In 1999, Tiffany Taylor stood up Leon Chen for a date. The UT sophomore felt so bad, she baked and delivered Chen cookies fresh from the oven as an apology. With some convincing from Chen, this sweet apology turned into the business now known to UT students as Tiff’s Treats. 

Now, 17 years later, Tiff’s will be opening its first ever out-of-state location in the Atlanta metro area.

“It’s been a wild ride with so many ups and so many downs, but we are so proud of our team and the people that really make this growth possible,” Chen said.

Tiff’s Treats was originally run by just a two-person team, personally taking orders and delivering cookies as they slowly worked to expand their business.

“Tiff and I started this thing in our Hyde Park apartment when we were sophomores at UT,” Chen said.

In 2003, Tiff’s moved into its first stand-alone location — a converted 1940s bungalow at 1806 Nueces St., which still serves as its Central Austin location.

In the following 12 years, Tiff’s opened locations in Dallas, San Antonio and Ft. Worth. The business grew to 300 employees in over 20 stores all across Texas.

The first Georgia store will be located in the city of Alpharetta, a suburb of Atlanta, and will open in mid-June. Two more stores, in Midtown and Sandy Springs, will also be opened by the end of the year.

The company said the Atlanta area was an obvious choice due to its large student population and booming economy.

“We chose Atlanta because we wanted a market that was nearby in proximity to our headquarters in Austin,” Chen said. “A market that was similar as far as culture, a market that was similar in weather and a market with a vibrant social and business community.”

Tiff’s Treats has been a favorite of many students at UT since it first opened.

“It’s always so comforting to receive Tiff’s Treats as a surprise,” government junior Rebecca Shanks said. “It reminds me of my mom baking cookies for me as a kid after school.”

Now that the company is expanding into Atlanta, a new batch of college students will have access to fresh baked treats.

“If it were up to me, all college students would have access to Tiff’s,” psychology sophomore Henriikka Niemi said. “I’m sure their expansion will be extremely successful.”