Local organizers of LA Cookie Con and Sweets Show expect another large turnout

For people who geek out over Superman or “Star Wars,” there are many conventions and opportunities to express, exhibit and indulge their fandom — perhaps the best known being the annual Comic-Con in San Diego.

Well, Nancy and Todd Tei, Burbank residents and fans of food-competition shows, wanted something like that for foodies, whose Kryptonite is a sweet tooth or who try to balance the dark and light sides while eating a black-and-white cookie.

“It’s a following that’s almost the same type of thing,” Todd Tei said.

That’s what led them to launch the LA Cookie Con and Sweets Show, set to return to the area for its second year the weekend of Feb. 6 and 7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Quenelle, a dessert shop in Burbank, will have treats like these cookies at LA Cookie Con and Sweets Show.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

This year’s event is “blurring the lines” between Cookie Con and Comic-Con this year, Nancy Tei said, with an anticipated appearance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the title character in the television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” in addition to headliners Ron Ben-Israel of Food Network’s “Sweet Genius” and Rosanna Pansino of the YouTube cooking show “Nerdy Nummies.”

Last year’s event, featuring celebrity guests, food samples, demonstrations, classes and food competitions, sold out the Pasadena Convention Center for its one-day debut last January.

It was so popular, in fact, that it caught the organizers by surprise and overwhelmed the mostly volunteer staff. Several foodies were fed up with the long lines and overwhelming crowds and took to social media and review sites to complain.

“Last year was definitely tough,” Nancy Tei said.

Some attendees who paid for access to a VIP area complained that non-VIP guests were allowed into the area when staff abandoned their posts to help out in other areas, while others said they stood in line for hours but were ultimately turned away.

However, several reviewers tempered their negative comments by noting it was the first year for the event and saying they were willing to accept some growing pains.

Nancy Tei, a local native with a background in marketing, said that’s exactly what it was — more growth than they could handle with “first-year resources.”

“We’re a small business at heart,” she said, adding that “most first-year shows are quiet.”

Quenelle, a dessert shop in Burbank, will have treats like this strawberry shortcake ice cream at LA Cookie Con and Sweets Show.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

That wasn’t true for the inaugural cookie event, though, where not only was turnout greater than expected, but people seemed to all arrive all at once instead of spread throughout the day. Nancy Tei said the show’s marketing sought to build big excitement and told people to come early.

“People listened,” she said.

With the show set to return in two weeks, the Teis said they’ve made improvements to avoid those problems while making the show bigger and better by moving to a venue three times larger, adding an extra day to the schedule, expanding the programming and hiring experienced professional staff.

“We’re just able, because of the success of last year, to do better,” Nancy Tei said.

Glendale resident John Park, who owns and operates Quenelle ice cream shops in Burbank and San Marino, signed on this week as an exhibitor for the show. He said he sees it as a way to introduce new customers to his shop’s specialties, such as blueberry-pie ice cream with pie crust and filling made from scratch, while developing connections in the sweets segment of L.A.

“It just seems like a really great show,” Park said. “It brings the food community together ... People who love sweets just come together.”

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Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com

Twitter: @chadgarland