HYATT BRANDENBURG DELIVERS COOKIES AND CONFIDENCE.
Like most innovators, Hyatt Brandenburg takes business seriously. Unlike most entrepreneurs, though, the 14-year-old has to balance it with schoolwork.
Buckhead-based Brandenburg is a serial entrepreneur. He previously founded a driveway convenience store called Hyatt’s Express. He also launched Buckhead Balloons, a delivery service born from his observation that Party City’s closure would leave Buckhead residents without a place to buy party balloons.
His latest company is Chastain Cookie Bros, a purveyor of cookie cakes. The company started in 2022 after Brandenburg and his brother, 10 and 6 years old at the time, discussed potential business ideas out of boredom. They launched that year. Brandenburg switched schools in 2024 and paused his company to focus on his education; he ramped it back up again in summer 2025 as a solo venture.
Chastain Cookie Bros offers made-to-order 9-inch cookie cakes that customers can personalize with decorations and colored frostings. A half-and-half cookie is made from half chocolate chip batter and half M&M batter. “Depending on your crowd and taste preferences, there’s something for everyone,” Brandenburg says. He also offers balloons as an add-on, a nod to his previous business.
Brandenburg, who attends The Westminster Schools, made it his business to know the ins and outs of cookie-making and went into it with an entrepreneur’s lens. “The margins are pretty good, and it’s more unique than a typical cookie you’d find anywhere. We bring a little more attention to our product than a grocery store,” he says.
The middle schooler has his business flow down. On specific days, he makes batter for the week and freezes it. When an order comes in, he defrosts the dough, bakes it and decorates it according to his customer’s directions.
His parents, who are both business owners, occasionally step in to help, such as driving him to delivery drop-offs. But for the most part, Brandenburg manages Chastain Cookie Bros himself. “I do the logistical stuff, such as ordering a custom banner for the farmers market,” he says. “It’s mainly me.”
He’s been a fixture at the DHA Farmers Market at Dunwoody’s Brook Run Park and has been learning to navigate the demands of such events. “I’d love to do it bi-weekly, but I also have school,” he says. Event weeks mean making batter and freezing it several nights after school, then trying to bake it all the night before the market. “It can take a toll on my physical and mental health,” he says.
Brandenburg says he enjoys the potential growth and exposure that local markets offer. He plans to get a retail food job at Publix or Chick-fil-A this summer to better understand the food retail industry and further his entrepreneurial education.
Brandenburg is hyper-aware of how much entrepreneurship fuels him. “I love the thrill of achieving a goal,” he says. “Making money is good, but I like setting a goal and seeing it take off.” He’s only a teen, but he already understands that entrepreneurship is the correct path for him. “I don’t really see myself working for anyone else in my career.”
chastaincookiebros.com
@chastain_cookie_bros
PHOTO: Erik Meadows
