Two Cookie Delivery Services to Open in Harvard Square

Warm deliciousness will be coming to your door in two ways in the next few weeks as two cookie-delivery-services expand their operations to Harvard students. Insomnia Cookies and Have a Sweet Idea cater to a very similar crowd—college students looking for a convenient late-night sugar fix—and soon, both will be available to the Harvard community.

TWO FLAVORS OF BUSINESS

Insomnia Cookies is well-established near college campuses around the country, including at Ivy-League schools Yale, Penn, and Cornell. Have a Sweet Idea is a local cookie bike-delivery company started by Somerville resident John Piermarini that serves Boston University, Tufts University, and Northeastern University. He is planning to expand delivery to Harvard Square next Thursday.

Insomnia Cookies, a late-night cookie delivery chain, will be opening in the next few weeks, according to the company’s marketing manager, Renee Sarnecky.

The 600-square-foot location, at 65 Mount Auburn St.—under Quincy Swing Space—has been under construction since the summer and is now in the final stages of preparations. 65 Mount Auburn St. previously housed Harvard Square Optical.

Insomnia Cookies will be open daily from 1 p.m. to 3 a.m. for retail hours. Delivery service begins at 6 p.m. and is available until closing. The new Square eatery will deliver for a $6.00 minimum order and a $0.99 additional fee.

Delivery orders can be made over the phone or on the website. Customers can pre-order for a specific time or make an “ASAP order”—the typical delivery time of which is 30 minutes.

All of Insomnia Cookies’ stores offer a standardized menu which includes regular cookies, deluxe cookies, brownies, and ice cream.

Each store has a staff of about 20 people and the Harvard Square location is currently accepting applications.

During the grand opening week, which is yet to be announced, Insomnia Cookies plans to have a celebration with free cookies.

Have A Sweet Idea has been looking to serve Harvard Square for a while. Piermarini plans to start off making deliveries around Harvard Square himself on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, but intends to hire workers for the area. Delivery people on other local campuses don orange jumpsuits and bike from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. delivering pre-packaged cookies. They charge $5 for five cookies, and delivery is free.

Piermarini, who started selling cookies while a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, said he always had a passion for baking. He founded the cookie delivery company in January 2011, the year after he graduated. He added that he is no stranger to Insomnia Cookies.

“Basically the reason I decided ‘Hey maybe this isn’t crazy’ is because I read about Insomnia Cookies,” Piermarini said.

His company bakes out of a facility in Jamaica Plain and offers a few standard cookies including chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and tazadoodle—a snickerdoodle-like cookie made with local Taza chocolate. Additionally, they rotate new cookie flavors each week and plan to offer other goods, such as cookie sandwiches and cinnamon rolls.

MORE LATE-NIGHT TO SQUARE

“We knew that college campuses were where we wanted to get into,” Piermarini said.

Insomnia Cookies was started by a University of Pennsylvania student in 2002 and has since expanded to 22 locations across cities and college campuses from its flagship store at Penn.

“I would say that they’re really great, the delivery is pretty reliable,” said Charles Bagley, a student at Penn. “I also think the cost per cookie is pretty low.”

Both companies have been looking to expand operations to Harvard Square for a long time.

“It’s one of those spaces we really wanted to get into, but it’s all about finding the right space for the store. It’s always been on our watch list,” said Sarnecky of Insomnia Cookies.

The increased presence of late-night businesses has brought excitement, rather than worry, to longtime Harvard Square business owners.

“It will certainly drive a lot of traffic and late-night business to the Square,” said Thomas J. Brush, co-owner of Felipe’s and Nochs. “I think there’s a lot of people out looking for different options. As more options for late night places open, it attracts people from more than just the immediate neighborhood.”

Brush sees promise in a new late-night scene of Harvard Square, citing the opening of a new concert venue on Church Street and its potential to bring more vibrancy to the Square’s nightlife.

Brush added that his business has considered delivery but has chosen not to engage yet.

“We thought about it, but we do deliveries only for catering, not on an individual meal basis. You have to make a commitment and dedicate staff to the service,” Brush said.

Delivery options for cookies have also excited students, who expressed an interest in having more late-night delivery options in the Square.

“I think it’s amazing. Having junk food in my insomniac hours would be amazing,” said Grayson C. Fuller ’15.

“Our rooms are going to smell really nice now,” said Paul Wei ’15, who lives in Quincy Swing Housing above the location on Mount Auburn Street.

“I’m so excited. They’re delicious,” said Meher Iqbal ’13, who has sampled the cookies at Insomnia Cookies’ New York City branch. “Because they deliver late at night, they’re popular among college students.”

When the cold winter months strike the Square, students will not have to leave their dorms to get fresh-baked treats.

“It makes student life a little easier a little more convenient,” said Robert C. Julien ’14.

—Staff writer Kerry M. Flynn can be reached at kflynn@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Maya S. Jonas-Silver can be reached at mayajonas-silver@college.harvard.edu.