The Untold Truth Of Insomnia Cookies

It turns out you were not the first (or the last) college student to sit in your dorm late at night, wishing you had a warm cookie to nibble on while you, um, studied. That is exactly what Seth Berkowitz was thinking about, according to HuffPost, when he cooked up the idea for Insomnia Cookies. In 2003, Berkowitz was attending The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania when he started his business venture.

Berkowitz even baked the first batch of cookies himself and gave out free samples. Word spread quickly around campus, and the cookies were so popular, he was able to enlist his friends in his now money-making operation to help bake and deliver cookies around campus. In 2006, Insomnia's first store opened in Syracuse (via Insomnia).

If you're wondering if there's any "special ingredient" in the cookies, you can look to Insomnia's "yearly reminder" on Twitter stating their cookies don't contain melatonin, won't put you to sleep, and don't contain THC, CBD, or any other drug. But, that's not to say eating the cookies can't be habit-forming; they're just that good. With cookie flavors like Chocolate Chunk, Salted Caramel, and Double Chocolate Mint, we're not here to judge if you happen to make that late-night call a couple of times a week. FYI: Some of their locations deliver until 3 a.m.! They even have Chocolate Chip Brownies and "Wiches," which are cookie sandwiches stuffed with either ice cream or frosting — drool.

In 2008, Insomnia Cookies launched another vehicle for sales: food trucks! By 2009 the company had 18 university locations including the new trucks. According to Temple News, the cookie truck located near Temple was selling about 500 cookies a day! Santa has nothing on hungry college students. Ultimately, the brick-and-mortar locations made more sense, and in 2016, the company shut down its last food truck (via Insomnia). But, it didn't seem to hurt business one bit. 

Insomnia Cookies remained too sweet a deal for a bigger conglomerate to pass up. According to Business Insider, JAB Holdings, the parent company of Krispy Kreme, acquired a majority stake in the cookie business in 2018. In addition to Krispy Kreme and Insomnia Cookies, JAB Holding Company has stakes in well-known brands like Panera and Pret A Manger. In 2019, Insomnia opened its 150th location, and all because of the late-night cravings of one smart cookie.