These Cookies Never Sleep

By Naperville Magazine
Appears in the October 2024 issue.

By Peter Gianopulos

Back in the day, if you felt a cookie craving coming on, you had two options: Bake some yourself or drive to the local bakery. With Insomnia Cookies now opened in Naperville, you’ve got a third option: Relax in your cozy spot of choice, download the Insomnia Cookie app, and have warm cookies (plus ice cream and cold milk) delivered to your door—morning, afternoon, and into the wee hours of the night.

You can thank college cookie-holics for making Insomnia Cookies a national chain, which now boasts more than 290 locations. Legend has it that founder Seth Berkowitz, back in 2003, was enjoying a video game session at the University of Pennsylvania when he suddenly craved something sweet. Knowing that the only late-night options open served pizzas and sandwiches, he baked up a batch of chocolate-chunk cookies. He downed a few and then trudged across campus, selling the rest to fellow students. In that moment, the “insomnia” cookie delivery business was born. Over the next two decades, Insomnia Cookies popped up near campuses across the country then branched out to where many of those “insomniacs” settled after college.

According to marketing specialist Cain Leathers, one secret to Insomnia’s success is the lengths it goes to keep its cookies warm. It designed insulated cookie protectors (like mini pizza boxes), which are either surrounded by warm gel packs or slid into warming trays in the winter. The other secret? A constantly revolving list of brilliantly oddball flavors, including churro cheesecake and vegan peanut miso cookies. “We have a cookie innovation team that works tirelessly on coming up with new recipes,” he says.

Photo: Insomnia Cookies