Smart Cookie

When pandemic stay-at-home orders were declared in March 2020, ANGELA WHEELER and her daughter, JENNIFER LEWIS, who lived with her at the time, began baking and shipping cookies to friends and family across the country.

“We tested new recipes and packaging,” Wheeler says. “And we sent questionnaires to inquire if the cookies were still fresh and intact upon arrival, how long did shipping take, and did the packaging survive shipment. We had a lot of fun doing that. I gained 12 pounds that year!”

Wheeler, a Greensboro native, has baked cookies her entire life, primarily for her four children, and now two grandchildren. Despite not thinking much about turning baking cookies into a company, she bought the Carolina Girl Cookie Company domain 14 years ago while living in Maryland. In 2023, she officially launched her online gourmet cookie business. Wheeler gained a following at last summer’s Wrightsville Beach Market. “I got so much exposure,” she says. “People would come just to buy by cookies. I sold 700 to 800 cookies a month.”

Most of Carolina Girl Cookie Company’s sales are online, catering large events, and monthly office deliveries, but you’ll also find her cookies in some local spots, like Biggers Market. Wheeler’s Cookie of the Month Club subscription plan features special varieties of cookies, including seasonal varieties (like white chocolate cranberry), new recipes, and classic favorites (like chocolate chip and peanut butter). The $10 a month plan also helps her test new recipes that could be added to the permanent menu. “I always toss in some extras to try new ones,” she says. Nationwide shipping is available, and Wheeler offers in-person local deliveries.

Lewis, her daughter, is a nutritionist and together they create recipes that are all-natural, using local and certified organic ingredients, like grass-fed butter and pasture-raised eggs.

“I’ve always eaten as natural as possible,” Wheeler says. “I try to avoid chemicals, and Jennifer recommends substitutions like sweetening with apples. Our chunky apple oatmeal cookie was a fall favorite.” They created a cookie made with less sugar and still tastes rich. “If there’s such thing as a healthy cookie, this is it,” Wheeler says. Gluten free and vegan cookies are also available at no extra charge.

While Wheeler’s online business is growing and she’s expanding into more local retailers, she aims to one day have a small storefront and a large space for baking and order fulfillment but remain mostly online.

“I have big dreams and big ideas,” she says. “Growth could be exponential, but I want to do it the right way.”

Wheeler is leaning into her business degree, which she completed at the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2020. She is meeting with UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to research how to expand. “I’ll always focus on gourmet cookies,” she says. “I want to keep it sweet and simple.”

To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.

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