Aug. 25, 2023

A downtown cookie shop is hitting the road.

Mary’s Mountain Cookies has added a bus to sell cookies and other treats at public and private events.

The franchise bakery known for its 5-ounce cookies won’t do any of the baking on the bus. That will be done in the shop at 701 N. Phillips Ave., where the treats are made daily, said Becky McElroy, who owns the business with her husband, Dave.

“We won’t have all the flavors of cookies that we do in the store,” McElroy said. ‘We’ll probably do only five or six flavors of our top sellers. We’ll also have our edible cookie dough, ice cream sandwiches and drinks.”

Customer favorites include chocolate chip, monster, frosted Oreo, peanut butter cup, M&M and snickerdoodle, she said.

The first outing is a company picnic next month for Lloyd Cos., and McElroy plans to use the bus at the annual Etc. Expo for Her in October at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

“It’s late in the season, so I’ll don’t know how many places we will be yet this fall,” she said.

The couple had talked about including a mobile unit even as they opened the bakery in 2021 “because we knew a couple of the other locations (in the chain) had a van that they would do mobile sales on, and it was successful for them.”

That idea was still in the back of their minds when Dave McElroy saw the bus advertised for sale.

“It worked out because it was set up and within our budget for that,” Becky McElroy said.

The food truck scene in Sioux Falls continues to grow, so it seemed like the right time to make the addition, she said.

“It’s going to be an easier way to get out in the community, continue to build our brand in the Sioux Falls area and share our cookies.”