19-year-old entrepreneur ‘Cookie Chris’ opens second shop in Henrico

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Young entrepreneur Christopher Knight has become quite the cookie connoisseur. At just 19 years old, he’s opened two locations for his store, “Cookie Chris” — with the second location having just launched in Henrico County.

Business ownership is not your average 19-year-old activity — but, for Knight, this is just how the cookie crumbled.

“Even when I was doing cookies back at 16, I never thought it would be this big,” Knight said. “But my parents instilled in me always that, if you work hard at it, [if] you pray at it — it can happen.”

On top of managing two storefronts, Knight is also a full-time student at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The Morehouse sophomore is on the pre-law track. But his classes don’t keep him away from his business — even while he’s busy at school, he runs the stores’ social media and comes up with new cookie flavors weekly.

“I like to be an example,” he said of his work ethic.

Knight opened his second cookie store location in August in Henrico County. The first location is in Williamsburg, where he went to high school. He opened this storefront at just 16 years old.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Knight’s mom, Franchette, wanted him to do something productive. He baked with his grandmother when he was younger, so he hit the kitchen. His parents were the ones who first sampled his cookies when he was starting out.

“My parents are very realistic with me,” Knight said. “They said, ‘You know what, these are pretty good.’”

Knight then started selling cookies at school and on social media. After two years of this, he’d saved enough money for half of his store in Williamsburg, with his parents footing the bill for the other half.

“My mom said, ‘You need to get out of my kitchen,’ basically,” Knight said. “And, at that point, she encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing and get the store.”

He said the Williamsburg community’s support through word-of-mouth brought customers in from all over. Specifically, there was demand in the Richmond area — prompting Knight to open this second location.

While he’s at school, his parents are the ones running the stores.

“They do an amazing job — I mean, without them, it probably wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.

Knight’s parents said he worked all summer when he was home from school, adding that they’re so proud of him.

Knight said his main goal is to be an inspiration for people his age.

“They don’t have to start later in life,” he said. “If you put your mind to it and you work hard at it, you can do it early, too.”

Knight said that, right now he and his team are focusing on the newest store — but there’s more to come from Cookie Chris in the future.

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