We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniela Olotu-Gottfried and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniela, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I very much love what I do. I started baking as a child and always showed interest and patience with it – well, at least most of the time 🙂 I am a perfectionist at heart and did not rest till my baked good was perfect to look at and equally tasty.

What should our readers know about your business?
As a single mom of two wonderful kids, the living condition in New York City took its toll especially on the financial situation. Making some extra $$ and that all by doing what I really love to do, seemed like a good way to go. To be sure, New Yorkers love their cookies – but would they also fall for my Austrian butter cookies? I thought I would never know if I would not give it a try. So I started baking three of my favorite cookies: Linzer tarts, Vanilla Hazelnut crescents and Almond hearts – and gave them out to friends and clients of mine. You can’t imagine how thrilled I was to find out that they all loved them as much as I did!

My sister Miki and I then started to think of a name for the business. We were playing around with a few ideas – the funniest of them was “Guglhupf” – the name of an Austrian bundt cake – but it seemed too difficult to pronounce (though very funny). Then my sister asked me how I liked “Servus Cookies” and I instantly loved it! Servus (pronounced: “servouss” ) is an informal greeting in Austria meaning “hello” and “bye” and it also works in English – being close enough phonetically to “serve us”. SERVUS COOKIES was born!

I started baking in May 2011 with my tiny home stove and sold at first only at private events and small local craft fairs.

The cookie business really took off around Christmas time when most of my clients and friends either bought bigger quantities for themselves or endorsed my cookies for their business clients as Christmas gifts. I baked 3,700 cookies in 2 months – it was an exciting, great and exhausting experience.

I joined the Etsy platform in 2013 and that’s when my business really took off. Etsy did and still does a great job driving business to my online store. By then I had added 2 of my favorite cakes and gingerbread hearts. I developed a recipe for the gingerbread hearts – with lots of honey as a sweetener, 11 different spices and natural ingredients – to make them delicious. I remembered the hearts from my young days back in Austria where you would get those hearts from your sweetheart – beautiful to look at but impossible to eat. The gingerbread hearts took a couple of years to find their way into the hearts of the American people but the popularity of Oktoberfests throughout the country helped a lot. Today my gingerbread hearts are as popular as my Linzer tarts – and I am baking non-stop from June through December.

What started as a side show so many years back has become a major part of my income and when I am ready to hire people to help me with my business I am sure it would be expanding even more. During the pandemic my Etsy store boomed and I was very happy to be able to bring a little bit of joy into the homes of so many people. During this time I discovered that I not only extremely love what I am doing but that I somehow go into some sort of trance when making the dough. I guess the pandemic forced us all to slow down and this was – I think not only in my case – a blessing. I paid attention to my energies even more, listened to beautiful music, watched uplifting images of nature and set the intention to infuse my doughs with love, compassion and courage. The reviews for my baked goods were out of this world – people always loved my cookies but now they added their gratitude and appreciation for my craft and shared their personal stories with me! It was amazing and it encouraged me to explore further into the realms of frequencies. That’s how I came across Reiki and became a Reiki practitioner. Now I infuse my doughs also with Reiki energies and turn my baked goods into “life force/energy treats”.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
On the first couple of days I would stay local to let her ease into the experience and get over her jet lag. We would walk leisurely to a vegan restaurant on Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, called Aunts et Uncles. It is a 25 minutes walk from my house and halfway to the beautiful Prospect Park. The restaurant has the most delicious vegan dishes (also for meat eaters 🙂 ), cocktails and the coolest people. After a short walk to the Park we delight in this beautiful location – this park is wonderful during every season.
We decide to come back the next day and embark on an ice skating adventure in the beautiful outdoor rink with blue skies and sunshine. We are coming back home by subway and stop on Newkirk Plaza at the Apple Bottom Tree for a Matcha Latte and freshly baked almond croissants.
The 3rd day is dedicated to sightseeing and the Empire State Building is a must! So is Times Square by night and we
have a wonderful dinner at the famous Renaissance Hotel in the dining room with views directly over Times Square.
After this we deserve a day of rest and self-care at the wondrous QC Spa on Governors Island. A short but exciting ferry ride at the Brooklyn Piers brings us to this beautiful location with epic city views.
The next day my friend joins me in my Salsa dance class at Balmir Dance Studio on Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn.
We are having fun with Salsa on 2 New York Style! We come back to this area of Brooklyn for a wonderful evening of ballet at the Kings Theater and dine at the nearby CorTHAIyou on Cortelyou Road.
The last day is dedicated to the Ocean and after a short but beautiful bus ride that leads us by a cute little Marina and over an old (but safe) draw bridge we arrive in Queens, Far Rockaway. After a delightful long walk on the beach taking in view, air and sunshine we agree that the Ocean is beautiful no matter the season…

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate my story to my best friend and soul sister Roswitha “Miki” Bourne who transitioned in 2019. I very much miss her and her brilliant ideas many of them which found their way into my baking business Servus Cookies.

Website: www.servuscookies.com

Instagram: @servuscookies

Other: servuscookies.etsy.com

Image Credits
Servus Cookies

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