OUR STORY

I'm the little boy in the photograph with my beautiful mother, sister, great grandmother and father. When my younger sister and I began to get older my parents realized that in order to give us a chance at college, they would need to earn more money than just my dad's job, but had no idea how to do it. My mother Vickie, who has always been known for her excellent cooking and baking was approached by a family friend to share his booth at the 2005 Festival Italiano at Bel Mar. My mother accepted his invitation and Grammy's Goodies was born and has been expanding and evolving ever since.

My mother's grandmother, Lucille Acierno, who my mother called "Grammy" is our namesake, she is on the right in the photo. Remembering that first day of business, selling only a small quantity of traditional Italian Christmas cookies made by my mother and her grandmother, my nana, one at a time all day long for a week brings back many fond memories. After working all week my mother sold out of cookies in about half of the first day of the festival, the people loved the traditional hand made cookies of yesteryear that only a handful of people still know how to make. That night my mother went home and made cookies all night long, didn't sleep one minute, in order to have something to give the people the next day. She sold out by two o' clock in the afternoon, the people were crazy about her cookies!!! The following year at the Arvada Harvest Festival my family was going to be prepared and not run out of cookies, so we made as many as we could, as well as my mothers homemade softball-sized meatballs on a stick. The cookies were not as hot of an item as they were at the Italian Festival, in fact nobody knew what they were and didn't want them. They didn't grow up with them as a child like the Italian people, and called my mother's hard work "gross" and said they weren't any good. My mother kept her head high though and made American cookies to bring the next day.

My mother likes big and lots, my dad is six and a half feet tall and can’t finish a dish of food my mother puts in front of him, so naturally she made the cookies HUGE. My father, Jeff, had an idea too. He thought to make a family recipe for pizza dough and bring it the next day. He got up at two o' clock in the morning and went to the bakery and made dough all night long to bring to the festival, and then rolled it all day long in the sun because he knew his family needed him. He cooked them in an old peerless oven he borrowed from his friend that weighs 1,000 pounds that he carried off of the truck on a dolly by himself. He made the pizzas giant and the people went crazy! We sold out of pizza and giant cookies in a few hours.

Ever since that day it has been my family's job to make and sell my parents giant food to people all over the state of Colorado. We now do 50 events a year all over the state from May through October and cater private events. We can do up to three events at one time now that my sister and I are old enough and have four pizza ovens from the 1920's that my dad still puts on the dolly and carries all by himself. We are still a small and humble family business though. My dad still gets up every morning to make the dough at two o' clock and my mother still makes every single cookie by hand. My sister and I help too, I make the pizza and she works the counter at all events. My sister and I are now both graduates of Colorado State University, and this was only made possible by my mother and father's idea of Grammy's Goodies. I am forever grateful for their hard work and determination, for my family wouldn't be the same without it.

- written by a young George Corder

Fast forward to 2015 when we opened our bakery/restaurant in Wheat Ridge, where you can order pizza, savory sandwiches, salads, and some sweet treats for dessert! We attend over 50 events a year all throughout the state from May through October. During the holiday season we make custom pies for order for your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. We also cater private events and would love to help you make your holiday party, wedding reception, retirement party, baptism, or any special event you have unique and delicious!