Cookie Time
A New Zealand snack-food brand best known for its large chocolate-chunk cookies, Cookie Muncher mascot, and Cookie Bar retail concept.
Last updated August 21, 2026
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Overview
Cookie Time is a New Zealand snack-food company and consumer brand established in Christchurch in 1983 by Michael Mayell. Its signature product is the Original Chocolate Chunk Cookie, a large individually wrapped cookie recognized for its prominent chocolate pieces and longstanding recipe. The brand developed from a small local bakery operation into a widely distributed packaged-food business supplying supermarkets, dairies, petrol stations, convenience stores, airline catering, specialist retail stores, and selected overseas partners. Mayell founded the business when he was 21, drawing inspiration from the American Mrs. Field's Cookies model. At the beginning, cookies were baked in a rented bakery and delivered in batches to Christchurch dairies. The first products were sold individually from large glass jars, and the company reportedly sold 5,000 cookies during its first week. Mayell's brother Guy Pope-Mayell joined soon after the company's formation. Individual packaging introduced in 1987 extended shelf life and made it practical to distribute the products through petrol stations and other higher-volume retail channels. Cookie Time's brand identity is built around size, indulgence, accessibility, and humor. The Cookie Muncher mascot gives the company a distinctive visual presence, while seasonal merchandising and public-facing retail help turn a packaged biscuit into a broader lifestyle and gifting proposition. The company has also used record-setting and experiential activity to reinforce recognition: in 1996 it baked a cookie measuring approximately 24.9 metres across and reported it as a Guinness World Record attempt for the world's largest cookie. The brand's retail expansion has included Cookie Bars, where customers can buy cookies, cookie-based food and drinks, and merchandise. The first Cookie Bar opened in Queenstown in 2010, followed by a Harajuku, Tokyo location in 2013 through a partnership with a Japanese food-distribution business. Cookie dough for the Japanese operation was supplied from New Zealand. A Dunedin Cookie Bar opened in 2022. Cookie Time has also extended its reach through collaborations and licensed or co-branded products, including a McDonald's Cookie Time McFlurry and a Tip Top Cookie Caramel Crush ice cream product. Its portfolio has expanded beyond the flagship chocolate-chunk cookie to include Triple Chocolate, Apricot Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk Afghan, Christmas Cookies, Bumper Bars, Bumper Slice, One Square Meal, Smart Cookies, and a lolly cake biscuit introduced in 2021. Christmas activity has included temporary sales staff, door-to-door and street-stall sales of small-cookie buckets, and charitable fundraising. The Cookie Time Charitable Trust, originally established in 2003 as the Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust, supports New Zealand children and receives some proceeds from Christmas-cookie activity. Cookie Time has faced several legal, regulatory, and operational disputes. These have included a packaging-related Fair Trading Act dispute with Griffin's, a workplace-safety prosecution after a worker was injured in machinery, a Chinese trademark dispute involving use of similar logo artwork, and a naming dispute with Auckland's Moustache Milk and Cookie Bar. These matters form part of the brand's documented history but do not by themselves establish a change in its current operating status. Cookie Time remains identified primarily with New Zealand and continues to operate from its Christchurch-area base.
History
Cookie Time began in Christchurch in 1983 when 21-year-old Michael Mayell established a small cookie business influenced by the American Mrs. Field's Cookies model. He initially used a rented bakery and prepared batches for local dairies. From 7 February 1983, Mayell and his mother delivered cookies throughout Christchurch, where retailers sold them individually from large glass jars. The company reportedly sold 5,000 cookies in its first week and generated $240,000 in sales during its first year. Mayell's brother Guy Pope-Mayell joined the business shortly after its creation. The early operating model was local and labor-intensive, but packaging changed the company's distribution potential. In 1987, Cookie Time began individually wrapping its cookies to improve shelf life and support sales through petrol stations and other retail outlets. The Original Chocolate Chunk Cookie became the core product: a large cookie with conspicuous chocolate pieces whose recipe was presented as unchanged since the brand's founding. Additional varieties later included Triple Chocolate, Apricot Chocolate, and Chocolate Chunk Afghan, alongside bars, slices, biscuits, and seasonal products. Brand-building became an important part of the company's development. Cookie Time adopted the Cookie Muncher mascot and used the large physical scale of its products as a memorable point of difference. On 2 April 1996, the company baked a cookie approximately 24.9 metres in diameter in a field behind its factory, with an area reported at about 487 