Not your ordinary cookie shops

The owners of three new Papillion businesses are offering sweet choices to consumers.

Family Favorite Cookies, Eileen’s Colossal Cookies and Chocolaterie Stam have opened recently in strip malls and at Shadow Lake Towne Center, in time for one of the most sugar-laden holidays of the year.

The story of Family Favorite Cookies, 1219 Applewood Drive near 72nd Street and Highway 370, began long before owner Joyce Johnson thought of opening a cookie shop. It began at her grandmother’s home, where Johnson knew she always could find a plentiful supply of cookies.

Two years ago, Johnson’s oldest daughter, Jamie Seawall, compiled a cookbook for family members called “Family Favorite Recipes.” Johnson decided to use those family cookie recipes, add a few new ones and open a store.

“We’re a small business and we have a story to tell,” Johnson said. “Our story is that we’re all about family.”

Johnson said she wanted a store ambiance that is cozy and homey, “the little corner shop that’s your favorite cookie shop.”

Along with using some family recipes, Johnson has named a few cookies, such as Dave’s Peanut Butter Cookie, for family members who love them.

Emily Tonniges owns Eileen’s Colossal Cookies at 8410 S. 73rd Plaza in Shops of Hickory Hills near 72nd Street and Giles Road.

The company started 26 years ago in Hastings, Neb., but a bake shop is a new venture for Tonniges, who worked in sports and sports marketing for 12 years.

“I thought it was a new adventure, something really exciting, something that always makes people happy,” she said.

She said the company is picky about approving franchisees. “(Eileen’s corporate) had to accept me as much as I had to accept them.”

Eileen’s Colossal Cookies now has stores in six states, including Nebraska, said founder Eileen Harman.

The chain’s decorated sugar cookies are a favorite of many customers, said Harman, who added that she was inspired to start the business after taking a cake decorating class.

Chocolaterie Stam’s start began nearly a century ago and an ocean away in the Netherlands.

Jacobus Stam, whose family had been in the pastry business since the 18th century, began specializing in chocolate in 1913. After World War II, four of his nine children split the business.

Ton Stam’s father was one of the children who divided the business. Ton moved to the United States about 20 years ago, and started a chocolate business 10 years later because “America could use some good chocolate,” he said.

Now, Stam has five stores. The chocolate used in the recipes comes from Belgium, which is known for its chocolate, and the candy is made in Des Moines.

“We have a flavor profile that is set in stone,” he said.

After living in Germany for five years, store owner Suzi Bonnett of Bellevue was familiar with good European chocolate. But she was skeptical when a friend in Des Moines told her European chocolate was available in the Iowa city.

Bonnett began asking for Stam chocolates for her birthday, for her anniversary and for Christmas.

Then she and husband Chad decided they wanted to bring the chocolate to the Omaha metro area.

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