Wall's Ocean Brew Coffee shop to launch coffee-inspired cookie company

Sarah Griesemer, Asbury Park Press
·2 min read

What goes better with a cup of coffee than a cookie?

Not much, so it makes sense that the owner of a coffee shop would go into the cookie business.

Ellen Bodnovich, owner of Ocean Brew Coffee in Wall, is opening Ocean Brew Cookie, a retail and wholesale cookie company making sweets inspired by coffee drinks.

"I have a very entrepreneurial spirit," said Bodnovich, who opened her coffee shop 2021. "We sell a pre-packaged cookie at Ocean Brew. I was looking at it one day and (thought) 'I could make a cookie.' "

Coffee Crumb will be the first flavor available from Ellen Bodnovich's new cookie company, Ocean Brew Cookie.
Coffee Crumb will be the first flavor available from Ellen Bodnovich's new cookie company, Ocean Brew Cookie.

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She partnered with a cookie company-owning friend to learn the logistics of such a venture, which launches in April with the first flavor, Coffee Crumb.

"It is a soft cookie and pretty big — 4 inches. It has real coffee in it with a crumb topping and vanilla icing," Bodnovich said. "I wanted to create a cookie menu that went off the coffee menu ... so there could be French vanilla, a white chocolate or a peppermint mocha, or a pumpkin for the season.

"I love the idea of it, and we’re having fun with it," she said.

Individually packaged Ocean Brew Cookie products will be available at Ocean Brew Coffee and at least 10 other coffee shops across the state, as well as online and by wholesale. Cookies can be shipped nationwide.

Ellen Bodnovich (second from right) with her daughter Elizabeth Bodnovich, 15 (from left); mother, Debbie Fischoff; mother-in-law, Judy Bodnovich; and (front row from left) sons Asher Bodnovich, 4, and Jacob Bodnovich, 7.
Ellen Bodnovich (second from right) with her daughter Elizabeth Bodnovich, 15 (from left); mother, Debbie Fischoff; mother-in-law, Judy Bodnovich; and (front row from left) sons Asher Bodnovich, 4, and Jacob Bodnovich, 7.

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Bodnovich opened her coffee shop (which has a Spring Lake address) after years of watching her father work hard as a business owner. But the cookie idea was inspired in part by her mother.

"I remember my mom, over hard days, we would have cookies and dip our cookies in coffee or tea," she said. "Looking back as an adult, that was so nice. And it was all over this cookie."

Those cookies were chocolate chip, "but I own a coffee shop," Bodnovich said, "so of course I’m going to do something with coffee."

Go: instagram.com/oceanbrewcookie, oceanbrewcookie.com. Ocean Brew, 2024 New Bedford Road, Spring Lake; 732-301-5080, oceanbrewcoffee.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean Brew Cookie in Wall will be baking coffee-inspired cookies