When you step into the world of Valentino’s Italian Cookies, you’re stepping into a kitchen filled with heritage, heart, and the kind of warmth that only comes from home baking.
Based in Armidale, the small business is the creation of Mariesa Valentino, who has turned her family’s treasured recipes into a growing local favourite. This week, she’s taking them to a wider audience with her first-ever three-day stall at Centro Armidale starting today.
“I grew up baking with my grandma in America. She’s still alive; she’s 91 years old, and so I guess cooking has just been such a special thing, sharing those recipes,” Mariesa said.
The idea for the business began earlier this year while Mariesa was on maternity leave.
“I just was a bit bored on maternity leave,” she said. “So I had a lot of time, nap-trapped, with my son, and I’d just be on my phone, figuring out how to start a business, home bakeries and just kind of start looking into the process.”
From those early hours of research came a thriving small business specialising in authentic Italian favourites such as Lemon Ricotta, Cuccidatti, and Chocolate “Meatball” Cookies — the latter a nod to her grandmother’s original recipe, which doesn’t have meat in it, it’s just shaped like a meatball.
“My husband’s said, maybe you shouldn’t call it a meatball. I’m like, well, that’s what Grandma called it, so that’s what we’re calling it,” said Mariesa.
Mariesa launched Valentino’s Italian Cookies in July, taking weekly pre-orders and delivering locally around Armidale and Uralla. The response, she said, has been “amazing.”
“I knew I would need social media – Instagram and Facebook – just to get people to know who I am, because I don’t have a storefront,” she said.
“I didn’t know if no one would be interested at all. But, in the first few weeks, people were ordering and knew what I was trying to do right away.”
While the home bakery has quickly built a loyal following, Mariesa has also learned some key lessons about running a small business. She has been very practical in pricing her product simply, by adjusting the size of the cookie depending on the cost of the ingredients – but she wasn’t very good at factoring in the time cost.
“I’m making every single cookie from scratch, including the frosting – nothing is store bought. I’m toasting nuts myself. You know, for the Italian wedding cookies, I don’t think I take a single shortcut in anything.”
“I wanted to keep pricing really simple, and obviously not every cookie cost me exactly the same, so I had to be a little bit creative. I thought Well, if I make this cookie a little bit smaller and this one a little bit bigger, the value like that kind of works it out.”
“I do a gluten free, dairy free cookie that added a month or two ago. It’s really good. Actually. It’s made that way traditionally, so I didn’t have to modify the recipe I had or anything.”
“It’s actually quite a small cookie, but almond flour is so freaking expensive I can’t make that cookie bigger without charging more for it.”
And then she did the numbers and realised she was making less than minimum wage.
“I think I had to really value myself, and I didn’t know how much the time portion of it – I could work out the ingredient cost, but figuring out the time it was going to take me was probably the learning curve.”
“I was also discounting larger trays. Like, if someone got 50, it was quite a discount, but it takes me the same amount of time. It doesn’t change my costs anywhere,” she said.
“Now the prices are pretty much set.”
Another lesson on discounting came after she decided to offer free delivery to get her orders for that week out faster, and skip the usual pick up arrangement so she could go away.
“I actually got fewer orders,” she said.
Not discounting is one of the hardest lessons in business, particularly where your brand is linked with a high quality product. The temptation to discount to drive up sales may yield an initial sugar hit of quick dollars, but it often hurts the overall brand and drives down revenue. In the New England, where quality and workmanship – as well as the life of the creator – is highly valued as part of our local culture, it can often have an immediate negative effect – as Mariesa discovered.
“I asked some of my regulars why they didn’t put an order in and they said they didn’t want to bother me.”
This week, locals won’t have to wait for Friday delivery and will have the chance to meet Mariesa and try her cookies in person when she holds her first three-day pop-up stall at Centro Armidale, starting Thursday, November 13.
“That’ll be my first real retail experience, just dipping my toes in.”
With young children at home she isn’t planning to set up a permanent store soon, keeping Valentino’s Cookies a part time project for now. Mariesa says her motivation remains simply to continue the family tradition and be able to share that love for cookies.
“My daughter likes to help; she’ll put on the gloves and use the tongs. That’s what this is about for me — family. I love sharing that with her, showing her how to do things.”
Authenticity, connection, and a deep sense of tradition are at the heart of everything she bakes, and it is her strong recommendation to anyone considering starting their own business.
“Be genuine. Be authentic. Do something you care about.”
To pre-order or learn more, visit valentinos-italian-cookies.company.site or follow Valentino’s Italian Cookies on Facebook.
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