New store will launch artisan gelato cakes and pies

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Christie Cookies founder Christie Hauck said his company had wanted to open a Bravo Gelato location in the Brentwood market for several years but "the right spot or opportunity never presented itself." 

Then the former Maggie Moo's ice cream space in Maryland Farms became available recently, and a combination Bravo Gelato / Christie Cookies shop will open probably this week at Creekside Crossing near Publix.

"We didn't have to do a lot to adjust it to one of our stores, so the ease of entry was much better," Hauck said Thursday. "This particular shopping center is one that I shop in just about every day anyway, and I'm very familiar with it.

"This will be our first new store in several years, so we're thrilled, and we are offering kind of a fun menu of things that we've been developing over the years."

Store concept drawings for the new Bravo Gelato / Christie Cookies shop in Brentwood, with a tentative soft opening set for Dec. 7.

Not only will Christie Cookies be available for the first time in Brentwood in its 25 years, but the Bravo Gelato Italian-style ice cream -- which has won several awards -- will be made on site, Hauck said.

"Gelato is the original ice cream on planet earth, and it's terrific," Hauck said.

The location will also open at 7 a.m. Monday-Friday for breakfast business and will include muffins and scones along with coffee and other morning drinks. There will also be other baked goods such as brownies and dessert bars -- all baked on site as well.

"We'll have a line of artisan gelato cakes and pies that we developed for Whole Foods and we will launch those right there," Hauck said. "They've yet to go in Whole Foods. It'll be another few weeks, so we get to launch those in Brentwood and they're really good."

The Brentwood store will carry yet another of the Christie Cookies brand,s the Nashville Snowball Company, with New Orleans-style snow balls that came to another store this summer.

"They've been a huge hit," Hauck said. "Anybody from New Orleans will know what we're talking about."

The Bravo Gelato / Christie Cookies shop in Brentwood will be open at 10 a.m. on Saturday-Sunday and will be open until 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and close at 10 p.m. on Friday-Saturday.

Hauk, a former Vanderbilt football player, started Christie Cookies in 1985 and brought in an investor in the 1990s to help with growth. The company's success also led to a later split to diversify, with Hauck running the retail shops and the investor retaining the manufacturing and national mail order business.

Hauck's company is officially the Christie Retail Group and the manufacturing/mail order is the Christie Cookie Company, and the two maintain a good working relationship.

Bravo Gelato has locations stores in Green Hills, one in the mall and another storefront, plus its biggest store at Opryland Resort & Convention Center which primarily serves visitors to Nashville.

Hauck's company also runs Christie Cafes in the Downtown and Green Hills YMCAs, offering healthier fare such as smoothies, sandwiches and salads.

The Brentwood location will also offer orders for cookie cakes for any occasion, baked in whatever cookie flavor the customer wants and decorated however they want.

Hauck also notes since its Christmas time, customers will find "the full arsenal of Christmas gifts" such as Christmas tins of cookies and photographs on tins, along with other gifts. That holiday opportunity is one reason for scheduling the tentative soft opening of around Dec. 7.

Since Maggie Moo's previously occupied the location, the store is making use of a lot of the existing equipment including the display case and freezers. "It's interesting, it's all of the things we use in the gelato," Hauck said.

Hauck drives through Brentwood every night on the way home to his College Grove farm and often stops at the Creekside Crossing shopping center anchored by Publix.

"This particular center has all the things I need, and we love it," Hauck said. "It's one of the most complete centers in town."