Tiff Taylor-Chen and Leon Chen started Tiff’s Treats in 1999 from
Chen’s apartment near the University of Texas. Today the company has more than 30 stores including one that will open in Steiner Ranch this year.
By KIM ESTES
Four Points News
One of Austin’s small business success stories will come to Steiner Ranch later this year as Tiff’s Treats prepares to open a store in Quinlan Crossing for both deliveries and for customers to stop in.
Tiff’s Treats’ known specialty is a menu of 10 different cookie flavors and two choices of brownies that are baked when ordered and delivered warm.
“We are so excited to expand warm cookie delivery to the Steiner Ranch area. This area is a natural fit for us, and we can’t wait to work with businesses and residents to make each day a little sweeter,” said Tiff Taylor-Chen, who co-founded Tiff’s Treats with husband Leon Chen.
They are opening the 5145 N. RM 620 store because there is customer demand.
“We felt like there was a demand for a store in Steiner Ranch because we make deliveries there so many times a day it made sense to open a store,” said Jeff Sartor, executive vice president of marketing.
Currently, Steiner residents are served by Tiff’s Treats locations on Bee Caves Road and Research Boulevard. Customers have been willing to pay $15 for delivery by extended courier service, but having a local store will reduce the delivery fee to $5, added Sartor.
Tiff’s Treats will open this fall with a shop in Quinlan Crossing across the parking lot from Randalls grocery store in Steiner Ranch. It will deliver warm cookies for $5
in the local designated service zone.
Sartor predicts the Quinlan Crossing grand opening will be in late 2017, and the company will partner with the Andy Roddick Foundation for it. The foundation helps youth in low-income communities have abundant opportunities to reach their full potential.
“We always work with a local non-profit when opening a store. We offer a deep discount and proceeds are donated to the non-profit,” said Sartor.
Cookies for order include chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, white chocolate chip and almond, sugar and oatmeal raisin. Brownie choices are Tiff’s regular brownie made with chocolate chips and “Naughty” brownies — made of a layer of chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cookies and then a brownie.
To top it all off, customers can also order Blue Bell ice cream or beverages such as milk, sodas or Starbucks’ drinks. There are additional menu items as well as packaging for birthdays, baby showers or other special occasions.
Tiff’s Treats was started 1999 when Tiffany Taylor and Leon Chen were college sophomores at the University of Texas. She stood him up for a date and later delivered hot-from-the-oven cookies to apologize. He was impressed and convinced her to turn the idea of freshly baked, delivered cookies into a business. The two started by taking orders on a cell phone and baked cookies at Leon’s apartment. Student study sessions at UT were some of their first deliveries.
In the past 18 years, they have expanded to 26 stores in Texas and five in Georgia for a total of 31 locations. In addition to Steiner Ranch, future sites include one in College Station and two in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.