Phyllis Pittman, owner of Cookies By Design, and her husband, Charles, have enjoyed baking cookies ever since they started dating in high school about 33 years ago.

“He’d come over on Sunday afternoon, and we’d make chocolate chip cookies,” she said.

The ritual was a forerunner of the type of business she started.

She married her high school sweetheart in 1981, and when he started his lifetime career with the University of North Texas, the couple moved to Denton County.

The Grand Prairie native had never been as far north as Denton, she said.

“I had never been to Denton when we moved out here,” Pittman recalled.

She worked for Russell’s, Denton Municipal Airport and a Sanger company during the first years of their marriage.

Seventeen years ago, her father received a bouquet of cookies. Tucked inside was information about starting a franchise.

“Mom slapped Dad’s hand and said, ‘Don’t eat that,’” Pittman remembered with a laugh.

That bouquet and the information inside led to the start of a new career for Pittman, who opened her franchise a few months later on Oct. 15, 1990.

The Cookies By Design shop off Interstate 35E welcomes customers with a vivid display of edible bouquets, ranging from cookies with clock faces to others decorated with balloons, clowns, flowers and more.

The business has grown much like Denton.

Covering an area that includes Tioga, Little Elm and Highland Village, the customer base for Pittman’s franchise is among the fastest-growing areas in the state and the country.

“These are exciting times in Denton,” Pittman said, citing Rayzor Ranch Town Center, Granite Point industrial park, the Unicorn Lake development and other growth.

As a longtime small-business owner, Pittman says she has gained experience in a field shared by many in the area. As the population grows, so does the number of small businesses.

Those businesses make up an estimated 80 percent of the membership of the Denton Chamber of Commerce, where Pittman currently serves as chairwoman of the board of directors.

In the first few months of her yearlong tenure, Pittman has introduced several changes, including moving the chamber breakfast meetings to lunchtime.

“It’s hard to get up that early for small-business owners, like me, with kids,” she said, referring to the initial 6:45 a.m. breakfasts.

Another is the creation of an ambassador program.

“I’m all about networking,” Pittman said. “I have to be the first to know everything.”

The changes are part of her mission to offer incentives for large and small businesses to be part of the chamber, she said.

Pittman has worked with larger companies in previous jobs as well as through her work as president of the chamber’s marketing, advertising and public relations advisory council with 40 larger shops.

“It’s hard for me, as the smallest business on the committee, to make decisions for larger shops,” she said. “But having that experience helps me with making decisions.”

Ellen Painter, a longtime friend and a former chamber board chairwoman, said Pittman realizes small businesses are the backbone of the chamber.

“She wanted to revitalize and direct her energy that way,” Painter said. “She’s been so successful. And, because of her success, she wants other small businesses to be successful.”

Pittman’s focus gets the word out that the chamber is small-business friendly, Painter said.

“Her refocus on that is tremendous for the chamber,” she said.

Chuck Carpenter, president of the Denton chamber, said Pittman has been a part of the chamber’s executive committee since 2003, heading the membership development division until her term as chairwoman began April 1.

“Today’s chamber program is predominately focused on small, independently owned business dynamics … less formality with more emphasis on direct ‘networking’ opportunities,” Carpenter wrote in an e-mail.

“What I like and appreciate about Phyllis is that she has so much compassion for the success of the individual businesses but definitely understands that we still need to work toward having a balance of larger businesses to create consistent career opportunities, and subsequently, create disposable income that naturally trickles down to the small business categories,” Carpenter said.

The cookie shop has moved several times in its 17 years, from near Albertson’s off Lillian Miller Parkway to near the former Mervyns before her current location in the strip center on the west side of I-35E near the State Farm office between Fort Worth Drive and Teasley Lane.

Painter remembers well the groundbreaking ceremony for the current location.

“When she moved over to the new spot, I went there for the opening,” she said. “I remember sitting back in the kitchen watching her bake [cookies],” Painter said. “The smell is just fabulous.”

Helping Pittman with the baking are her two daughters, Lianne, 18, and Lauren, 22. Lianne, a recent graduate of Sanger High School, makes the cookie dough several hours each day. Lauren, who is attending the University of North Texas, is assistant manager.

“She has a real business head on her shoulders,” Pittman said.

Pittman employs six people part time to help her operate the front counter, prepare deliveries, bake cookies, decorate and more. She recently has been able to hire a service to help with deliveries — something that once took a lot of time.

More often than not, her employees are students attending one of Denton’s universities or area colleges.

“This is a fun job,” Pittman said.

One of her favorite experiences on the job was delivering to hospitals. Smiles always greet the arrival of cookies, she said.

“We have the best customers in the world.”

DAWN COBB can be reached at 940-566-6879. Her e-mail address is dcobb@dentonrc.com.

Phyllis Pittman

Age: 49

Occupation: owner of Cookies By Design, 260 S. Interstate 35E

Known for: her sense of humor

Community involvement: chairwoman of the Denton Chamber of Commerce board of directors

Favorite activity: traveling

Business tip: Be too busy to worry about competition.