June 6, 2008

New Brunswick, NJ--Fat Boy Cookie Company of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, achieved the "very good" top ranking category, as reported recently by AOL.com, in a Consumer Reports taste test to identify the best quality supermarket products for today's shoppers.

Trained panelists tasted cookies made from seven cookie dough product samples, either frozen or refrigerated, and cookies made from scratch using the Nestlé Toll House recipe. The products achieving the "very good" category were all from frozen dough samples and tasted close to cookies made from scratch according to the panelists.

The invention of Teaneck, NJ-native Joel Ansh, he put his "dough" on the line in 2003 to establish his own company and enlisted the experts at Bridgeton, NJ-based Rutgers Food Innovation Center to assist him.

"I found working with Rutgers' Food Innovation Center extremely helpful for my needs," says Ansh. "They helped me with the language for the product label, including nutritional guidance, and finding a marketing firm to assist with branding.

"My friends told me 'sell your product online; it'll be easy.' Well, as my business grew, it wasn't that easy, and the Food Innovation Center helped," said Ansh. "I intend to do more with them."

Ansh learned to bake from his mother and cooked for friends while in college. Ansh says he was nicknamed "fat boy," because he would take food from friends' plates.

Fat Boy recommends using its product for holiday and other gift needs for friends and colleagues. Expect discounts for multiple and high volume orders, plus greeting card and printed promotional items availability to enhance any gift-giving.

The Fat Boy Cookie Company's website also lists additional reviews on Fat Boy cookies from NJ Monthly magazine, TheNibble.com, (201) Magazine, and a number of customers.

Fat Boy's 'Outrageous Cookie Dough' comes in two-pound boxes of 27 frozen, pre-cut cookies in six advertised varieties--four with chocolate chunks and two with dried fruit (oatmeal raisin and cranberry)--Ansh says there are more flavors in the making. The cookie dough is created with all-natural ingredients and certified kosher by the Orthodox Union according to Ansh.

The company churns out more than 3,000 pounds of dough a month. The dough--which has a six-week shelf life when refrigerated and a full year if frozen--is available in selected supermarkets and by mail. To order, visit www.fatboycookiecompany.com, or call (201) 796-1000.

For those interested in becoming a reseller, visit: www.fatboycookiecompany.com/wholesale.php

The Bridgeton-based Food Innovation Center, which is an off-campus research and extension center of the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, helps:

• Farmers and cooperatives creating new businesses based on value-added agricultural products or considering new markets for their existing commodities.
  
  
• Start-up food companies coping with challenges such as financing, technology, regulations, market development and other infrastructure requirements.
  
  
• Existing small and mid-sized food companies seeking to access new technologies, upgrade quality assurance capabilities, enter new markets, or expand and improve their operations.
  
  
• Retail and food service establishments looking for ways to improve their operations and purchase locally grown New Jersey products.
  

FIC sponsors quarterly "Food Business Basics" seminars for would-be food entrepreneurs. For more information or to meet with an FIC expert to see how you can benefit from the new 23,000 square foot facility expected to open this summer, call 856-459-1125 or visit foodinnovation.rutgers.edu.

Contact: Michele Hujber
Office of Communications
732-932-7000