When former Georgia Tech football standout Kent Hill moved to Los Angeles to begin his nine-year NFL career in 1979, he found none of the the Southern food he'd grown up with in Americus. Deprivation created motivation and, using his mother's recipes, the rangy offensive lineman learned his way around the kitchen, making "functional" if not gourmet cuisine.
He finished off meals with homemade cookies, a treat he came to share during holidays with friends who would rave. They urged him to someday turn them into a business.
Three years ago, after stints in Tech's athletic department and in business ventures such as owning some Subway sandwich shop franchises, Hill did just that. Now, his Kent's Country Cookies are sold in Whole Foods stores, online and for corporate events. And they're still drawing praise while Hill considers how best to expand his small company prudently.
"His cookies speak for themselves," said Trish Boyles, associate bakery coordinator for Whole Foods, citing their quality, taste and pricing. "They're very addictive."
"It was a family recipe [from his grandmother and mother] that I tweaked a bit," said Hill, 53.
His cookie packages note that "one bite and you'll be countryfied." A country cookie, said Hill, a self-described country boy, is simple, honest and high quality.
Hill moved fast as a first-round draft pick and as a five-time Pro Bowl selection, but he's been cautious about his company, which he's self-funding. He offers only chocolate chip cookies (in five varieties) and makes them with a permanent full-time staff of two in a small commercial kitchen in College Park. He has resisted the temptation, he said, to expand quickly or to distribute far beyond metro Atlanta.
He remains concerned that his cookies, which are all natural and have no preservatives, will lose their quality if allowed to sit on shelves too long.
"It's Kent's Country Cookies," he says, emphasizing his name, "so it gets back to me. I have no desire to put something out there that I wouldn't be proud of."
Hill is considering freezing his cookie dough, which could then be shipped and baked fresh at outlets such as coffee shops. That would extend his distribution while maintaining quality, but he has yet to invest in the necessary equipment.
Hill would not cite specific sales figures, but said the business is profitable. About 60 percent of sales are made online, he added. He foresees a time when his son Sterling, a sophomore at Valdosta State, might take over for him.
"I'd like it to be a viable option for him, if he chooses," he said.
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