As freshly baked cookie concepts continue to open in the Southwest Florida market, Cookie Plug offers a unique experience inspired by graffiti, street art and hip-hop culture. The California-based franchise hosted its grand opening Saturday at 12377 S. Cleveland Ave. in south Fort Myers.
“What really drew me in is I’m a huge fan of hip-hop, like old school hip-hop,” owner and Atlanta-native Sean Virani said. “The graffiti itself is just so unique. You have all the other cookie shops, all great cookie shops, but we’re just different.”
Virani discovered the franchise when his brother visited California. “He said, ‘I’m going to review them for you right now,’” Virani said of his brother. “He reviewed every single cookie. He said, ‘I would like to do something like this one day. I always wanted to do a business with you.’”
The very next day, Virani called Cookie Plug’s corporate number and set up a meeting to open a franchise.
A dozen flavors of the cookies, known as phatties, are offered, such as Pink Elephant (strawberry cheesecake), Snooperdoodle (snickerdoodle), Purple Haze (purple velvet) and Bam Bam (fruit cereal). Other flavors include Pixie Junkie (sugar cookie), Firecracker (s’mores) and the OG (chocolate chip).
“They’re crispy on the outside, gooey in the middle,” Virani said. “It’s like the perfect cookie.”
Despite the names being inspired by cannabis strains, all cookies at Cookie Plug are THC and CBD free.
Each cookie sells for $5, or guests can get sacks, such as the doughp sack (four cookies for $20), a half sack (seven cookies for $30) or the fat sack (12 cookies for $40).
With each cookie 4 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, guests can opt for the Plug Poppers, which includes all flavors in one single pack. Each tube pack comes with miniature versions of six flavors.
“There’s two different colored tubes,” store manager Megan Trois said. “It will be a different assortment of flavors, so you can kind of pick and choose which one is more your style.”
Guests with a more intense sweet tooth can try the “Iced Up” option, which is two cookies of your choosing with vanilla ice cream in the middle.
The phatties also come in four keto options like “Kitt” (chocolate chip), “Bart” (peanut butter chocolate), “Black Magic” (chocolate) and “Calvin” (snickerdoodle).
Phatties aren’t the only thing far from cookie cutter at the new cookie shop, with beverage options, such as the Purple Drank, which is Cookie Plug’s signature purple lemonade. In true hip-hop fashion, the purple lemonade is served double cupped.
If lemonade isn’t a guest’s preferred drink, purple milk served in a baby bottle can help wash down the sweet treats.
Owning several Marley’s Smoke Shop locations, Virani is not new to running a business but is new to this type of concept.
Trois has been working at Marley’s for nearly four years and will be the store manager for Cookie Plug.
“My relationship with my employees is more like a family,” Virani said. “It’s all about customer service. We try to make it up close, friendly and personable with every customer that walks in the door.”
“… I think Fort Myers needs a little excitement going on right now, especially after the hurricane. People need some fun to come check out.”
Cookie Plug is open from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
