"LoveCookies can say just about anything you want them to say. "Flowers and boxed mystery chocolates have become such a Valentine's Day cliché that they say 'I remembered I should get you something on the way home from work.' We all wish guys would start getting a little more creative."   Kendra Loveless LoveCookies.com co-founder  and chief baker.
Search URLwire archives since 1994

LoveCookies? are thick, chewy, all-natural and preservative-free heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies, baked to order and sent in half-dozen or one-dozen quantities in a decorative heart-shaped gift tin or gift box. "We'd never seen a truly heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie," says Mr. Loveless. "Most chocolate chip cookies that claim to heart-shaped that pop up around Valentine's Day are really triangle-shaped." The Lovelesses have developed a patent-pending method for keeping their cookie's heart shape distinct.

The biggest challenge facing Valentine's Day shoppers is originality. "Valentine's Day is one of the least romantic days of the year," says Michael Webb, best-selling author of The RoMANtic's Guide: Hundreds of Creative Tips for a Lifetime of Love and operator of http://www.theromantic.com/. "The majority of men act like robots, purchasing flowers and chocolate for their sweethearts because that is what everyone else is doing."

"LoveCookies can say just about anything you want them to say," according to Kendra Loveless, LoveCookies.com co-founder and chief baker. "Flowers and boxed mystery chocolates have become such a Valentine's Day cliché that they say 'I remembered I should get you something on the way home from work.' We all wish guys would start getting a little more creative."

So how does a couple with a last name like "Loveless" get to baking something called LoveCookies? Like many twenty-and-thirtysomethings, Mr. and Mrs. Loveless lost their "dot com" jobs in September 2001. Undaunted by the collapse of the internet boom, the couple decided to come up with their own internet business. 

During their cost-cutting move out of Los Angeles, Mr. Loveless found a set of heart-shaped cookie cutters he and Mrs. Loveless had been given as newlyweds in 1998, and an idea was born.

Mr. Loveless laughs when asked about the birth of LoveCookies. "Yeah, it's a little different from being a web programmer," he says. "Kendra's always loved baking, and we both really enjoy helping people say 'I love you' to each other." 

Their internet backgrounds wound up being assets; the couple saved thousands of dollars in start-up costs by designing and programming their own online store to sell LoveCookies.

According to Mrs. Loveless, it's all about doing something different. "I've always liked trying new things, and 'baking the love' is definitely a new experience for me!"

The Lovelesses hope Valentine's Day shoppers will feel like doing something different this year as well. LoveCookies start at $12.95 for six 2.5 ounce cookies in a gift box, and go up to $29.95 for a dozen cookies in a signature LoveCookies gift tin. And to celebrate their new site, the Lovelesses are offering 10% off all LoveCookies orders placed on http://www.lovecookies.com by February 5. Gift orders may be purchased in advance for delivery on Valentine's Day.
 

.

Editors at the below sites as well as hundreds of others are subscribers to URLwire. Sites announced via URLwire are featured regularly at these and other online news and reviews outlets:

Yahoo Picks
of the Week!

Yahooligans!
Cool Sites

About.com

USA Today
Hot Sites & Web Guide

CNet

ResearchBuzz

BBCi Webguide

WDfM

Daily Rotation

MSNBC

Internet.com

ZDNet

Traffick: The Guide
To Portals

WebProWire

Business2.0

Kleinman Report

Chris Pirillo's
LockerGnome

Arizona Reporter

NewsIndex

j.ello report

WIRED

Internet Tourbus

Reuters