If you're craving some sugar, the bright and sweet Funny Face Bakery is the place to be. Screams of joy and laughter fill the bakery as lines quickly form to get one of their decorated face cookies, gooey chocolate chips, and more. Inspired by Polly-Pocket, the inside of the store is covered in a dreamy purple lilac that genuinely makes you feel like you've escaped to another world.
As New York City's first pop culture bakery, they take what's happening in the world and turn it into cookie art. But founder Sarah Silverman initially thought her business would go in another direction - originally opening a cupcake bakery in 2016.
"Two weeks before, I had an idea that a face belonged on a cookie," Silverman recalled.
It was around the time of the Primary Elections, so she thought it would be fun to do Trump, Hilary, & Bernie for the bakery's opening day. Before she knew it, she had a line out the door and sold out all the cookies.
"Opening day comes, no one wants the cupcakes; everyone wants the face cookies," said Silverman
After years of trying to make the cupcake bakery a success, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Silverman to step back and reassess her business. She decided it was time to listen to what her customers really wanted: pop culture-decorated cookie art.
"One day, I just went for it and hired a bunch of artists, and we came up with a list of celebrities that we loved that was trending, and from there on out, we decided to become a pop culture bakery where we would make our cookies into edible art," said Silverman. And thus, Funny Face Bakery was born!
With a background in art and illustration and her passion for baking and pop culture, Silverman found a way to combine all three into her business. Originally, Silverman was the artist who did all the illustration designs for custom cookies, but now Funny Face has grown to have about forty staff employees.
"We have a team of very talented artists that put a lot of love into piping and decorating the cookies," said Silverman.
And when it comes to sourcing new talent, they have a hands-on process.
"We post online that we're currently looking for artists. They'll send us their resume of their beautiful artwork, and we'll see how they pipe on cookies," explained Silverman.
Lately, what seems to be trending is darker, sarcastic humor, and their cookie of a rainbow with the words "anxiety" has been quite popular. But to keep up with what's trending and what customers want to see on the cookies, they put a Cookie Suggestion Box towards the front of the store for people to write in their ideas.
When you walk into Funny Face Bakery, you'll see a wide range of pop culture subjects, from movie stars to memes, to musicians. In addition to the face cookies, they have claimed the name of the best gooey cookies in New York City. Their chocolate chip gooey cookie was just voted #1 by Insider, and they have a handful of exciting flavors like s'mores and funfetti cookies. This month's new flavor is a pretzel chip cookie to charm those who love savory and sweet, and they have a banana flavor coming out soon.
"It's really just a place where people can bond together and have a shared experience if they see a cookie that reminds them of something that they've been through together," Silverman described.
If you can't make it down to NoHo or their second location at the South Street Seaport, have no fear! You can order online, and Funny Face Bakery will ship its cookies nationwide. And if you're dreaming up your own custom cookies, Silverman claims nothing is off limits. After you put in your order, all you need to do is submit a picture, and then an in-house illustrator will create an illustrated design. Once the design is approved, the cookie goes into production: cookies get cut out, colors are made, and then the artist pipe on the cookie. A custom order typically takes a week and a half notice to be completed, but if you're ordering around any of the holidays, you should definitely plan ahead.
"When I see the customers happy with the designs and that I know that I've given them an experience, it definitely fills my day. It reminds me why I wanted to open up a bakery," said Silverman.
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