Recipe for Success

Some of Chad Huber’s fondest childhood memories revolve around Dad’s Cookie Co. 

As little kids, he and his brothers, Ryan and Tyler, would regularly snack on the Scotch oatmeal cookies at their grandma’s Crestwood home, and the treats were a fixture at her holiday gatherings. He has vivid recollections of getting the cookies out of a jar when he was running errands with his family at Boatmen’s Bank, and he and his brothers would often settle in for family movie nights at grandma’s house with a plate of cookies. That’s why, when Tyler reached out from New York saying the brothers should buy Dad’s Cookies, Chad thought Tyler needed a care package. 

“My brother was living in New York, and my mom sent him a package one time filled with St. Louis’ best offerings for a taste of home,” Chad Huber says. “Of course Dad’s Cookies were in there. About a year later, he got a hankering for them again, and he got on their website. The next thing I knew, he sent my other brother and I a text saying we should buy Dad’s Cookies. I thought he was talking about actual cookies. He meant the company.”

Now, nearly three years after that exchange, Chad and his brothers are stewards of the Dad’s Cookie Co. legacy, keeping alive the storied local brand’s tradition while ensuring that it has a bright future in the St. Louis community.

Preserving a Legacy

Since purchasing the company from its longtime owners in August 2023, Chad has taken on the daily operations of the brand while his brothers serve in consulting, advisory, and supporting roles. They’ve made a few tweaks here and there, replaced the century-old oven and have expanded the varieties of cookies available in grocery stores. But, if there’s one thing that Chad is clear on, it’s that he wants no one to ever notice the changes.

“For us, the guiding principle will always be that if we change something, we hope nobody realizes it and thinks that’s just the way things have always been,” Chad says. “That, to me, shows that we have done something right.”

Chad, Ryan, and Tyler never could have imagined they’d one day be running the company that was a beloved part of their childhood. Their respective jobs in software engineering, marketing, and finance are a far cry from the baking world that now occupies so much of Chad’s time. However, the three have always been close and dreamed of one day combining their skills for a joint venture. They each had downtime from their jobs during the 2020 global health crisis and found themselves getting serious about making that dream a reality. 

Before acquiring the business, Chad reached out to the then-owner, Ken Hasty. Although Dad’s Cookies was not technically up for sale, Hasty was open to the idea of selling — he had just turned 65 and was looking to retire. Hasty did not have any family members who were interested in carrying on the business, and he felt an instant connection with the Huber brothers. Hasty recognized himself in them: Three decades prior, he and his two brothers had bought Dad’s Cookie Co. from their uncle with the same goal of preserving its legacy. 

After a year and a half of getting to know the Hubers and working alongside Chad in the business, Hasty handed over operations to the brothers. 

As part of the sale, the Hubers now own the original cookie recipes, including the famous Scotch oatmeal as well as other favorites like chocolate chip, peanut butter, double chocolate, and toasted coconut. The recipes are trade secrets, something Huber likes to joke is as closely guarded as the Coca-Cola formula. The brothers also received all of the Dad’s Cookie Co. equipment, vendor information, and other business assets in the sale. 

But perhaps even more importantly, during the acquisition, Hasty instilled in the Hubers the lore surrounding the storied company. Like many St. Louisans, the brothers knew that Dad’s Cookie Co. got its start in St. Louis in 1927 — but that it was not, as many believe, a St. Louis-founded company.

“Most people think of Dad’s as a St. Louis born and bred company, but it was actually started by three brothers who were all World War I vets in Los Angeles,” Chad says. “They were running a bakery and somehow got their hands on the original Scotch oatmeal cookie recipe. Their dad thought it was so good, he told them they should franchise it.”

As Chad explains it, franchising was a new business innovation when the founding brothers started the company. They had a fleet of salesmen who would travel the country, offering a way into the business for aspiring entrepreneurs. Some of those salesmen made it to a little ice cream parlor in North St. Louis; the parlor’s owner bought the franchising rights to Dad’s Cookie Co. in 1927, then sold them to baker Henry Renz in 1938, whose Dutchtown bakery has been the St. Louis headquarters of the brand ever since. 

Renz passed Dad’s on to his son, who then transferred it in 1988 to his nephews, the Hasty brothers. The Hastys not only served as stewards of the brand, they expanded it beyond St. Louis. By the 1980s, all of the other Dad’s franchises across the U.S. had closed, but the St. Louis location continued to grow.

“For 30 years we have been the last remaining franchise with the original recipe,” Chad says. “If you look at our e-commerce orders, they are almost like a heat map of where the other Dad’s Cookies used to be — places all over the country. For example, we ship an enormous amount to Baltimore because their school district contracted with a local Dad’s in the 1970s; all the kids had Dad’s Cookies for lunch, so we have a ton of customers there who come to us for a taste of childhood.”

Chad believes that this kind of nostalgia is a driving force for Dad’s continued appeal, especially in St. Louis, where the brand is a source of immense civic pride. What’s struck the Hubers since taking over the business is how much people want to share their own Dad’s stories with the brothers, whether that’s getting a free cookie with their first pair of real sneakers at Laurie’s Shoes or enjoying a broken cookie for a discounted price from the Dutchtown storefront. 

“It’s amazing how much St. Louis loves and supports its local brands, and it’s been great to be on this side of it,” Chad says. “I can be at the store listening to someone tell me a story about Dad’s when someone else comes up to tell me their own story — and I never tire of hearing them. It’s amazing the memories that people have of this, and I see it as our job to continue to help people make new memories so this brand can be around for another 99 years.”

Growing a Beloved Brand

In addition to the St. Louis community at large, Chad credits the area’s business community and innovation ecosystem as being vital to Dad’s continued success. Last year, he and his brothers were invited to become part of the Arch Grants Fellows Program, a peer advisory and business growth collective that provides its members with the opportunity to learn from one another, network, and share ideas about how to navigate different challenges and opportunities facing their respective companies. The expertise and advice he and his brothers have received has been invaluable as they work to grow their business. 

Chad has also been heartened by the way in which his fellow business owners have come through when he’s needed their help. He points to Angie Vitale of Vitale’s Bakery in The Hill neighborhood, who let the brothers bring over trays of dough to test out baking in her ovens when their 103-year-old oven needed to be replaced. This is just one example, he says, of the camaraderie and sense of shared responsibility that permeates the St. Louis community. He also notes the strength of area vendors who have made local sourcing of everything from flour to boxes to labels not only possible, but also practical and financially beneficial business decisions. 

All of these factors have allowed the Hubers to see what’s possible for Dad’s Cookie Co. in the future. They’ve already expanded their production from their original storefront into an adjacent space, and they are now making over 50,000 cookies per day out of their Dutchtown headquarters. Although the brothers insist they want to take things slowly and grow responsibility, Chad can see a future where Dad’s Cookies can be found on shelves throughout the U.S. 

Yet however wonderful that would be, he’s adamant that it will only happen if he and his brothers can do so humbly and while honoring the century-old legacy that has been handed down to them by the generations of Scotch oatmeal cookie bakers who have come before them. 

“We would love to export a St. Louis brand like this across the country because everybody could enjoy a little more St. Louis wherever they are,” Chad says. “But for us it’s about taking growth organically and as it comes, and not doing anything that puts the company at risk. We’re not going to bet the farm on a 100-year-old brand that St. Louis knows and loves. We want people to be able to continue making memories.”