Cookie ATM will soon vend Cookies, etc.'s gourmet sweet treats 24/7 at Ames North Grand Mall

Imagine swiping your card at an ATM and instead of cash you received a gourmet chocolate chip cookie, scotcharoo or salted caramel-flavored popcorn. That dream is becoming a reality this week as Ames gets its first Cookie ATM.

“ATM stands for Automatic Treat Machine,” said Mary Jo Banwart, owner of Cookies, etc., which is located at North Grand Mall. “It’s a trademark we’ve applied for. It’s a really different idea and we’re so excited about it. It’s allowing us to extend our hours to 24 hours a day.”

The cookie machine will be located just outside the mall near the TJ Maxx entrance.

“It’s a really fun business because you get to weave technology into what you do, but at the heart of it we’re doing the basics of an age-old baking process, which is like what our grandmothers did,” she said.

It’s the second Cookie ATM for the company, which installed its first one at its Clear Lake location in July of 2020. Initially the purpose was to provide contactless shopping and a way to keep employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It helped provide cookies to our customers at a time when people really needed a treat,” she said. “We had a money ATM at the front of our store, and those became less viable during COVID. I joked with my husband Jon that what we really needed was a cookie ATM.”

He came up with an idea for making it work and partnered with a firm to manufacture the Cookie ATM.

“What we’re doing is taking a machine that used to offer a substandard sandwich and a small bag of chips and elevated it to gourmet level treats,” Mary Jo Banwart said.

The prototype for the sweet ATM was based on bait machines that sit on Australian beaches. The machine was reconfigured for Cookies, etc.’s sweet treats.

“As far as being outside, it’s kind of like a Coke machine,” she said. “You can have those vending machines outside whether it’s 100 degrees or 30 below.”

The Cookie ATMs accept credit and debit cards only, and each purchase requires a swipe – so a customer who wants two cookies ends up swiping twice, she said.

The selection will include single cookies, three-packs, muffins, bars, cinnamon rolls, gourmet popcorn and drinks.

The cookies are made from scratch and are based on the recipes of Banwart’s mom, Marge Miller, who passed away a year and a half ago at the age of 100.

“She lived on the farm in rural Iowa City until literally two days before she died. She still drove and baked bars for the church. She picked up all the ‘old people’ who went to church even though really she was older than all of them,” Banwart said with a laugh.

Banwart’s nephew and his wife, Alex and Angie O’Brien, own and operate Cookies & More in Iowa City, which is also based on family recipes.

Cookies, etc. employees make their dough in-house and bake their cookies fresh each day.

“Anything left at night, we’ve been generous to local hospitals, nursing homes, firefighters, teachers – especially in the last couple years, we’ve tried to provide to those groups as well as Food at First,” Banwart said.

Cookies, etc. has a website, cookies-etc.com, where customers can place orders. Local delivery is available.

“With Iowa State, that’s been a huge benefit for people who live across the country,” Banwart said. “And out of our Clear Lake store, we ship cookies nationwide.”

She said the delivery option has been popular for sending gifts to students in residence halls and Ames apartments. A call is made ahead of time to ensure people are home to receive the delivery.

Cookies, etc. has six basic cookies that are made daily – sugar, chocolate chip, chocolate chip with pecans, oatmeal raisin, monster and chocolate chocolate chip.

“As my mother would say: You get a variety of colors, you get a variety of textures,” Banwart said.

There’s also a cookie of the month that changes 12 times a year. There are some repeats with the cookie of the month, with popular items like Crunchy Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle getting two months of the year. One monthly selection, an oatmeal cookie with white chocolate and craisins, was developed by Banwart’s daughter for a 4H project. For May, the cookie is Polka Dot, with M&Ms in place of chocolate chips.

“For the most part, they’re all family recipes. My mom was a home ec major, and she had four daughters who grew up on the farm,” Banwart said. “So we all learned to bake and cook.”

One of Banwart’s sisters had a chance meeting with Debbie Fields, owner of Mrs. Field’s Cookies, which led to the idea of starting a family cookie business.

“It’s hard to imagine 40 years ago that there were no such things as cookie stores,” she said. “We had to learn how to scale the recipes from home recipes to a 60-quart mixer. But one of our skill sets is to make a kitchen work well for you.”

Cookies, etc. has been in the North Grand Mall for 25 years. Its first location was in Mason City in 1983.

The cookie store has earned accolades over the years, including having its sugar cookie being named Best Cookie in the Midwest by Midwest Living magazine. Travel Iowa has chosen Cookies, etc. and Cookies & More as the No.1 and No. 2 best cookies in the state.

“Both of those are very nice honors,” Banwart said. “We didn’t seek the awards, but our customers and the readers chose us.”

Cookies, etc. recently added Coolers to its menu. The drinks are made with Monster Energy or Sprite with added flavors and are available in combinations like Bomb Pop, Gummy Worm and Unicorn Blood.

The store also offers a variety of gourmet popcorn in flavors like salted caramel, birthday cake and dill pickle.