10 OctOber 23-29, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | One Flavor, No Problem Miami is unabashedly obsessed with Zookies. BY YUVAL OFIR I n the last decade, a sweet and scrappy wave has been building across Miami. In home kitchens and garages, home bakers have been slowly but surely growing in numbers and influence. Fill- ing the void left by mass-produced, low-qual- ity treats, these entrepreneurs bring to the table comfort, creativity, and something that tastes like it was made just for you. As with all movements, there are early pi- oneers to thank for paving the road. Cindy Lou’s Cookies began in a garage in 2012, with partners Cindy Kruse and Eric Paige supplying cafes and restaurants with her de- lectable creations wholesale, before moving to a commercial space in 2017. During the 2020 pandemic, they pivoted to direct-to- consumer sales and never looked back. An- other key figure is Liger’s! Superior Cookies, founded by Julian Cousins in 2020 after he had an inspirational cookie experience while on a trip to Vancouver. His recipe quickly gained cult status as the holy grail for foodies in the know, with limited-batch drops at a downtown skate shop often sell- ing out in minutes. Today, you can find them at select retail spots and online. These two, along with a handful of others now in the mainstream awareness, helped normalize the idea of home bakers providing commer- cial-level products in the market, which has become part of the accepted norm. Into this mix comes a new contender: Zookies, a brand born not in a bakery or ga- rage, but from a Friendsgiving potluck. Founder Natacia “Nati” Zunjic hadn’t planned on becoming Miami’s next cookie star by any means. In 2020, after returning from college into a pandemic job market that had derailed her hospitality aspirations, she filled the time with bread baking and spinning tracks with her DJ trio Roujeee Tunes. When that group dissolved amicably in 2023, she found herself seeking a new cre- ative outlet. Her lightbulb moment came when she ar- rived late to a Friendsgiving potluck sign-up and discovered only desserts were left. She adapted an online cookie recipe and refined it until she was satisfied with the outcome. “For me, the perfect cookie has sweet, salty, bitter, chewy, crispy, so I was looking for all those things when developing the recipe,” says Zunjic, and she felt like she hit her target with the tray of brown-butter chocolate chip toffee cookies sprinkled with flake salt she brought to the potluck. The reaction was immediate and overwhelming. Partygoers devoured the cookies, and in the days after, she got texts from a few people she hadn’t known previ- ously offering to pay her for more. “I knew from that first batch it was a good product,” Zunjic says. After that pot- luck, she began sharing her cookies with friends and family, slowly but surely finding herself with more orders. “I would send my boyfriend down sometimes,” Zunjic men- tions, as word spread and she began fulfill- ing orders from complete strangers who were showing up downstairs at her apart- ment to pick them up. Zookies might have stayed a side hustle or hobby if not for the intervention of Miami’s new food gatekeepers: influencers. Pablo Reyes, chef and partner of the lauded Wolf of Ta- cos, is a friend of Zunjic’s and posted her cookies in his Instagram stories one day. That’s how it caught the atten- tion of George Arango, aka one of the city’s most prominent food content creators, @Mr.Eats305. Arango, whose account has over 300,000 followers, sent Zunjick a direct message, asking what he needed to do to place an order, without seek- ing any special treatment. He paid full price and posted a rave review a couple of hours later. The impact was seismic. Zunjic’s phone overheated to the point that it shut off as her follower count quadrupled in just a few hours. Not long after that, another influ- encer, @IvieTheFoodie, had posted too, firmly positioning Zookies as Miami’s latest viral obsession just a handful of months after formally launching her Instagram account. That influencer rocket fuel highlights how Miami’s food scene has shifted. Where earlier success stories like Cindy Lou’s leaned on wholesale accounts and word of mouth, Zookies embodies a new path: direct-to-con- sumer hype built on social media validation. One strong video from a trusted foodie car- ries more weight today than a write-up in the Herald might have a decade ago. The attention also created challenges. At first, customers were showing up to Zunjic’s Edgewater apartment for pickups, a setup she laughingly admits had a “drug deal vibe.” Eventually, she was able to establish official pickup points at Basquet in Coconut Grove and Mr. Baguette in Wynwood. Despite the sudden demand, Zunjic has kept Zookies lean. She bakes everything her- self at home, now with two employees help- ing to prep the dough and handle the drops. The menu remains the same, featuring just the signature brown-butter toffee cookie, al- though she’s testing seasonal specials, includ- ing a cornbread collaboration planned for Thanksgiving. The model is deliberately small-scale, featuring no storefront and no late-night delivery fleet. Just made-to-order batches, a few pickup locations, and a grow- ing community of loyal fans. That restraint is intentional. “Bigger chain cookies aren’t as special or as high-quality,” Zunjic says. She views Zookies as part of a broader movement of “charming” homemade products, encompassing not just cookies but also small-batch salsa, bone broth, and other comfort foods where authenticity prevails over mass production. Looking ahead, plans are in place to refine packaging, establish a delivery system, and introduce gluten-free options; however, she’s in no rush to scale up. A commissary kitchen is on the horizon for holiday bulk orders, but the heart of Zookies will remain homemade wherever they end up being baked. For customers fatigued by interchange- able chain cookies, that personal touch is the draw. Every Zookie comes with a bit of her story: a pandemic pivot, a Friendsgiving ex- periment, a viral foodie endorsement. It’s a recipe as much about timing and community as it is about brown butter and chocolate chips. “People can taste when something’s made with love,” Zunjic says. “That’s what makes it special.” Zookies.Orders can be placed via zookies.miami. [email protected] ▼ Café Zookies photo Miami cookie company Zookies has gone viral overnight for its brown butter chocolate chip toffee cookies made by home baker Nati Zunjek. THE MODEL IS DELIBERATELY SMALL-SCALE, FEATURING NO STOREFRONT AND NO LATE-NIGHT DELIVERY FLEET.
