The Evolution of Immaculate
1995
• Scott sells his Immaculate Consumption restaurant in Columbia, straps his coffee roaster to a trailer, and moves to Flat Rock, NC.
• Scott sets up his coffee roastery in his two-car garage and begins selling coffee locally in Flat Rock.
• Scott purchases some used ovens at a Food Lion auction and begins making biscotti, scones and cookies to compliment his coffee.
1996
• Chocobillys, Doohickeys (the original cinnamon-almond kind) and Cranmas (Cranberry Sugar) debut as the original Immaculate cookie flavors. They are packaged and sold in plain brown bags.
1997
• Scott has an inspiration on a backroad drive one day and comes up with the perfect idea to combine his two favorite passions (folk art and cookies) on his new packaging.
• Scott attends his first trade show at Atlanta's AmericasMart. On a tight budget, he builds his booth by hand in his backyard for a total cost of 27 bucks. The booth design wins Best in Show!
• While making biscotti in the garage one day, Scott is inspired to cut up the end pieces (usually they'd be thrown away) and dunk them in rich dark chocolate. Amazed at his discovery, the mighty Mojo is born!
• Apple Pie, the chunkiest cookie yet, with real pieces of Fuji apples and fresh cinnamon, is created in celebration of the local apple festival. It proves to be super tasty!
1998
• Scott takes the cookies clear across the country for their West Coast debut at the NASFT Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. A true success, considering a man named Chuck Williams exited the show with multiple Apple Pie cookies secured in his pocket. Scott, still in the garage, receives a call from Williams-Sonoma the following week.
• Sweet Georgia Brownie, the chocolatiest cookie on the planet, is born to satisfy the lifelong dream of Scott, the Chocoholic.
1999
• Leapin' Lemon, Immaculate's lemon white chocolate best seller, is created in celebration of the birth of Scott's first child, Liam.
• In order to focus on the ever-growing demand for cookies, Scott sells off the coffee component of the business (Little River Roasting) to a friend in South Carolina.
2000
• Leapin' Lemon wins the award for Most Outstanding Cookie in America at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. Liam is happy!
• Scott purchases a much-needed packaging machine in NY state and makes the 14 hour haul North to pick it up. Upon his return, he discovers, to his dismay, that the machine is too tall to fit in the garage. A frantic search for a real bakery building ensues!
• Scott moves the bakery out of the garage and into an old metal shop in downtown Hendersonville, NC. The building is outfitted with industrial ovens and even has an office!
• Folk Artist's Foundation is established by Scott to give support, aid, encouragement and exposure to artists working in the folk art tradition.
• Immaculate debuts Pumpkin Gingerlies with real chunks of fresh Asian ginger and buttery pumpkin.
2001
• Pumpkin Gingerlies is a finalist for the NASFT Outstanding Cookie Award at the Summer Fancy Food Show. Hooray!
• Scott reaches back to his pie baking days and creates Key Largo Lime cookies, a tribute to the Key Lime pies he made and sold to pay his way through college.
• Increasing in both staff and production, Immaculate begins building a 12,000 square foot facility in Hendersonville, NC.
• Route 11 Potato Chip Co. Founder, Sarah Cohen, approaches Scott about a cookie/potato chip collaboration. Scott thinks Sarah is crazy but gives it a try anyway. The incomparable Rt 11 Potato Chip Cookies are born!
2002
• The folks at Immaculate make their BIG move to the new bakery building in the middle of a snowstorm.
• Development begins on the Edible Art Box, a cookie kit celebrating Immaculate's love of baking cookies and the creativity of American Folk Art. The kit is released in late June.
• The Edible Art Box wins the Outstanding Food Gift Award at the NASFT Fancy Food Show. The cookie kit gets lots of press!
• Hooray! Immaculate is recognized as North Carolina Business of the Year!
• Research and development begins on a super secret project, codename WBC. A flurry of extraordinary activity takes over the back warehouse.
2003
• Immaculate unveils plans at the January Fancy Food Show to bake the World's Biggest Cookie.
• Immaculate gains its biggest retailer account yet with Whole Foods Market and is distributed across the country in each of their stores.
• After many many months of preparation and trial baking, the World's Biggest Cookie is baked on May 17 next to the bakery. The cookie weighs in at 38,000 pounds and measures over 102 ft. long!
2004
• Development begins on a line of organic cookies just for kids.
• Immaculate's Artreach Van is created to help fulfill our outreach program pairing folk artists with kids young and old. Scott immediately takes the van to Mt. Pleasant, SC to bake a 10 foot cookie at Earth Fare. He also takes folk artist, Leonard Jones, along to share his paintings with the children gathered at the store.
• Mochalangelos, super chocolatey espresso cookies, are born but are sadly sent to an early retirement. We hope they're living a life of luxury in a warm place with a shuffleboard court.
2005
• After two years of recipe development and perfection, Immaculate debuts its line of Organic Cookies for Kids. This line almost immediately becomes a best seller and parents (and especially kids) around the country are relieved to have a nutritious but super-incredibly delicious cookie.
• The Soul Food Fund is established to support, nurture and celebrate creativity. Ten foot cookies continue to bake around the Southeast (and in Chicago!)
2006
• A record year for growth and hires, Immaculate moves into a second shift and its staff grows to 20!
