Audrey Pfitzner
As the late-afternoon rush of excited families and college students crowd into the café, most would feel overwhelmed, but the woman behind the marble counter grins. The woman is ready to take orders; her blonde hair is held back by a white hat and she wears a pair of plastic gloves on her hands. A buzz of joy is felt around the café, which is meticulously decorated in red and black, as customers indulge in cookie dough. The scent of sweet cookie dough fills the air as the woman makes friendly conversation while effortlessly scooping the dough into cups and cones.
Jennifer Dollander is the founder and owner of Alumni Cookie Dough, an edible cookie dough café located in downtown Athens.
Dollander brought this niche business to Athens in January 2019 after she took a trip to New York with her daughter. They had already seen many of the city’s attractions on a previous trip, so she browsed the internet for “some other fun stuff” where she stumbled upon a cookie dough café in Greenwich Village.
After tasting what the café had to offer and recognizing the similarities between Greenwich and Athens–both college towns, Dollander, an alumnus of the University of Georgia, decided Athens “needed one of these.”
While Dollander always had an entrepreneurship mindset, business was not always part of her plan. She had originally planned a career in the field of education. When she returned from New York intent on opening a cookie dough business, her family and friends thought she was crazy, but that did not stop her from making her dream a reality.
Dollander left “the most secure job in the whole world of being a teacher” to open her own small business which is “the most unsecure.”
Before the grand opening, Dollander spent hours working in the kitchen to perfect her edible cookie dough recipe which was a daunting process. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that the ingredients in cookie dough, such as flour and eggs, are dangerous to consume uncooked. However, Dollander found a way to remove eggs and heat-treat the flour to make it safe to eat. Alumni now offers 12 flavors of edible cookie dough, each bringing its own unique twist to the café.
The Athens community and cookie dough enthusiasts have embraced the café fully since its opening in 2019, and it has not gone unnoticed by Dollander or the café’s employees.
Dollander describes the community as a “loyal fan base” and credits much of the success to the customers that have stuck with the business through the highs and lows of the past five years. She finds it important to reciprocate the support by investing back into the Athens community.
“I believe that when you invest in your community, it sustains you. You grow roots, and we, I think, we’ve proven that we care about Athens,” Dollander said.
Her employees have not taken for granted the opportunity to work at the family-owned business and admire the passion and dedication of Dollander.
Crystal Stewart, a Wholesale Manager for over a year, has been inspired by Dollander’s heart and passion for giving back to the community. Stewart said that Dollander has worked with Go Red for Women by the American Heart Association and partnered with Extra Special People which provides opportunities to children with disabilities.
Along with the partnerships, Alumni Cookie Dough also frequently hosts percentage nights for Greek life organizations and clubs to support philanthropies both locally and nationally.
With the positive feedback and success of the Athens café, Dollander decided to share her product with a larger audience and started the franchising process. Currently there are franchises in Milton and East Cobb, with locations in Acworth and Augusta under construction and set to open this summer.
Dollander said, “It has just grown. We knew we had something really special and took that opportunity to spread it as best as we can.”
Why I Wrote the Story:
Writing a profile challenged me as a journalist. A profile is completely different than any other news piece that we wrote this semester. It involves more storytelling and a better understanding of the journey of the interview subject. For the business beat it was unique to see how a family-owned business has thrived in downtown Athens with community support. The profile gave me the opportunity to practice interviewing a professional and putting a story into words. I was able to display the challenges and triumphs of Jennifer Dollander, the owner of Alumni Cookie Dough. Overall, this article stretched my writing abilities and prepared me to write in a different style.