Cookie Time Limited is an entrepreneurial, innovation-led food company. Our business includes franchised distribution and retail, licensing and manufacturing operations. Headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand, we are actively focused on international franchise and licensing opportunities.
Founded in February 1983 by 21-year-old Christchurch businessman Michael Mayell, CTL is a privately held company. Younger brother Guy joined the business later in 1983 and it remains in equal partnership today. The inaugural product, the Chocolate Chunk Cookie, was the first cookie designed and marketed for individual sale in the New Zealand market. For 12 years, from 1996 through to 2008, we held the Guinness Book of Records for making the world’s biggest cookie.
Committed to quality, operational excellence and ongoing growth, CTL has been a category leader for more than 28 years. Smart entrepreneurship and innovation are fundamental driving forces – from new products and new markets to new thinking. And we are passionate about great tasting quality products, consumer satisfaction and brand experiences that inspire engage and connect.
True to our vision – ‘a taste for every occasion, a smile on every face’ – CTL is home to some of New Zealand’s most loved food brands, with a substantial portfolio that includes innovations such as gluten-free cookies, and Smart Cookies with the National Heart Foundation tick. Developed in consultation with Ministry of Health; NZ Parent Teachers Association and the Heart Foundation, Smart Cookies were launched in 2006 and were the first mainstream sweet cookie to achieve the Heart Foundation tick.
CTL also makes Bumper Bars and the world-first meal bar One Square Meal. Launched in 2005, following several years of research and development, One Square Meal is a meal replacement bar supplying one third of daily nutritional requirements. Billed as the ultimate food, it has won three Massey University Food Awards and is subject to international patent applications.
In 2010, CTL opened its first full-scale retail space, the Cookie Time Cookie Bar in Queenstown. Designed to bring CTL’s brands to life and delight the senses with a fit-out incorporating sight, sound, smell, touch and of course taste, the Bar also nostalgically serves hot cookies and milk alongside a full complement of company products. CTL also has an outlet shop outside its Christchurch factory, a landmark site with its distinctive giant cookies frontage. Head office and a purpose-built food science laboratory are also based here.
The company employs more than 80 full time staff, with an extra 30 staff and 69 Christmas Cookies sellers added to the team in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In addition, more than 40 independent franchisees distribute Cookie Time Limited products to more than 6000 retail outlets throughout New Zealand. The company has a staff programme for work/life balance, and funds a staff vegetable garden. The company also supports the Cookie Time Charitable Trust, www.ctct.org.nz, which it formed in 2003 to help Kiwi kids discover their gifts. To date, the Trust has focused particularly on two areas: innovation in learning, and dyslexia. As principal sponsor of the Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand, www.dfnz.org.nz, this includes supporting initiatives designed to nurture and celebrate the creative power that dyslexia can deliver in innovative thinking, artistic ability, creative problem solving and entrepreneurship.
