Insomnia Cookies opens truck at Temple

Although many Temple University students may not have insomnia, but beginning next week they will have Insomnia Cookies.

The popular cookie company - started at Penn in 2003 - will open a vending truck at Temple University, a goal the company has pursued since its beginning, said founder, CEO and Penn alumnus Seth Berkowitz.

He said the truck - purple with the company's logo - will be located in the center of Temple's campus and will offer its typical late-night menu of cookies, brownies and beverages.

Although Berkowitz began by baking for his friends, his cookie conception developed into a national corporation that provides college students with a late-night snacking option. The company now boasts 10 store locations, 18 delivery locations - including Penn - and six trucks. Temple University will mark the seventh truck location.

Berkowitz said he has no plans to open a truck at Penn.

"We have a wonderful relationship [with Penn] that we really want to preserve," he said.

Still, he added, "You never know where the future will take you."

After hearing about the upcoming truck at Temple, Wharton freshman Aneesha Narra said, "I only eat Insomnia Cookies late at night, so to me, it doesn't make sense to have a truck [at Penn]."

Temple junior Alyson Ledder predicted that Insomnia Cookies will be successful at the school. "There are a lot of food places open late on the weekends, but it would be a different type of late-night food," she said.

Temple graduate student Abhishek Dhawan said he is "psyched about the fact that there will be cookies."

"Subway is the only place that has decent cookies, and there's no Subway outlet in the main campus," he added. "I go to Subway every day just to get three macadamia nut cookies."

Insomnia Cookies truck locations include the universities of Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Kentucky, South Carolina and Delaware-Newark.

Temple's "intense truck culture" and limited real estate space influenced Insomnia's decision to open a truck, according to Berkowitz.

He compared the setup cost of the truck to that of their delivery service but would not disclose the exact figure.

Setting up the truck at Temple "took a lot of energy on our part," Berkowitz said, explaining that to accomplish its goal, Insomnia had to acquire a vendor's license, public health permit and Department of Health permit.

The Temple administration's only involvement in the process constituted phone calls made by Insomnia Cookies to their receptionists "to confirm that there was no way to stop us from doing it," he added.

-The Daily Pennsylvanian