cookie delivery service, which caters to college students and their difficult schedules, said Marketing Manager Renee Sarnecky.
“With limited late night food options, it is one of the good few items, especially when you’re up late,” Sarnecky said. “Whether you’re cramming for a test, midterms or finals, it’s nice to have something that’s delivered warm and fresh straight to your door.”
The new store, located near Warren Towers, is open until 3 a.m. every night and accepts delivery requests until 2:45 a.m., Sarnecky said. Along with selling baked goods, she said the store often partners with student organizations and campus-sponsored functions to provide cookie donations, gift cards or special discounts.
“I think we’ve already proved that we’re going to be a big hit on campus, so I definitely anticipate the traffic being steady and the deliveries to keep coming in,” Sarnecky said. “We do a lot of stuff on campus, so I don’t think we’ll be going away any time soon.”
She said students could also coordinate special events with Insomnia Cookies, where a portion of the store’s profit is sent to a specific cause or organization. The next donation day will take place on Sept. 23 for Operation Smile, an organization that raises money for children around the world who need cleft lip and palate surgery.
“Traffic has been out of control and it’s been absolutely wonderful,” Sarnecky said. “… We’ve received a great response from the campus … Overall, we’re very excited with the store and how its performance has been.”
Sarnecky said the most popular item in the store is currently the S’mores Deluxe. She said the store also receives many orders for “Cookiewiches” — a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between any two cookies.
Fritz Jolivain, a College of Engineering freshman, said he entered the store after receiving a coupon for a free cookie.
“I got the Chocolate Chunk, and it’s really good, it’s nice and soft — that’s why I like them,” Jolivain said. “I’ll probably call in for delivery whenever I’m up late and need something sweet in my system.”
Bella Figuereo, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said Insomnia Cookies is an innovative and practical design for college students.
“People have been saying it’s really good, and the fact that it’s been open late is pretty cool,” she said. “The delivery service is really cool, but it’s probably bad because I’ll probably eat a lot of it [cookies].”
University of Pennsylvania graduate Seth Berkowitz came up with the idea for a late-night fresh cookie shop in 2003, according to the Insomnia Cookies website. While at college, Berkowitz decided to bake and deliver cookies to fellow students late at night after he realized there was a lack of late-night food options on campus.
Since then, more than 30 Insomnia Cookies locations have been built across the nation, according to the website. The majority of these locations are on college campuses.
Erica Guzman, a CAS sophomore, said she thoroughly enjoyed her experience at Insomnia Cookies on BU’s campus.
“Oh my God, I love Insomnia Cookies,” Guzman said. “They were so good … I felt like eating the whole store.”
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