The Ontario County Connection
A Publication of the Messenger Post Newspaper
March 28, 2004

Blessings in Disguise
By Linda S. Burnett

We've all heard that it's the struggles and difficulties of life that give us the greatest opportunities for growth. Although it's doubtful that we recognize our troubles as opportunities while they're happening, hindsight often provides us with a wealth of knowledge after the fact. For example, take the owners of the new Cole & Parks Bakery, Café & Coffee Shop in Victor. Donna Reeves-Collins (CEO) and William Collins (President) have created a restaurant that is a resounding success, and they couldn't be happier with the direction their lives have taken. However, if you trace the Cole & Parks story back to its conception, you'll find troubles you wouldn't wish on anyone.

"My husband, Bill, and I moved back to Rochester after we graduated from college 20 years ago, and we both went to work for Frontier," says Donna from the Rowley Road café and bakery. "I worked for Frontier for 19 years and ended up being the highest ranking female executive in the history of the firm. In 1996, I was appointed senior vice president of sales for North America, and at that time, felt very confident in my future with the company. Then along came Global Crossing in 1999 and wiped out all the 401Ks and retirements. It was the most devastating thing that ever happened to us."

Donna left the firm in 2001, both she and her husband still reeling from the events that had taken place. All they had planned and worked for had suddenly and drastically changed. The future looked grim. "Once the shock subsided, Bill and I began discussing where we would go from here," Donna continues. "It's amazing how life can throw you these devastating curves, and then suddenly you wake up one morning and realize what a blessing in disguise it all is. Even though I had lost a career of 19 years, as well as everything we had hoped to use in our retirement years, I still had 19 very successful years of business experience, and I now had the opportunity to utilize that experience for ourselves."

For years, Donna Reeves-Collins baked more than 220 dozen cookies during the holidays for friends and family. She earned the nickname of the "Cookie Lady," and says she was delighted when friends told her that hers were "the only cookies worth the calories!" Her hobby became a passion, and this love for baking became the foundation of the idea for Cole & Parks."

Bill and I spent every single day for the next two years planning our strategy," Donna states. "It's one thing to say I'm going to start a bakery because I love to bake. It's entirely another to plan a complete business strategy that would allow me to pursue my baking interests in a way that I could go head to head with the likes of Starbucks, Atlanta Bread and Montana Mills. I knew that 19 years of business experience gave me the ability to do exactly that, and I wanted it done in the most thorough fashion possible. It took over two years to prepare for it, but when we opened the doors, we hit the ground running. We'd done every bit of our homework, and the results are fantastic."

Bill and Donna literally researched everything! Over the years, Donna had lovingly collected and created cookie recipes that became sought after by her family and friends. She figured if everyone loved those cookies, baked with all-purpose flour and over the counter ingredients, how much more would they love them if she used the best ingredients money could buy? She took all of her recipes and researched every ingredient required. She searched the world for the best spices and baking materials needed to produce the most excellent cookie possible.

"One hundred years ago, all-purpose flour was the best that our grandmothers could get," she says, "but there's better now. I aligned myself with Birkett Mills in Penn Yan and co-developed a custom blend of pure wheat flour that is absolutely the best possible flour for my baking needs. We use that flour in everything we bake, and we sell the new Cole & Parks brand of flour right here in our retail store in 4-1/2 pound bags."

It wasn't just the flour that went under her careful scrutiny. Every ingredient she uses was researched. Cinnamon is now imported from Saigon and Sumatra. Cole & Parks' pure vanilla extract is a custom blend of vanilla made from imported vanilla beans from Madagascar and Indonesia. Farm fresh milk is purchased from the Pittsford Farms Dairy. Even uncrystallized liquid sugar is available. Every ingredient she uses to bake her absolutely mouth-watering cookies is available for the consumer to buy from her shelves. But there's more...

Everything at Cole & Parks oozes the best quality... from the insulated glassware and travel mugs containing the Cole & Parks logo; to the cookie cutters and baking ware; to the all-natural jams, jellies and preserves; to even their own packaged brand of Canine Cookies. They carry their own brand of Cole & Parks water, their own blend of yogurt, bottled organic Honest Teas, and are the only place in the Rochester area to carry bottled Napa Valley Soda. Even the milk from Pittsford Farms Dairy comes in glass returnable bottles, bringing back memories of a time when things seemed a little less stressed and somehow, a lot more healthy.

Their coffee brands were researched extensively. For nine months, Donna and Bill worked with hundreds of customer focus groups sampling over 35 different roaster's coffees from coast to coast. Coffees were ranked and rated, and they compiled volumes of taster results and research on every roaster they evaluated. What they discovered was that the roasting process is actually what gives the distinctive flavor to each bean, so the same bean tastes different from each different roaster. After months of evaluation and study, they chose the roaster that was ranked highest by their customer focus groups.