square metres. The event was associated with a Guinness World Record for the world's largest cookie and helped reinforce the company's playful public identity. The company also developed a charitable seasonal program. The Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust was established in 2003 and later became the Cookie Time Charitable Trust. Around Christmas, temporary workers and university students have sold small-cookie buckets through door-to-door activity, offices, shops, street stalls, and other seasonal channels. Some proceeds have supported children in New Zealand. This activity links the brand's gifting business with a social-purpose platform. Cookie Time moved beyond packaged retail into branded hospitality with the opening of its first Cookie Bar in Queenstown in May 2010. The format offered cookies, cookie-based food and beverages, and souvenirs. A Harajuku, Tokyo location followed in December 2013 through a Japanese distribution partnership; dough for that operation was supplied from New Zealand. The company later opened a Dunedin Cookie Bar in November 2022. Its products have also appeared in partnerships with Air New Zealand, McDonald's, and Tip Top. Air New Zealand began serving Cookie Time snacks on domestic flights in 2012. McDonald's introduced a Cookie Time McFlurry in 2018, while Tip Top and Cookie Time collaborated on Cookie Caramel Crush ice cream in 2020. The brand has experienced several disputes. In 2000 it challenged Griffin's over Christmas-cookie bucket packaging, and Griffin's withdrew 10,000 units. In 2007 Cookie Time was fined $40,000 following an industrial-safety breach involving a worker's arm injury. In 2011 it pursued a dispute over a Chinese logo application, and in 2015 it objected to the name Moustache Milk and Cookie Bar in Auckland. These episodes illustrate the importance of packaging, trademarks, workplace compliance, and retail naming to the company's brand management. Cookie Time is based at its factory and public shop in Templeton, on Christchurch's outskirts.
- 2022
Dunedin Cookie Bar opens
[1]Cookie Time adds a branded retail location in Dunedin.
- 2021
Lolly cake biscuit introduced
[1]A lolly cake biscuit enters supermarkets and other retail channels.
- 2020
Tip Top Cookie Caramel Crush collaboration
[1]Cookie Time extends into ice cream through a Tip Top collaboration.
- 2018
Cookie Time McFlurry launches
[1]Cookie Time and McDonald's collaborate on a branded McFlurry.
- 2013
Tokyo Cookie Bar opens
[1]A Harajuku location opens with a Japanese food-distribution partner.
- 2012
Air New Zealand supply relationship begins
[1]Cookie Time starts supplying snacks for domestic Air New Zealand flights.
- 2010
First Cookie Bar opens in Queenstown
[1]Cookie Time launches its branded retail and food-service concept.
- 2003
Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust is established
[1]The charitable trust later known as the Cookie Time Charitable Trust is created to support New Zealand children.
- 1996
Large-cookie world-record event
[1]Cookie Time bakes a cookie approximately 24.9 metres in diameter and around 487 square metres in area.
- 1987
Individual packaging enables wider distribution
[1]The company begins wrapping cookies individually to extend shelf life and support sales through petrol stations.
Products and positioning
An accessible, playful, indulgent New Zealand snack brand combining a recognizable oversized cookie format with strong mascot branding, seasonal gifting, experiential retail, and selected product collaborations.
Packaged cookie · 1983
Original Chocolate Chunk Cookie
Cookie Time's foundational product and most recognizable line. It is a large, individually wrapped cookie characterized by oversized chocolate pieces. The company has associated the product with a recipe dating from the brand's 1983 launch, making continuity a central part of its identity in the New Zealand market.
Packaged cookie
Flavoured individually wrapped cookies
The broader cookie range includes varieties such as Triple Chocolate, Apricot Chocolate, and Chocolate Chunk Afghan. These products extend the core large-cookie format while offering different flavor profiles and occasions for convenience, gifting, and impulse purchase.
Seasonal gifting
Christmas Cookies
Seasonal small-cookie products are sold around Christmas, including bucket formats and direct-sales activity. The program has used temporary staff, student sellers, street stalls, and office or door-to-door sales, with part of the proceeds supporting the Cookie Time Charitable Trust.
Snack bars
Bumper Bars and Bumper Slice
These products broaden Cookie Time's offering beyond its traditional round cookie into bar and slice formats suitable for convenience retail and packaged snacking.
Snack and biscuit products
One Square Meal and Smart Cookies
Additional Cookie Time-branded snack and biscuit products that demonstrate the company's expansion from its signature cookie into adjacent packaged-food formats.
Ice cream collaboration · 2020
Cookie Caramel Crush
A 2020 collaboration with Tip Top that translated Cookie Time's flavor and brand identity into an ice-cream product.
Biscuit · 2021
Lolly Cake Biscuit
A biscuit inspired by the New Zealand lolly cake flavor profile, introduced through supermarkets and other retailers in July 2021.
