Meghan Marshall Sweetens the Deal with Mary’s Mountain Cookies

By Meg Hale Brunton

Owner of Mary’s Mountain Cookies in Asheville, North Carolina Meghan Marshall knew she had a love of cooking early in life. After college, she considered going to culinary school and worked as a pastry chef and line cook at a local restaurant on the coast of North Carolina. “It was a pretty tough environment,” Marshall says of the restaurant industry. “I was concerned that if I kept doing it, I wasn’t going to love cooking.”

In 2010, she moved to Asheville to attend graduate school and earned her Master’s degree from Western Carolina University in Hospital Administration. From there, she immediately got a job at Mission Hospital in their collections department. Wanting to take on more of a leadership role, she quickly moved up at Mission and was transferred to their Sleep Services Center where she became Regional Manager. 

Two years ago, Marshall felt the need to make some big life changes. Her cousin Mike owned a Mary’s Mountain Cookies franchise in Fort Collins, Colorado. Marshall and her brother, Ryan began discussing the possibility of opening their own location in Western North Carolina.

Photo Credit: Meg Hale Brunton

Mary’s Mountain Cookies founder Mary Johns was a single mom who began making cookies when she was a cook on a Dude Ranch in Colorado. Guests at the ranch loved her mountain cookie recipes. So in 1990, she opened her first store and began licensing her brand shortly thereafter. Currently, there are twenty-six Mary’s Mountain Cookies locations across the country, primarily out West. Marshall’s store is the first location on the East Coast. 

After making the trip out to Colorado to see how the store operated, Marshall and her brother decided to take the plunge and open their own business. Then, two things happened: the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Marshall found out she was pregnant with her first child, Ella. While still employed by Mission, she considered her professional options as a parent-to-be. “I would love to change up my life,” Marshall recalls thinking, “and have Ella see me doing something I love, and being an entrepreneur.”

They found a location on the College Street side of the AC Hotel by Marriott building and opened the store in June of 2022. Marshall says that Johns has been very involved in helping to grow the business, but that Marshall retains complete creative freedom, even when it comes to recipes and decor. “She is awesome – just a really cool woman to learn from. I look up to her a lot,” Marshall says of Johns. “The reason I wanted to [open the business] was that I felt like I had so much creative freedom, but enough support and structure that it made me feel like I could do it.”

Photo by Sarah Malcom

All the cookies at Mary’s Mountain Cookies are ¼ pound. “We weigh every single dough ball,” says Marshall, smiling. “All day, we’re scooping dough balls and baking cookies, just keeping everything full and fresh. I think that really makes us unique.” On a given day, they have 29 different flavors of cookies available, from classics like chocolate chip and snickerdoodle, to more unique flavors, like S’mores. They have stuffed cookies, ice cream sandwiches, brownies, edible cookie dough, seasonal specialties, gluten-free cookies, party trays and large celebration cookies. All the dough is made in-house by Marshall in their 80-quart mixer. They also offer cookie baskets, online and wholesale orders, and the downtown deals, Buy-Six-Get-Two-Free and Buy-Twelve-Get-Five-Free. 

While she is the majority owner, Marshall loves getting to work with her brother and cousin. The shop lead, Gwynn, also used to work with Marshall at Mission. “It’s a family affair for sure,” Marshall says of the business. While they hope to expand and open more locations eventually in Charlotte and Hendersonville, Marshall wants to make sure they don’t trade quality for growth. “I don’t want us to grow too fast,” she explains. “I want to make sure this is functioning well, that our customers are super happy, and that our crew is really happy. It’s really important to me that we have a good work environment and that people feel happy coming to work.” Marshall and the team have also discussed the possibility of a cookie truck sometime in the future.

Now, both a business owner and a mom, Marshall’s life has changed drastically over the past couple of years. Still, she says her daily level of busyness is comparable to that of the hospital. “It’s still super busy,” she says of the shop. “There’s absolutely a different level of stress, but when you love what you’re doing and you’re just making people happy all day, it is really cool. I’ve enjoyed that more than I ever thought I would.”

For more information on Mary’s Mountain Cookies, check out their website: https://mmcookiesavl.com/

Or visit them at their location in the AC Hotel Marriott in downtown Asheville (10 Broadway Street, Suite 129).