Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that spotlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Three Ballston Plaza.
Arlington-based cookie company MOLTN Cookies opened its newest location today (Monday) in Ashburn, just in time for National Cookie Day.
To celebrate, the new location in a pizza and pasta place called EATaliano will offer free triple chocolate cookies — limited to one per visitor, while supplies last — from 4-6 p.m.
Customers who splurge and put in orders exceeding $75, meanwhile, will get a free sugar or s’mores cookie-scented candle.
“We only have 20, so grab them quick,” the company says on Instagram. “We can’t wait to celebrate together.”
The location started operating two months behind its anticipated opening date of Oct. 1.
It is MOLTN’s third in the D.C. area, after the company debuted in a “ghost kitchen” within AllSpice Catering at 6017 Wilson Blvd, near the border with Falls Church. Over the summer, it expanded into D.C., operating from Teddy & The Bully Bar at 1200 19th Street NW.
The Ashburn cooke hub kicks off what MOLTN founder Neal Miglani says is the start of an expansion across the D.C. area., including three forthcoming locations in Maryland: Prince George’s and Montgomery counties and Baltimore.
“We are thrilled to bring the MOLTN Cookies brand to Ashburn and beyond,” Miglani said in a statement. “The excitement around our new location at Eataliano signals the start of an even more exciting phase for us as we plan to expand across the DMV area. Soon, more communities will be able to enjoy the MOLTN Cookies experience.”
He told ARLnow he aims to open 10 new locations by the second quarter of 2024, in the D.C. and Baltimore areas.
He aims these locations to soon bake the 12,000-15,0000 cookies MOLTN’s Arlington location churns out each month.
The company transitioned from operating ghost kitchens to what Miglani says is a licensing model. Restaurant partners purchase MOLTN’s cookie dough from approved suppliers in its distribution network.
“We provide the dough and all technology, they handle the operations and retain all profits, a strategy that propels rapid expansion while upholding the excellence MOLTN Cookies is known for,” Miglani says.
Other new ventures are coming down the pike, too.
Miglani says MOLTN is creating a gifting platform that allows customers to send freshly baked, warm cookies to others, along with personalized items such as candles and cards. The company is on the cusp of launching nationwide shipping.
These developments could be coming late in the first quarter of next year or early in the second quarter, Miglani said.