Retail and food service · 2010
Cookie Bars
Branded retail stores where customers can buy cookies, cookie-based food and drinks, and souvenir merchandise. The concept began in Queenstown and later expanded to Tokyo and Dunedin.
Controversies
2015
Moustache Cookie Bar naming dispute
Cookie Time asked Auckland café Moustache Milk and Cookie Bar to change its name, asserting that the phrase Cookie Bar could infringe rights associated with Cookie Time's Queenstown retail concept. The business continued using the name for several years, later promoting itself simply as Moustache.
2011
Chinese trademark-logo dispute
Cookie Time filed a case concerning a Chinese trademark application that used artwork the company said was identical to its logo.
2007
Industrial-safety breach and worker injury
Cookie Time was fined $40,000 after a worker became trapped in machinery and broke her arm, in a case involving industrial-safety regulations.
2000
Christmas-cookie bucket packaging dispute
Cookie Time alleged that Griffin's had used a plastic bucket design too similar to its Christmas-cookie packaging. Griffin's withdrew 10,000 buckets from sale.
Marketing campaigns
- 2020Cookie Caramel Crush with Tip Top
New Zealand
Cookie Time and Tip Top created an ice-cream flavor built around Cookie Time's cookie identity.
Outcome. The brand gained a co-branded presence in the ice-cream category.
- 2018Cookie Time McFlurry
New Zealand
Cookie Time partnered with McDonald's on a branded McFlurry, with availability also reported through Uber Eats.
Outcome. The collaboration extended Cookie Time into quick-service restaurant desserts.
- 2003Christmas Cookies charitable program
New Zealand
Seasonal cookie sales use temporary staff, student sellers, street stalls, and direct selling to combine Christmas gifting with fundraising for children.
Outcome. Some proceeds support the Cookie Time Charitable Trust.
- 1996World's largest cookie event
New Zealand
Cookie Time created a giant cookie behind its Christchurch-area factory, using an extraordinary physical demonstration to publicize the brand's large-cookie identity.
Outcome. The approximately 24.9-metre cookie was associated with a Guinness World Record for the world's largest cookie.
Brand decisions
2022
Open a Dunedin Cookie BarStrategyBackground
Cookie Time continued using branded retail stores to provide direct consumer access and experiential merchandising.
Action taken
The company opened a Cookie Bar in Dunedin.
Aftermath
The New Zealand retail footprint expanded beyond the earlier Queenstown location.
2021
Introduce the Lolly Cake BiscuitProduct launchBackground
Cookie Time continued developing products beyond its flagship chocolate-chunk format.
Action taken
The company introduced a lolly cake biscuit through supermarkets and other retailers.
Aftermath
The product expanded the brand's biscuit range and drew attention when one retailer appeared to sell it before its formal release.
2020
Enter co-branded ice creamProduct launchBackground
The company continued to extend its recognizable flavor profile into adjacent indulgent categories.
Action taken
Cookie Time partnered with Tip Top on Cookie Caramel Crush ice cream.
Aftermath
The collaboration added an ice-cream product to the brand's partnership portfolio.
2018
Launch the Cookie Time McFlurryProduct launchBackground
Cookie Time used a major quick-service restaurant platform to place its brand in a dessert format.
Action taken
It collaborated with McDonald's on a Cookie Time McFlurry.
Aftermath
The product broadened Cookie Time's reach beyond cookies and specialist stores.
2013
Expand the Cookie Bar concept to JapanStrategyBackground
The Queenstown retail concept had created a platform for experiential international expansion.
Action taken
Cookie Time opened a Harajuku, Tokyo Cookie Bar with a Japanese food-distribution partner and supplied dough from New Zealand.
Aftermath
The move represented an overseas extension of both the retail format and New Zealand production base.
2012
Enter airline snack supplyStrategyBackground
Cookie Time pursued a high-visibility institutional channel for its packaged cookies.
Action taken
The company began supplying snacks to Air New Zealand for domestic flights.
Aftermath
The relationship gave the brand exposure in a national travel setting; Air New Zealand later varied the cookie varieties it served.
2010
Develop the Cookie Bar retail formatStrategyBackground
The company sought a direct-to-consumer expression of the brand beyond conventional packaged-food distribution.
Action taken
Cookie Time opened its first Cookie Bar in Queenstown, selling food, drinks, cookies, and merchandise.
Aftermath
The concept was subsequently extended to Harajuku and Dunedin.
1987
Adopt individual cookie packagingStrategyBackground
The original dairy-based model sold cookies individually from glass jars, limiting shelf life and distribution options.
Action taken
Cookie Time began wrapping cookies individually.
Aftermath
The packaging made the products suitable for petrol stations and broader packaged-food distribution.
Recent events
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