WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A Texas bakery is making the best of a potentially bad situation after taking its fair share of heat for a controversial batch of cookies that went viral on social media.
Margie’s Bakery & Deli, located in Wichita Falls, has offered both sweet and savory selections to the community since 1970 — but now they’re facing harsh criticism.
The controversial cookies are frosted with the word “MAGA”, the abbreviation for the phrase, “Make America Great Again” that was adopted by supporters of the recently convicted former Pres. Donald Trump.
Andrew Morrow, Margie’s general manager, said he was prompted by the owner to post the batch of cookies on social media. However, given the current political climate, he said he was hesitant to do so, aware of the backlash the bakery might receive.
“We knew there would probably be some negative. We know how divisive this world can be,” Morrow said. “Not everyone agrees with you.”
However, just a few weeks before, they’d done something similar with a different batch of cookies with a very different theme.
“The beginning of June is Pride Month,” Morrow said. “We did rainbow cookies. We don’t discriminate when it comes to employment, we don’t discriminate when it comes to our customers, we don’t discriminate when it comes to anything.”
Thanks to Margie’s reputation for being a locally-owned and respected business in the community, and armed with the knowledge that Margie’s Facebook page is full of light-hearted humorous content, Morrow said he made the post on June 18.
Initially, the reaction to the post from the community consisted of several positive reactions and very little negativity in the comment section. However, that would soon change completely.
“Someone along the line decided to share that to a global baking page,” Morrow said. “It blew up within maybe five hours, six hours.”
Quickly, the reactions to the since-deleted post skyrocketed, amassing over 2,000 comments in less than six hours.
Shortly thereafter, the sweetness wore off. People from around the country, from Florida to Canada, who’ve never even been to Wichita Falls, started intentionally writing negative reviews online about the bakery, full of hate, profanity, and false accusations of criminal activity against employees.
“Content in those reviews that I can’t even share,” Morrow said. “People were figuring out our names, attacking our families. It tanked our score from a long-standing 4.9 out of 5 to a 3.9 in 30 minutes, and so we knew we had to remove the post.”
After deleting the post, Margie’s Facebook explained why the photo of MAGA cookies was gone.
“Unfortunately we have had to take our fun post down. Due to our online ratings dropping rapidly,” a Facebook post from Margie’s said.”We never meant to cause harm. Only joy and laughter.”
It wasn’t long before the community that Margie’s has called home for more than five decades came to their defense.
“They didn’t want to see us suffer because of a few people that don’t even know who we are,” Morrow said.
Within mere hours, Margie’s rating online was back up to 4.8 out of 5. Morrow said sales have quadrupled in just two days, with people coming from well beyond Wichita Falls to buy a MAGA cookie. They can’t keep the controversial cookies on the racks.
According to Morrow, Margie’s sold 2,200 MAGA cookies on Wednesday, June 19, and as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 20, they’re on pace to exceed that total, selling nearly 5,000 of the cookies in just 48 hours.
The story has gained Margie’s Bakery & Deli national attention. According to Morrow, he’s taken phone calls from sitting United States congressmen, and he’s been in contact with the Tucker Carlson Show.
Morrow also discussed the controversial cookie on Thursday morning, June 20, on KLIF (570 AM), a Dallas-Fort Worth talk news radio channel.
Morrow was adamant that promoting a political agenda isn’t what Margie’s is all about, but rather, they’re about meeting the demand set by their community.
“Just because this got more traction than rainbow cookies did doesn’t mean this is what we’re trying to push on people,” Morrow said. “If this is what people want and this is what I’m making 2,200 of a day, then that’s, that’s what I’m gonna make.”
Morrow said he’s completely blown away by Wichita Falls residents and their response to the cookies, taking something bitter and turning it into a sweet story of success.
“The entire town came together and said we’re fighting for a place that we love,” Morrow said. “We couldn’t thank Wichita Falls enough for the love they’ve shown over the past two days.”
Morrow posted a video on Margie’s website thanking the community for their support, adding that not only was Wednesday the busiest day of the season so far, but the outpouring of positive reviews helped bring their overall score back up to 4.8/10.
