Get off a plane at Indiana’s Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA) and there’s a good chance a local volunteer welcome you with a big smile and a small package of bite-sized cookies.
No volunteer on duty? No worries. There’s a cute kiosk made from a pile of vintage suitcases with an open bag at the top stocked with packages of cookies free for the taking.
For many years, passengers received a single large welcome cookie.
But in mid-2020, around the time the airport handed out its 3 millionth cookie, the welcome amenity was switched to a package containing a handful of smaller, bite-sized cookies. Inside is a rotating variety of cookie flavors such as oatmeal, chocolate chip, salted caramel, and holiday favorites.
Who makes the cookies for Fort Wayne International Airport?
From the start, the cookies at Fort Wayne International Airport have been baked by Ellison, a large wholesale bakery founded in 1945. The bakery sits across the street from the airport and makes custom cookie products & mix-ins for retail grocery, ice cream and yogurt companies.
During a meeting at Fort Wayne International Airport, Ellison’s David Richhart, the company’s director of national accounts, said that each month the bakery sends the airport a pallet of cookies – about 7000 individual packages.
For many years, the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce bought the cookies from the bakery and branded the packages with the airport’s name.
But a few years ago, Richhart offered to have Ellison donate the cookies to the airport in exchange for adding the bakery’s name to the packaging.
The deal was made. We hope it was sealed over cookies and milk.
“We’re proud to be part of the Fort Wayne community and want to be a good neighbor for the airport,” said Richhart. “We know people love and have come to expect free cookies when they get off the airplane here. And we won’t allow the airport to be without cookies.”
Sweet!
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