Tiffany Taylor Chen co-founded Tiff’s Treats with her husband Leon.
Hosts grand opening Dec. 16
By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Tiff’s Treats is opening its 8th Austin store in Steiner Ranch this month and is hosting a grand opening on Dec. 16 with cookie deals, giveaways and fundraising.
Austin-based Tiff’s Treats — the first in the nation to create the warm cookie delivery concept — will now have 31 Texas stores with its new Steiner shop.
The company has been servicing the Steiner and Lakeway areas through a courier service for some time but until this latest addition, it did not have a store close enough to send its own delivery drivers.
“We have seen such great demand from this area over the past few years that we decided we needed a store that can more quickly deliver to West Austin,” said Tiffany Taylor Chen, who co-founded Tiff’s Treats with her husband Leon.
Customers can order via phone, online or via the Tiff’s Treats app. Baked-to-order, all cookies and brownies are delivered warm, straight from the oven, in a white box with a colorful ribbon.
“We (also) wanted to provide a storefront for customers in this area to conveniently pick up orders or come by for a Tiffwich (ice cream sandwich),” she said.
Grand opening
The Steiner grand opening is on Saturday, Dec. 16 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first 40 people in line at the 9 a.m. opening will get a $100 Tiff’s Treats gift card. All others in line at 9 a.m. will receive a $10 gift card.
The event will also include a fundraiser where Tiff’s Treats will be selling a dozen cookies for $5. Customers at the opening can purchase up to six boxes filled with chocolate chip, snickerdoodle or oatmeal raisin.
Up to $5,000 in proceeds from this day will go to the Andy Roddick Foundation whose mission is to ensure youth in low-income communities have opportunities to reach their full potential through education and sports-based mentoring. Money raised will provide daily snacks and meals for 90 students during the summer learning program of the Roddick Foundation.
Tennis star Andy Roddick also will be at the opening from 9 to 11 a.m. to sign autographs, meet fans, and accept donations for his foundation.
Also to the grand opening, people may also bring new children’s school supplies (colors, markers, pencils, children’s scissors) to get a $5 Tiff’s Treats gift card.
Tiff’s Treats will also be giving away gift cards donated from local area restaurants and shops, randomly inserted into boxes of cookies.
Tiff’s Treats expands
In November, Tiff’s Treats announced a $25 million funding round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, bringing its total funding over the past three years to $50 million, all intended to help the company continue its growth and expansion.
“November has been quite a month for us, announcing our $25 million investment from our new partner, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, and now opening two new stores on the same day,” said Leon Chen. “We are so pleased with how people have responded to our brand. Our happy customers and their repeat business is fueling our growth, and our plan is to add at least 10 stores in 2018.”
Recently, the company announced its move into Tennessee with a Nashville store opening in 2018. It has five stores in the Atlanta area.
On the same day as the Steiner grand opening, the company will host a grand opening at its new store in Sugar Land.
Founded in 1999, what started as two friends baking cookies at University of Texas at Austin to help fellow students get through exams has now grown to 36 stores in Texas and Georgia, with more than 700 employees, baking more than 80 million cookies since its inception.
“We are very excited to be a part of the (Four Points) neighborhood,” Taylor Chen said.