In the Pipeline: Cookie baker works to spread sweet inspiration

As we meet outside a nondescript doorway near Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street in Huntington Beach, a bear of a man leads me back through a labyrinth of hallways until we arrive at a simple kitchen. As soon as he opens the door, it hits you — the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

Jason Mercado smiles when he sees his guest’s reaction to that sweet aroma. This is a man who is proud of his work — as he should be. He made his first batch of Toll House cookies when he was 11, growing up in New Jersey. He says that made him feel like a world-class pastry chef, and he knew then that his goal was to bring cookies to the people.

But I bet he didn’t know what the road would be like to get there.

He left home at 17 and headed to Austin, Texas. He got into drugs there, along with other things. He wound up in jail. But it didn’t deter his dream.

He went back home to Jersey but found more negative temptation. So he headed to Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love was good to him. He got a job at Starbucks and worked his way up to manager. He went to Atlanta and managed a store there.

He returned to Philly but was let go from a coffeehouse gig and soon had no place to live. That was in 2011.

“The Occupy movement was happening then,” he told me. “ I’m not saying I agreed or disagreed with the whole thing. But Occupy Philadelphia did give me a place to stay. And they had books to read. And staying in a tent there, I had plenty of time to dream about the kind of company I one day wanted to have.”

People thought he was crazy when he described the future he imagined. A cookie company? Come on.

He started volunteering at a homeless shelter, where he met somebody else who had grand visions of starting a company. This person, who was staying at the shelter, gave him a heads-up about a business class he was about to take, and he encouraged Mercado to check it out.

The problem was that the class required a $200 fee. Mercado didn’t have the money, but he signed up and hoped for the best. The day the money was due, Mercado went to the director of the program to explain his financial problem. The director gave him a challenge: Write an essay describing why he wanted to take the course.

Mercado went home and wrote about his dreams of being a world-class baker.

The director told him, “I have one scholarship left, and based on what you wrote, I’m giving it to you.”

The scholarship enabled Mercado to attend all kinds of classes. He learned about business, networking and marketing, and he absorbed everything. He went back to the Occupy Philadelphia encampment and started volunteering on the food committee. Then he struck a deal that allowed him to use the camp’s kitchen.

Now Mercado could start to put his dream to the test.

He would bake cookies and deliver samples all over Philadelphia. He won some baking contests. But then he realized he needed a change of scenery.

“I would’ve gone broke giving away everything for free to all my friends,” he said with a laugh.

So he decided to move to California, which in his mind represented the sunny land of opportunity. He hopped on a bus to Santa Ana and went to the Orange County Rescue Mission, hoping for a place to stay.

When he was told it would be a seven-month wait, he found another place to live, a sober-living facility in Costa Mesa. With the little money he had from selling his cookies in Philadelphia, he found places that would let him bake.

Word started getting around and he soon got a call to make cookies for an Oscar party. The response was so positive that he started getting other calls. Using his Facebook page and applying what he learned in Philadelphia, he was starting to build a business.

Then he found out about an entrepreneur in Huntington Beach who would let him use a kitchen. For the past nine months, that’s where he has spent his days.

Recently, Mercado officially christened Sweet Mission Cookie Co.

And he is on a mission.

“My vision with my company is to help people that have the same problems I used to have — being homeless, having a criminal record or even a drug habit. I want to give people in need an opportunity. And I’ll be tough with them too. I’ll tell a kid, ‘Pull your pants up, you’re not a Calvin Klein underwear model.’

“But then I’ll share my knowledge. I’ll teach them about business and life. My three main messages are to encourage, inspire and empower. Cookies are my passion, but that mission, to me, is a bigger deal. That’s what I care most about.”

I can vouch for the cookies. I tried many of them, including his award-winning Hawaiian Coolers, which feature lemon, coconut, white chocolate and macadamia nuts. That’s his most popular.

You can visit sweetmissioncookie.com to learn more about Mercado and his mouth-watering array of gourmet cookies (which also include vegan and gluten-free options). There’s a Facebook page too. Orders can be made at (215) 315-7982. And he delivers.

I’m glad Mercado has joined us in Huntington Beach. I hope you make him feel welcome. And I know you’ll love not just the cookies but also the sweet story behind them.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books, including “Huntington Beach Chronicles: The Heart of Surf City.” You can chat with him on Twitter @chrisepting or follow his column at facebook.com/hbindependent.