Rock drummer Ralph Rolle's baking project finally sold: "Passion has no expiration date

Ralph Rolle who has played with the likes of Chic, Nile Rodgers, Sting, and others has launched his line of Soul Snacks, which is now available on shelves at select Walmart stores... Although fans know Ralph Rolle as one of the prolific drummers behind Niall Rodgers, Chic, and Sting, many fellow musicians know him simply as Cookie Man.

Behind the scenes, 62-year-old Roll has long adopted his nickname. First, he bakes cakes for his family, then for friends and colleagues in the group, and now for customers worldwide.

Inspired by the family's baking tradition, he founded the Soul Snacks Cookie Company in 1996 with flavors such as Down Home Double Chocolate and Grampy's Chocolate Peanut Butter. "Cooking - like music - is math, science, and a passion," Roll told news of his core business. "Everything has to match."

The recipe for success is not easy. Although the ingredients have been passed down from generation to generation since his grandmother started baking cookies in the early 20th century, the musician has put a lot of effort into making the snack a national brand.

But now, 26 years later, Rolle cookies are available for the first time in hundreds of Walmart stores across the country. "We've been selling cakes for a while, but this is on another level," Roll said. "Excellent. This is real."

The Bronx-born drummer first discovered his love of high school music by working with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Stevie Wonder, and other legends. However, Roll said he always had a second dream on his mind: baking cookies. Grandma Roll started teaching her and her cousins ​​how to bake when they were so young that they still had to perch on the phone book to get to the table and wait for the first gooey taste. "We just licked the bowl, so you don't have to rewash it," he laughs.

Roll only got serious about baking after his mother's death in 1983, continuing the job he left behind. "I did what I did, mostly out of respect for him," he said.

The drummer started baking cookies so often that Rolle's teammates expected him to bring rehearsal cakes, just as they expected him to get his drums.

"Everyone knows I'm the dumbest person in the band. "I always was," he says, remembering open-mic dinners in the 1990s when he started selling side dishes to make extra money. "I printed the labels on paper, pasted them on." in a brown paper bag with school glue, and closed the bag," he said.

The homemade package contained six $5 cakes and soon became popular, with fans tasting them after the show.