How Insomnia Cookies Became a Late-Night College Staple

According to the National Sleep Foundation, up to 96% of college students report functioning on less than eight hours of sleep per night. During final exams it gets worse, with the average student eking by on a little more than six hours of sleep. While health experts have long warned that pulling all-nighters isn’t good for you, that advice hasn't done much to keep people from staying up into the wee hours. But across America, students accustomed to running on empty have a steady companion that’s helping keep the lights on late: Insomnia Cookies. The sardonic name is also an accurate one. While a slew of retail brands sell cookies, there’s only one that bakes them all nightlong and will deliver them—minutes out of the oven—until 3 a.m. “A big part of our brand is what we call ‘own the night,’” CMO Tom Carusona said. (In fact, the company slogan is “Warm Cookies Delivered Crazy Late.”) The other “big part of our promise,” he said, is assuring the cookies will be warm, whether customers get them delivered or opt to pick them up. “It’s like the difference between a slice of pizza that’s cold and one that’s fresh,” Carusona said. “When it’s right out of the oven, it’s that much better.” It’s no coincidence, then, that most of Insomnia Cookies’ 225 locations perch on the edge of college campuses, where the studying (or partying) stretches well past midnight and the munchies must be dealt with. Since roughly half of the company’s customers opt for delivery, they’ll never see an actual Insomnia location. But those who do aren’t coming in for ambiance. Aside from the walls wearing a jarring shade of Barney the Dinosaur purple, the restaurants are stripped-down, cooking-producing machines: a foyer, a counter and industrial ovens in the back. Want more? Go to a diner. Insomnia’s formula works because its founder was also its target audience. In 2003, Seth Berkowitz was a UPenn undergrad with late hours and a sweet tooth. Philadelphia suffers no shortage of pizza and cheesesteak joints, but nobody delivered cookies at that time. So Berkowitz—who lived in an off-campus apartment—baked his own. When he gave them out on campus along with his phone number, the orders began coming in the very next night. Berkowitz opened his first location in 2004, and last year, the count grew to 200. “When I started the company in my dorm room,” Berkowitz said at the time, “never in my wildest dreams did I think I would open 200 stores.” Then again, neither Berkowitz nor his customers had much time for dreaming, anyway: They were awake all night. Pandemic pivot The first year of the pandemic was tough on most brands, but it hit Insomnia Cookies especially hard. As campuses emptied of students, Insomnia watched its customer base literally walk away. “Overnight, a huge part of our audience went home,” Carusona said, “and a lot of them went home to places that don't have an Insomnia Cookies.” Up until 2020, the company had offered nationwide shipping for cookies but hadn’t relied on it much, mainly because cookies can’t be kept warm in the mail. But Covid-19 shifted priorities, and Insomnia kept its core customers supplied. Today, items like the 12 Classic Cookie Gift Box ($30) are a mainstay. Dough nuts After Seth Berkowitz (1) handed out his dorm-baked cookies on UPenn's Locust Walk (2), his phone began ringing with orders. Insomnia's average location (3) isn't much to look at, but it's not supposed to be. Cookies go from the ovens (4) to the thermal delivery bags (5) until 3 a.m. Insomnia stakes much of its brand identity on serving cookies warm—a pledge important enough to put on the walls (6).

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How Insomnia Cookies Became a Late-Night Staple for Hungry Students

Facebook and Google started in dorm rooms, so why not after-hours baked goods?

Robert Klara

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Robert Klara