SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — Cookies and a rich history is what’s on the menu inside The Cookie Jar Eatery in downtown Sioux Falls.
“I feel like we’ve got a family community down here,” co-owner Elaine Koch said.
The Cookie Jar Eatery has been baking sweet treats in Sioux Falls for 70 years. Glen and Elaine Koch have been mixing up their own batch of success for 23 of those after purchasing the eatery from a newspaper ad.
“It said wholesale retail cookie business for sale and it was only about that big of an ad,” co-owner Glen Koch said.
Under their ownership, the business has moved between several locations downtown. Now, it’s inside the CNA building across from the 8th and Railroad Center. Despite the name, the couple’s menu includes more than just cookies. They’ve added biscotti, breakfast sandwiches and homemade bread.
“The recipe that we use for the rolls is a white bread recipe that was my grandmother’s. The oatmeal bread that we do here, that was Elaine’s mother’s recipe,” Glen said. “We make everything from scratch.”
But just like dough, their business has had to rise up to changes over time, too.
“When we started, there was just a few restaurants downtown, and so we started serving lunch, and now there’s at least 30 that are in the downtown area,” Elaine said. “When we first started, we would fax our menus to different businesses once a month so that they’d have our menu.”
So, adaptation has been key, even for some ingredients that have been harder to handle.
“Right now, pricing: because of tariffs, everything keeps going up. We just got word last week from one of our vendors that things will be going up at least another five percent,” Glen said.
The pandemic was another curveball, but the Koch’s turned that challenge into something that’s benefited them to this day.
“We did start individually wrapping all of our cookies, and we just continued on doing that even after COVID, because here we have them out where customers can come in and pick up their favorite cookie,” Glen said. “The decorator cookies, we actually sell more of those being out where people can come and pick out their favorite one.”
Even with just four employees, the small business has proven there’s no challenge too big to handle—whether it’s dough or dreams.
“My favorite part has always been the customers, especially the little kids coming in, seeing how excited they get about cookies,” Glen said.
But, the owners say changes could be coming soon.
“Eventually, we would like to get the business sold so that we can retire. It’s for sale, but it just depends on the people,” Elaine said. “We want to have a good fit.”
Until then, the Koch’s are continuing to make fresh batches of treats with a side of rich history.
The Cookie Jar Eatery is located at 101 S. Reid Street in Sioux Falls. It’s open Monday through Friday. They also offer a full catering menu.