"It's not just the beans that have to be perfect for a good cup of coffee," Donna explains further, retrieving a foil wrapped bag of Cole & Parks coffee from the shelf. People are under the perception that if you buy coffee from a local roaster, it will be fresher, but that's not necessarily true. We receive our coffee within two days of being roasted, and it comes sealed in airtight, gusseted valve bags that allow the natural gasses to escape while protecting the roast from oxygen entering, which deteriorates freshness. This is the only way fresh roasted coffee should be stored. The fact is that as soon as you expose roasted beans to air, they begin to deteriorate very rapidly. So the coffee beans you scoop out of a bin at a local roaster may not be as fresh as you think."

On the back of each bag of Cole & Parks coffee are the six critical steps to produce a GREAT cup of coffee. These steps mirror the standards set by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, which they adhere to. From the storing, to the grinding and the brewing, each step is thoroughly explained to give the consumer the richest and highest quality of bean flavor they can get.

Nothing, of course, goes better with coffee than cookies, and at Cole & Parks, you're going to get the best cookie you've EVER had! Choose from 14 delicious varieties of fresh baked, ready-to-eat cookies, all made with the finest ingredients the world has to offer. They even produce a healthy line of cookie called "Today's Cookie," which is high in protein, high in fiber, low in fat, tastes delicious, and is comparable to many pre-packaged energy bars. The cookies are baked fresh every day, and available in oatmeal raisin, brownie delight, and berry delicious flavors - no guilt cookies! They also offer a variety of other fresh baked goods, including muffins (blueberry, chocolate, corn and reduced- fat banana), scones (blueberry, cinnamon), fresh baked biscotti (chocolate, almond), and brownies (caramel, chocolate, chocolate with nuts).

And if you become enamored with their cookies, which is almost a given, you can even buy a product they have created and are marketing called Dough Eggs™. Dough Eggs™ are pre-formed balls of cookie dough available to customers by the variety dozen in a custom tooled egg carton. Choose whatever flavor cookies you want in your dozen. The Dough Eggs™ can be frozen, offering busy people the convenience and opportunity to make fresh and delicious Cole & Parks cookies at home.

So, with the best quality products researched, they now needed a location to sell their product. The location they chose was the historic site and former home of Peggy's Bridal on Rowley Road. The home, once called Park Place, was built by Simeon Parks in April 1813 and was in dire need of serious renovation. With two years of brainstorming between them, the couple knew exactly what they wanted to build... so, build it, they did! The new Cole & Parks is more than a location and more than an experience. It's three diverse experiences in one.

"What we created is three distinct areas within one building, which we feel will satisfy all our customer's needs," Donna relates. The first room, to the left of the retail area, is our social room. It has the high bistro tables with the tall chairs, a flat panel television, music, and there's a lot of energy in that room for the folks who want that type of atmosphere. Straight down the hall is our relaxing, cozier room. It has the fireplace; comfortable, oversized chairs; low tables for groups of four; a much more homey, relaxing atmosphere, with very soft music and less commotion. Then the area just beyond that is a little more businesslike, a quiet work area with free Internet access, larger tables, a place where you can spread out a little and work if you have to. We also have a meeting room on the second floor that will handle a group of about 16 people that we rent out for $25 per hour. That room also has free wireless Internet, a TV with VCR and DVD, whiteboard, projector, flipcharts, and is priced to fit a small business budget."

The house, Donna admits, turned out to be a lot more work than they had initially anticipated, but she learned a great deal from the experience that will help when they build their next location, something they're already moving toward.

"People may think we're moving quickly, but what they don't understand is that Bill and I worked on this plan relentlessly for over two years," she says. "We conceptualized the entire process, every minute detail of every aspect of this place in our minds. Even the name, Cole & Parks, took us months to decide upon because it just had to be right. This first location will serve as our company's initial manufacturing plant and we will soon have a 'point and click' Internet presence to offer overnight delivery of the fresh product. Over the next few years, we fully intend to open additional locations across the northeast and then expand nationally."

Cole & Parks has also become the "hot spot" for lunch, and their menu offers Atkins dieters a wealth of choices. Many of the selections on their menu are low carb and are clearly marked as such. They also offer gluten-free choices, dairy-free choices, vegetarian, vegan and heart healthy selections ranging from fresh, hot soups, salads, and sandwiches. Cole & Parks features high quality fresh Boar's Head brand meats and condiments, and with a convenient drive-thru window, any meal of the day couldn't be easier. You can even call ahead and have anything they sell ready to be picked up at the drive-thru. Talk about convenience! In addition, Cole & Parks offers customers terrific gift baskets that can be filled with items of your choice, exceptional confectionary items, and gift cards for any occasion. Customers receive a "Frequent Buyer Card," which earns valuable points toward Cole & Parks merchandise, and loyalty cardholders with a Cole & Parks mug can return anytime after 12 p.m. for the PM Promise - customers get a free beverage refill with any afternoon purchase.

Along with their supreme commitment to their business, Cole & Parks is committed to supporting the communities in which it does business. Giving back to children's charities and those less fortunate through food bank donations is a daily event. In addition, Cole & Parks donates 5 percent of its grand opening proceeds to a local children's charity as it enters each market.

Cole & Parks is located at 607 Rowley Road in Victor. All major credit cards are accepted, as well as corporate accounts, call-in orders, take-out, drive thru and eat-in.