By AMY STEIGERWALD
It is 11:30 on a Sunday morning in Bowling Green and much of the town is pounding down Tylenol and dragging themselves to Bob Evans in order to cure last night’s hangover. But Maureen Lanigan is cracking eggs while chugging Red Bull, in order to prepare for the coming day’s demands of sugar and smiles. The head baker of The Cookie Jar stops for no one and is known around town for her famous cookies and hospitality.
Armed with a mixing bowl the size of a laundry basket, the baker whips up five to 10 batches of dough per day, which often leaves her covered in flour from head to toe.
In a kitchen with two stoves, four large sinks, four freezers and an endless supply of cookie ingredients, Lanigan bakes up new recipes from 10 a.m. to noon every day except Monday, known her “business day of rest.”
The small business owner and baker is known for her sweet sense of humor and giving heart, which leave customers wanting more.
Those who know Lanigan are aware that she throws her whole self into her business, which includes her personality. Many employees attest that her sense of humor is something that brightens up both the employees’ and customers’ day. Additionally, Lanigan incorporates elements of herself into her cookies.
“My secret ingredient in every recipe I make is love,” she said. The average person may find that a tad corny, but she disagreed. “I use the best ingredients available and mix the dough with care and a whole lot of love.”
Regardless of how far she has to travel, Lanigan will go the distance to find the best possible ingredients for her cookies.
Perhaps the best adjective that describes Lanigan, (or as she’s known around the Jar as “Mo”) is “understanding.” Mo is known to be consistently understanding and patient with all her employees.
“Mo understands that everybody makes mistakes, especially when they are training and learning new things. She is so good at being able to see where we all are coming from, while also helping us learn from our mistakes and showing us the best way to approach things” said Cookie Jar employee Bekah Pastor.
Others agree, and say that this is why they’ve worked for Lanigan for so long.
“I have stayed working for Mo for two years because she is extremely easy to talk to and she tries her best to help solve any problems that you may have at or outside of work,” said Cookie Jar employee Spencer Calcamuggio. “She is different from other bosses because she is dedicated to both her store and her employees.”
Throughout the past nine and a half years, Lanigan has discovered so many important aspects of herself because of her experience in owning her own business.
“Owning my own business has shaped me as a person in many ways. It’s taught me patience, confidence, how to be compassionate yet assertive, extremely responsible, reliable and how to have a phenomenal work ethic. I’ve never worked harder and longer in my entire life,” Lanigan said.
Since The Cookie Jar opened in September of 2006, Lanigan has held fundraisers to help local businesses, donated thousands of cookies to students and BGSU events, catered weddings, sent cookies to soldiers in Afghanistan, shipped cookies overseas to long distance Cookie Jar lovers and made her local customers smile every day.
“I love being able to donate cookies to many causes that need attention in our small town and be a part of Bowling Green,” she said. “I think if there were three words that best describe both me and the Jar, they’d be ‘loyal, loving and attentive.’ Both the Jar and I care about our customers and this town more than anything else. When customers choose to buy from my business that I work extremely hard for, it means the world.”
