Felix’s Famous Cookies: From Family Recipe to Nationwide Philanthropy
Since founding his company with his mother, freshman Felix Castillo has made giving back a central goal of the business. Felix’s Famous Cookies was started in honor of his grandmother, Antonlia Avila Balboa of San Benito in the Rio Grande Valley, and has helped more than 75 individuals and organizations across the country during the past decade. Grandma Toni instilled in her children and grandchildren the importance of helping those in need, says Castillo’s mother, Laura. The donations have been made in his grandmother’s name.
Felix’s business follows in the steps of another Austin cookie-maker: Tiff’s Treats. Leon Chen, BBA ‘01, and Tiffany Taylor, also a UT graduate, started the business in his apartment. The couple’s company has been valued at $500 million.
During the Christmas break, Castillo and his elves filled tins of cookies to raise money for a food pantry in Taft, his father’s hometown. The company uses Grandma Toni’s recipe for polvorones, also known as pan de polvo and Mexican wedding cookies. “Honestly, they are the best cookies I’ve ever tasted,” Castillo says. The basic polvorón uses just five ingredients and contains no eggs or dairy, except for dry milk in the chocolate. They come in five variations, including one that is covered with chocolate and sprinkled with pecans.
The business was started when Castillo was 9, but he had been making and selling the cookies — and often selling out of them — since he was 6. At its peak, the company was producing about 3,000 cookies a day at its Chicago-area bakery, was in eight retail locations, and was shipping across the country. It also had several large corporate clients, such as T-Mobile.
Castillo finished his first semester at McCombs in December, but he has about a decade of experience as a co-chief executive. He offers three lessons learned:
In 2020, the Castillos returned to Texas to be closer to family and to help Felix attend his dream school — The University of Texas at Austin. His business experience has him thinking about the numbers side of commerce, and he’s considering UT’s No. 1-ranked accounting program.
Cookie production is also down since the family’s return, and batches become available usually when Castillo gets a break from school. They also sell out quickly; the holiday batch for the Taft Food Bank was gone in five hours.
—Mark Barron
