The taste of a soft chewy chocolate chip cookie never fails to put smiles on faces, from the first bite, to the last delicious crumb.

In an effort to put a smile on as many faces as possible, major cookie retailers Mrs. Fields and Cookie Man have joined forces to declare the first weekend in May to be “National Cookie Weekend”.

Now everyone can indulge in a soft baked cookie of their choice for only $1.99 at participating stores.  That is up to 30% of their normal retail price!!

“It just seems like there are not as many smiling faces out and about these days,” said Managing Director of Mrs. Fields Australia, Andrew Benefield. “so we joined forces with Cookie Man to declare a National Cookie Weekend.  Many of our stores have held these special days individually over recent years, selling as many as 1000 cookies each weekend.  So with a combined network of 62 stores we aim to sell over 50,000 cookies in one weekend.  That is an extra 50,000 Smiles!!”

Whilst representatives from either company will argue about who has the best cookie, it is the customers who win on National Cookie Weekend, indulging in warm chewy cookies made from only the finest ingredients.  And between the two brands there are plenty of flavours to choose from, be it Mrs. Fields world famous Chocolate Chip Cookie renowned for having more chocolate than flour, or the White Chocolate and Raspberry or Sticky Date Indulgent Cookies from Cookie Man.

There is a Cookie Man or Mrs. Fields store located in most major shopping centres in every key Australian city, so visit their websites for specific details of a location near you.

You won’t miss participating stores, just look for all the balloons, posters and most importantly the “smiling” faces.

For the third year in a row, Mrs. Fields has excelled in the annual CSR Sugar Golden Bean roaster competition, despite making major changes to their coffee program in 2011.

Andrew Benefield, Managing Director of Mrs. Fields Australia, couldn’t be happier with the result.

“Coffee is one of the best accompaniments to our range of sweet treats. Australians are some of the most sophisticated coffee consumers in the world, so we are committed to providing them with the best coffee possible.”

During the last year, Mrs. Fields broke its relationship with Melbourne based Daily Roast and moved coffee roasting in-house to its own facility in Sydney. They retained the consulting services of World Champion barista judge Justin Metcalf to keep an eye on the program under the capable services of master coffee roaster, Leigh Collien, and Yvette Schroeder, barista coach.

“We also implemented more training for our baristas in store, and are reaping the rewards of our Prepare and Serve Espresso Coffee training programs, based on the national training framework”, said Benefield.

This year’s award reflected these commitments, with the Mrs. Fields blend winning a bronze medal in the competitive Milk Based Coffee (franchise chain) category. The prestigious competition has grown rapidly, and had more than 1000 entries in 2011. It is not only the premier coffee roasting event in Australia, but one of the largest in the world.

At the start of 2011, the team also presented their coffee offer at the Mrs. Fields conference in Las Vegas, resulting in contracts to supply new Mrs. Fields markets in Pakistan and China. They are now the preferred coffee supply partner for Mrs. Fields internationally and will export to more countries this year as the brand expands globally.

For more information on Mrs. Fields, or to find your nearest Mrs. Fields store, go to
www.mrsfields.com.au
For media enquiries, contact Alison Jefferies on (02) 9998 4800

The perfect stress-free gift for Mother’s Day this year comes in your choice of Chewy Fudge, Chocolate Chips, Caramel Classic and more! Mrs. Fields is making the daunting task of finding that ‘just right’ gift a cinch with their personalised cookie cakes. So why not thank Mum in a truly delicious and satisfying way this year with a cookie?

Mrs. Fields knows there is a lot at stake when celebrating the uniqueness of Mothers… So treat her to something with a special touch and decorate a Mrs. Fields Cookie Cake in a personalised style using meaningful designs and motifs. All Mrs. Fields cookies are prepared using traditional baking methods and the finest wholesome ingredients. Free of artificial colours, flavours and trans fats, keeping Mum feeling guilt free on this special day just got easier.

Be the first to order your Mother’s Day Cookie Cake before May 8th and secure the spot as Mum’s number one. With so many cookie flavours and bases, including chewy fudge, white chocolate macadamia and classic chocolate chip, Mrs. Fields is the perfect way to say ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ this year.

Personalised Mother’s Day Cookie Cake from RRP $36.95 (single layer)

Cookies are delicious and pretty cool right now, just ask the Prince of Wales. So much so that when it comes to their cake for the Royal Wedding, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s inspiration is straight from the cookies mouth. Not that you ever needed more of an excuse to enjoy the most scrumptious of treats, but this proves hands down that cookies are fit for a king (to be).

So if a Prince and Princess can enjoy a cookie cake at their wedding, then surely cookies are the perfect treat for any occasion.

Now is the time to start enjoying and designing your Mrs. Fields cookie cake for your own birthday, family or office celebrations, even a wedding! Just like Mrs. Fields’ fun creation pictured below, you too can have your very own special cake for a special day.

