On my recent trip to The Atlanta International Gift &
Home Furnishings Market, a showroom visit gave me a chance to renew an
acquaintance with a food favorite. As I walked through the Butler Group
showroom, I came upon a wonderful sight. There before me were jars of a variety
of cookies from the Byrd Cookie Company (byrdcookiecompany.com).
The cookies were always a special treat for me at the long lamented (by
several of us) Chicago edition of the Fancy Food Show. Here they were, up from
their native home in Savannah, GA. The showroom rep invited me to sample and
after some deliberation, I selected the Key Lime Cooler. It was as delicious as I
remembered. The crunch of the first bite leads into a cookie
offering a fresh, rich flavor that's just tart enough. I remembered why it was one of my favorites.
Truth be told, I could have stood there and sampled at least four or five more.
But I had places to go and people to see.
Sometimes, however, the cookie gods smile on you. Showroom owners Ed and Betty Butler
were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and 25th
year in business with a party in the space that evening. One of the takeaway gifts was a commemorative
ornament filled with — you guessed it — Byrd’s cookies. Once the ornament's top was removed, it revealed a small bag of the Triple Chocolate cookie, a rich Dutch chocolate
cookie loaded with dark chocolate chips and then sprinkled with cocoa powder. It’s a
treat I have been enjoying since I returned back to the frozen North.
But Byrd’s are more than great cookies. The company is known
for its assortment of artful tins. Besides seasonal, it offers tins with all
kinds of themes, including Travel Postcard, Vintage Collection, Southern Scenes
and Mad About Mod patterns cylinder shaped tins.
For retailers they would make great displays and gift ideas,
as well as cookie sampling opportunities.
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