Summertime offers up plenty of snacking occasions for consumers of all ages. Ferrero brand Mother’s Cookies is looking to provide sweet-toothed snackers with opportunities to enjoy the baked products in two ways: through the Stop and Taste the Frosting Summer Tour event, and a partnership with online local info service Nextdoor. To learn more, Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery connected with Rachna Patel, vice president of distinctive brands marketing with at Ferrero.
Jenni Spinner: Could you please tell us about the history of the Mother’s brand—how it got started, how it’s grown, and how consumers respond to it today?
Rachna Patel: Mother’s Cookies launched in 1914, the same year that Mother’s Day was first celebrated, with a hunch that children would delight in our playfully scrumptious cookies. That hunch paid off and for over a century Mother’s has been sparking celebrations and creating sweet moments for families with our fully frosted animal cookies covered in sprinkles. Leading with our iconic Mother’s Original Circus Animal Cookies, we’ve expanded over the years to include a variety of other playful and exciting shapes, such as unicorns, mermaids, bats, puppies and reindeer.
JS: What makes Mother’s stand apart from other cookie/baked snack brands?
RP: Mother’s Cookies encourages parents and kids to take a step back from the daily grind and live playfully. The shapes of our cookies spark imaginary play, fostering joy and creativity during all the sweet moments. From helping families celebrate holidays to becoming an after-school snack staple to inspiring delicious dessert recipes, Mother's has been baking memories into every bite for 100 years.
JS: The brand has been having fun with innovations—could you please tell us about the Mythical Creatures cookies, and others you’ve come out with in recent months/years?
RP: We love innovating for our consumers! The Mother’s portfolio currently includes Original Circus Animal Cookies, Mythical Creatures Cookies, as well as seasonal offerings like Puppy Love, Springtime Buddies, Eerie Critters, and Reindeer Games Cookies.
Mythical Creatures are sparkly bite-sized treats that come in four shapes—unicorns, sea serpents, mermaids, and dragons—covered in white and lavender frosting, and topped with silver sparkling sugar sprinkles.
JS: Please tell us about the Stop and Taste the Frosting Summer Tour—what the series of events is, where you’ll be, and what the idea behind the activation is.
RP: We launched our Stop and Taste the Frosting Summer Tour to make it easy for parents to celebrate the summer with their children, without having to worry about planning. We wanted to make it as easy as possible to deliver meaningful moments of fun with this free mobile experience that brings exciting and engaging activities straight to families’ doorsteps and summer fun destinations.
Families across the nation can interact with this one-of-a-kind mobile frosted funhouse, filled with games, prizes and photo-worthy moments. Parents in select cities can submit an entry to be considered for the Stop and Taste the Frosting Summer Tour to come right to their homes! In addition, we are stopping at neighborhood hot spots open to the public across Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and New York City. For full details and inspiration for family-friendly games, crafts and recipes, consumers can head to motherscookies.com/stopandtastethefrosting.
JS: Then, please tell us about the Nextdoor partnership.
RP: We partnered with Nextdoor to let families know we’ll be in their area with our Stop and Taste the Frosting Summer Tour. This online experience not only lets parents know when we’ll be in town, but also provides them with cookie-inspired summer craft ideas, recipes and more to keep them celebrating all summer long.
JS: What’s next for the Mother’s brand? Anything you can tell us about other activities, new products, expansion of retail reach would be awesome.
RP: We have some really exciting news just around the corner for 2025. While we can’t share too many details right now, consumers are going to be thrilled with the continuing evolution of the brand! Stay tuned for a big announcement by following @motherscookiesus on social.
