In honour of its first location turning seven, the homegrown cookie chain is giving away a free chocolate chip cookie to whoever walks into a store while supplies last. Craig’s Cookies started as a single shop in Parkdale, painted yellow with a rainbow flag out front, but has grown into one of Canada’s most popular cookie companies with locations across the GTA and plans to expand country-wide by the end of 2025. No purchase is necessary to get a free chocolate chip cookie, and all 17 locations in Ontario and St. John’s, N.L., are participating. Craig Pike founded Craig’s Cookies in 2013 as a side hustle out of his one-bedroom Toronto apartment, where he would bake cookies and deliver them on a bike to friends around the city. Using his mom’s beloved recipe from Newfoundland, the cookies quickly caught on and he now has 100 different flavours on rotation. Craig’s Cookies has six corporate locations (with the majority in the GTA + 1 in Newfoundland) and 11 franchise locations. Last year, Pike launched his franchise program to expand the company’s presence across Ontario and plans to have stores across Canada by the end of 2025 with sights on Ottawa, Calgary and Halifax.