Treat yourself to something royal with a Mrs. Fields Cookie cake. To find out more about ordering visit: www.mrsfields.com.au

Mrs. Fields Australia operators Andrew and Debbie Benefield have been awarded the International Master Franchisee of the Year at the Mrs. Fields Famous Brands Convention in Las Vegas.

The Benefields were present to accept the award and were selected from 23 Mrs. Fields Famous Brands Master Franchisees outside of the United States across Mrs. Fields Famous Brands’ two brands- This Country’s Best Yoghurt (TCYB) and Mrs. Fields.

Other award nominees came from all over the world including Canada, Costa Rica, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines.
Tim Casey, President and CEO of Mrs. Fields Famous Brands told the Benefields that “This honour reflects your commitment, your enthusiasm and your belief in the enduring success of Mrs. Fields Cookies.”

“It is good for the whole team and recognition of our collective effort. I couldn’t be happier with the result,” Mr Benefield said.
“It is a massive achievement as the last time this honour was awarded in 2007 we were really just starting out as the Master Franchisee in Australia. It was great to have a mixed team there to share the accolades; we had members of the support team, our coffee roaster Daily Roast there as well as two of our franchisees. ”
The award is based on three main criteria including Growth, Operational Excellence and Representation of the Brand.

Mr Benefield said that it was “good to get recognition for the Australian franchise operation – I have always been a believer that the Australian franchise sector operates in one of the most competitive markets in the world, and this ensures the systems here have world class operations.”

The award accompanies the announcement that Mrs. Fields Australia has been selected to export their local coffee blend to the global brand’s franchises around the world including China, Pakistan, and potentially South Korea, Russia and Vietnam. Its coffee blend was developed in conjunction with Victorian coffee roasters Daily Roast Coffee.

For media enquiries please call Luci Sheppard or Glen Scott at umm pr on (02) 8399 0411 or 0457 712 564.

As Valentine’s Day draws closer when messages of love are spread across the globe, we all search high and low to find a unique gift for the one that makes our heart skip a beat. Traditionally gifts of candy, chocolate and flowers are given to you special sweetheart on February 14th in the spirit of St Valentine.

For this Valentine’s Day, Mrs. Fields has created a unique and delicious gift perfect for that someone special – a melt-in-your-mouth Cookie Heart in an adorable red love heart tin. This heart shaped, soft baked cookie will have temperatures rising and tastebuds tingling across
Australia.

With only the finest ingredients this cookie literally melts in your mouth, and this is one of the reasons why Mrs. Fields is famous for their premium cookies all over the world. Of course, all of the famous Mrs. Fields cookie flavours will be available for you to choose your beau’s very favourite cookie! So if your loved one is a diehard choc-chip cookie lover, ask the wonderful Mrs. Fields cookie bakers to whip one up for you. The next step is to choose their favourite colours and have your heart-felt message iced onto the Cookie Heart for you.

Celebrate the traditional day of romance in exceptionally great taste thanks to Mrs. Fields – fill the heart and the stomach of your Valentine with one simple solution, a love heart cookie!

To find your nearest store or to pre-order your Valentine’s Day cookie heart in a gorgeous love heart tin, log onto www.mrsfields.com.au. Cookie Heart in a tin start at $16.95

For media enquiries please contact Genevieve Taylor or Nikki Mumford at Use My Mind on (02) 6681
38 44

Since their first cookie was created and baked in 1977, internationally loved cookie company Mrs Fields has produced the perfect range of cookies for every age and taste. Their latest masterpiece oozes ‘Adults Only’ decadence to grab the attention of the more sophisticated sweet tooth. Indulgent and luxurious, the Decadence Cake is an opulent creation tailor made for more mature taste buds, every mouthful a lavish delight to savour!

The famous Mrs. Fields bakers firstly whip up your favourite cookie cake base flavour, whether it is choc chip, white chunk choc macadamia or Butter toffee. They then freshly bake the cookie base to absolute perfection. The next step is what makes this Decadence Cake something really special. Using the quality ingredients for which Mrs. Fields is renowned, they then tailor your Decadence Cake to just the way you like it. Depending on your taste there’s a selection of dark and white chocolate chips, bundles of fresh walnuts and macadamias to layer your cake with, before they drizzle a generous amount of caramel and dark chocolate all over the top of this sumptuous delight. Mmm…simply mouthwatering!

The size of a pizza, the Decadence Cake is a chic and stylish delight for mature cake lovers who enjoy something daring as well as dangerously delicious. So drop into your local Mrs. Fields and ask your cookie cake artist to create a Decadence Cake variation… just for you. The Mrs. Fields Decadence Cake is priced from $36.95. Available from the first week of June.

Log onto Mrs. Fields to locate your nearest stockist www.mrsfields.com.au

For media enquiries please contact Jaala Mills at Umm.. PR on (02) 6681 3844