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“No-No” Earns Great Bend Coffee “Cookie Champion” Award for 2024
Record $2,285 Raised for Food Bank of Barton County
Coffee and Cookies – Great Bend Coffee store owner LaResa Likes stands with her framed “Cookie Champion” certificate in front of her business. After years of finishing in the top-three of the contest, Great Bend Coffee achieved this year’s top prize for its caramel and chocolate chip “No-No” cookie.
A “No-No” in baseball terms means that a pitcher accomplished an amazing feat by recording a no-hitter. In the sport of cookie baking, however, a “No-No” resulted in a home run for Great Bend Coffee business owner LaResa Likes. She was crowned this year’s Great Bend Cookie Contest Champion for serving her “No-No,” a caramel with chocolate chip cookie bar.
The 16th Annual Great Bend Cookie Contest was held in downtown Great Bend on Nov. 30 during Small Business Saturday. After many years of finishing in the top three, Great Bend Coffee, located at 2015 Lakin Ave., took the top prize this year by receiving 50 votes. Kustom Floor Designs finished runner-up with its Carmel Apple Cookie. A third-place tie went to Buckle (sugar cookie) and Rosewood Gallery (monster cookie), each finishing with 15 votes.
“We’ve been so close for so many years that it felt amazing to finally win this year,” said Likes. “Our No-No Cookie is actually called something else, but I can’t call it that, so I just renamed it. No matter what we call it, I knew this year’s cookie was a winning recipe.”
As is her usual process of selecting the year’s contest cookie, Likes began her quest two months earlier by baking contending recipes and having her friends, family and employees taste and evaluate them.
“I’ll admit that my husband (Eugene) has a strong influence on my choice of cookie to present,” explained Likes. “If he really likes the cookie, then I know I have something good.”
Choosing the No-No cookie from three finalists this year, Likes set to work two weeks ahead of the competition, baking small batches of the caramel and chocolate chip cookie bars and then freezing them. She had to plan precisely to account for the time she needed to run her busy restaurant and serve 73 family members during the Thanksgiving holiday.
In what has become a post-Thanksgiving tradition, nearly 230 cookie judges donated at least $10 for a cookie bracelet, which allowed them to visit nine Great Bend businesses and taste cookies before voting on their favorite one. This year, record proceeds went to the Community Food Bank of Barton County to help feed those in need during the holiday season and beyond. This year’s contest resulted in $2,285 being donated to the Food Bank. That’s $800 more than last year’s previous record.
Businesses participating in this year’s Great Bend Cookie Contest with Great Bend Coffee were Rosewood Furniture Gallery (Cookie Headquarters); Kustom Floor Designs; Buckle; Rosewood Bargain Barn; Forever Young (Kids Resale); Heart of Kansas/Ms. Pretty Pickles; The Wright Place; and Rosewood Wine Cellar.
According to Great Bend Cookie Contest organizers, bragging rights for “best cookie” are a fun part of the event, but the true impact is reflected on the proceeds raised to help those in need, within the community.
“We’re so happy for Great Bend Coffee to win this year; they put so much work into every year in baking delicious cookies for the judges,” said Anna Hammond, business development director for Rosewood Services. “We appreciate all the businesses who continue to participate in this holiday tradition for Great Bend shoppers. Because of them and our participating judges, representatives at the Food Bank were overjoyed to receive the much-needed funds, when we donated the proceeds. They were so thankful for the donation, and so are we. Thank you to Great Bend businesses and cookie judge shoppers for another successful and fun event.”
As part of activities wrapped into Small Business Saturday and the Home for the Holidays Festival, cookie contest businesses also donated prizes, which were awarded to cookie contest participants that evening during a drawing, following the Home For The Holidays Parade.
For Likes, the work to bake 250 cookies for the contest, even in years when she has not won, has been worth the effort that goes into planning, preparing and presenting her cookies to Small Business Saturday shoppers.
“We have a lot of people that day who come in for coffee and hot chocolate, especially when it’s cold,” explained Likes. “A lot of them come in and sort out their cookies so they can sit down with a hot beverage and do their tastings.
By far, it’s more traffic that day than a normal Saturday, so we are always happy to participate in the contest. A lot of people stop and eat lunch too, following their cookie outing, so it always turns into a very busy day for us.”
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Find more about Rosewood Services online, rosewoodservices.com
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For more information, contact Anna Hammond, Rosewood Services, 620-793-5888
December 7, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Michael Dawes, PR Director, Rosewood Services, 620-792-2536, MichaelD@rosewoodservices.com
