Filipino-owned cookie shop gains popularity in North America

Eat cookie, be happy.

This is The Night Baker's slogan that has a vision for making everyone happy with whatever they bake. Husband and wife team, Mitchell and Leanne Cabrera, believe that great memories are attached to cookies. Inspired by their own childhood memories of Philippine flavors, the couple uses their chemistry background to come up with out-of-the-ordinary cookies that cannot be found anywhere else.

"Cookies for us is very personal. I think a lot of people have this connection to cookies, for example, people bake with their moms, their Lola," Mitchell said. "We started creating our recipes within 2017 and it took us about nine months.  Everyday we would make a new cookie and go through that process of using our chemistry background in order to do a very precise methodology.  We tinkered with a lot of the sugar content, flours, different temperatures into baking and finally, we were able to come up with our recipes."

What started as a side business has grown into two storefront bakeries in just three years, with pop up shops in marketplaces and shipments across Canada and the US. With its bestsellers like ube and seasonal flavors like sans rival, it has become the talk of the town year-round. Even out-of-town customers go to the store in Toronto to buy its offerings.

As people enjoy their flavorful cookies, the Cabreras also want the world to discover the richness of Filipino cuisine.

"People have always been saying that Filipino food is the next big thing and we’re always waiting and waiting when it’s gonna happen. Our hope is that we’re helping make that come to a reality where people enjoy more of the Filipino food, enjoy the Filipino culture, and discover how wonderful Filipino cuisine is and just share in the warmth of Filipino culture," Mitchell said.

With creativity and experimentation at the heart of its cookie creation, The Night Baker hopes to steadily grow their followers and expand their reach in North America.