DETROIT – There’s a new bakery open for business in Detroit’s North Rosedale Park neighborhood.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan helped cut the ribbon Friday morning on Good Cookies. There were eight years of hard work put into making the bakery a reality. Good Cookies received a Motor City Match grant.
“Ultimately it’s been a journey starting in 2013, when I started the actual business,” owner Jeffrey Gisstennar said.
Gisstennar went from baking cookies in his home in the University District, to opening his own brick-and-mortar bakery near his childhood home.
“I woke up this morning and looked at my wife and said, ‘Wow. I guess it’s time, huh?’ She’s like, ‘It’s time,’” Gisstennar said.
Gisstennar, a baker and entrepreneur, was a Motor City Match awardee in 2018. He earned $45,000, which he used to remodel the 1,400 square foot cafe.
“It’s great for Detroiters to know that you can start a business here. But it’s also great for neighbors to know they don’t have to shop in Royal Oak,” Duggan said.
Gisstennar’s good friend and employee, Bridgette Goode, left retirement after years as a Detroit Fire Department dispatcher to work at Good Cookies.
“I promised him when he started. I said, ‘When you need me I’m coming back to work for you.’ So here I am,” Goode said.
Gisstennar has four employees and plans to hire several more Detroiters in the coming years.
“It’s crazy. I came in here and started baking shortbread cookies and then family,” Gisstennar said. “They’re like, ‘Why are you baking?’ You need to enjoy this moment.”
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