Mother-daughter team makes One Hot Cookie a Valley treasure
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YOUNGSTOWN — What once was a humble start-up for mother Bergen Giordani and daughter Morgen Chretien turned into a Mahoning Valley treasure known as One Hot Cookie.
Since the opening in 2013, the cookie shop has expanded from its downtown Youngstown location to Boardman and Wexford, Pa.
Giordani credits much of the business's success to their dogs, which are the official One Hot Cookie mascots.
"When we first opened, we were broke. We had no money. It was just Morgen and I, and we had this little pug named Fredo," Giordani said. "We started using his image in social media pictures, because that's what we'd always done."
Fredo, who has since died, was notorious for sitting outside One Hot Cookie and enticing guests to come in. Photographs of Fredo still cover the walls of One Hot Cookie, as do images of Giordani's other dogs, Kate and Remy.
The cookie shop's slogans, "Making memories one cookie at a time" and "Cookies worth sharing," stem from Giordani and Chretien's own memories together.
"When [Morgen] was growing up, I was a single mom, and one of the things we always did was we would go out for ice cream or dessert or something," Giordani said. "You can't always go out to eat, but you can always probably gather five or 10 bucks to get ice cream or do something to make it special."
According to Chretien, One Hot Cookie aims to be a fun place for people to make "desserting" an experience.
"When you come in to One Hot Cookie, there's three things that we really love: our dogs, food and the color pink. So when you step in to One Hot Cookie, you really experience that. One Hot Cookie has become us," Chretien said.
As the co-owners perfected their growing business, they also found ways to navigate a balance between a professional and a mother/daughter relationship. Chretien said her teen years helped shape her into the woman she is today. The 22-year-old obtained a degree in Medical Laboratory Science from Youngstown State University two years ago and now works part time at Mercy Health's St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital in addition to her full-time job at One Hot Cookie.
"At first, it was a lot of responsibility to put on someone so young. But now it's just become synonymous with me," Chretien said.
Over the years, One Hot Cookie has partnered with DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown Downtown to bake cookies for the hotel's guests, introduced new menu items such as gluten free and vegan options as well as its own line of dog cookies called "Cookie Dog."
This holiday season, One Hot Cookie is collaborating with Penguin City Brewing Co. to introduce a pink peppermint ale based on One Hot Cookie's seasonal Pink Peppermint Oreo holiday cookie.
Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki, co-owner of Penguin City Brewing Co., said the partnership between the two brands was a product of a blooming friendship with Giordani.
Lyras-Bernacki said she's followed One Hot Cookie's success since the store opened and credits the cookie shop with being an inspiration to opening her own business.
"Seeing her and her daughter hustling — I mean, it definitely gives you this drive like, 'Man, if they could do it, you know, I can do it.' So I was really glad to be able to do this with her," she said.
The pink ale's label will mimic an ugly Christmas sweater and have a 5.8 percent ABV.
"It's very refreshing and wintery. I think it's going to be great for Christmas time. I feel like it's something different. And I think for Youngstown, it's gonna be a perfect Youngstown Christmas beer," Lyras-Bernacki said.
The ale will make its debut Nov. 27 at a kick-off event at the B&O Station Banquet Hall from 4 to 10 p.m. Guests can try cookie and beer pairings, win prizes and participate in an ugly Christmas sweater contest.
Holiday cookie trays from One Hot Cookie and beverages from Penguin City Brewing Co. will be available for purchase.
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Mother-daughter team makes One Hot Cookie a Valley treasure."