The Fantastic Fortunes story begins with  Cindy Francis, York, ME formulating a unique fortune cookie batter in  her home kitchen. As everyone who has ever eaten a fortune cookie knows,  restaurant fortune cookies don’t taste very good; fun? – “yes”;  curious? – “yes”; traditional? – “yes”; delicious? – “not  exactly”.

The secret to Fantastic Fortune Gourmet  Cookies are their great taste and fun size.

Fantastic Fortune cookies are the same shape as a typical fortune cookie but they are about the  size of  a grapefruit! They have the classic crisp fortune cookie texture  and consistency and even a trace of traditional fortune cookie essence,  but they are absolutely delicious.

Using only premium all natural ingredients to make the cookies, Cindy hand dips each fortune cookie in milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate; then she tops them with a variety  of decadent toppings that might include, a second contrasting chocolate, sprinkles, sliced almonds or even toffee crunch. Cindy then selects a  general good fortune from her growing list of fortunes. Some of the  general fortunes are humorous; others are inspirational or fit an event  such as a new baby, birthday, get well or holiday. The fortune hidden  inside is shown on a removable strip outside so the gift giver knows  which fortune they are giving, much like giving a card. Custom fortunes  are also growing in popularity for corporate events, Bar/ Bat  Mitzvahs, wedding  favors, realtor open houses, dinner parties, etc. In the final process  each cookie is heat sealed in a clear cello wrapper and then placed in a clear  plastic Chinese style take-out box on a colorful bed of festive shred.  Cindy adds a bright ribbon to complete the presentation.

Cindy’s two girls started the Fantastic  Fortunes ball rolling when they took the giant fortune cookies off to  school for teacher gifts. Cindy then started bringing them to parties  as hostess gifts and everywhere she gave them people talked about them  and the word started spreading. Cindy saw that people love to receive  them and – even more – they love eating them.

The business got its start in May 2009  when Cindy shared her idea with MJ Bailey who owns The Stolen Menu Café  in York, Maine. This was the huge turning point. The Stolen Menu Café is closed  on Mondays and with MJ’s encouragement Cindy got her license from  the State and started baking her fortune cookies every Monday in MJ’s  commercial kitchen. Cindy and her husband David are both eternally grateful  to the incredible generosity of MJ Bailey. Without MJ’s enthusiasm  and unwavering assistance, Fantastic Fortunes would still be a dream.

With the use of a commercial kitchen  one day a week, Cindy began offering the fortune cookie product for  sale. Fantastic Fortunes has now expanded to three products; the original  giant fortune cookie, a mini fortune cookie which is about the size  of a large peach and Fantastic Dippers which are flat cookies and are  great for “dipping” into coffee, tea or milk.

Cindy had two business goals when she  started in May. The first goal was to see if any area stores or gift  shops would take a chance with her fortune cookies and the second goal  was to see if the original sale(s) would generate re-orders. After approaching  eight area stores she had orders from all eight and within a week had  her first re-order. In August Cindy’s Fantastic Fortunes were given  as wedding favors at a York wedding for 150 guests.

“We are having fun and getting wonderful  reactions from people who buy them as gifts or just to eat. That’s  the real pay off for me” says Cindy. “What I love about the fortune  cookies is that they are so adaptable to different situations”, Cindy  adds.

“We have plans to start a fortune of  the month club so the cookies can be given as a holiday or birthday  gifts and the recipient will receive a new fortune cookie in the mail  automatically every month. Another example of their flexibility is an  upcoming fund raiser. We will place a winning fortune in one of the  cookies, so it’s a win – win, the charity raises money and the people  making a donation get a Fantastic Fortune and a great cookie treat,  even if they don’t win the big prize. More fun, and it’s better tasting  than a raffle ticket,“ Cindy explains.

Looking forward we are hoping to grow  into a local space of our own and just keep having fun with it. It’s  exciting to be creative and see the business grow.