While growing up, Adija Greer-Smith of Confectionately Yours by GGG (3536 W. Fond du Lac Ave., inside Sherman Phoenix) watched, listened and learned as her grandmother, Mildred, prepared baked treats for the family. “She was a phenomenal baker,” Greer-Smith reflects. “She was happy doing what she loved to do, and when you find something you love, you make other people happy, too.”
Mississippi roots on Greer-Smith’s grandmother’s side of the family influence her cakes, cobblers, pies, cookies and bars. Greer-Smith also develops her own recipes and combines recipes. Although she’s a lifelong baker, it wasn’t until the birth of her first son that she realized there was a demand for her homemade confections. She left her full-time job to be a stay-at-home mom, but she became restless.
“I was so bored staying home. I was enjoying my baby, but I didn’t have anything occupying my time. One day, I decided to start baking again,” she says. When the holidays came around, she gave homemade sweets as holiday gifts, and the response was overwhelming.
Greer-Smith started vending at local events, selling gourmet nut brittles and homemade turtles, the latter of which would become Marley Bites, a customer favorite. Her products were a hit, and soon she started doing custom orders and dessert trays for weddings. The demand kept growing, and Greer-Smith realized she had a viable business option.
A true challenge came when she received a request to make decorated cookies. Greer-Smith also has an artistic background: she did freelance makeup artistry, and Mildred also did oil painting. “I started doing some frosted cookies for someone who requested them. I was not impressed—but she was.” That experience took her business to another level.
Greer-Smith originally launched her bakery business under Greer’s Gourmet Goodies, but she rebranded as Confectionately Yours by GGG. Although she hadn’t planned on opening a brick-and mortar space, the stars aligned through an encounter with Sherman Phoenix co-developer JoAnne Sabir.
Greer-Smith went to high school with JoAnne’s husband, Maanaan. She was also a customer at the Juice Kitchen, the Sabirs’ business on 16th and North, but she wasn’t aware of the Sherman Phoenix development. She ran into Sabir at a Milwaukee Influencers’ meeting hosted by communications coach Denise Thomas, and Sabir and Greer-Smith talked at length that night about opening a Confectionately Yours by GGG space at Sherman Phoenix.
Greer-Smith was hesitant to make the leap to a retail space, but through Sabir’s encouragement and assistance securing small business loans and grants, Greer-Smith said yes, and her business has since grown exponentially. “There’s been an overwhelming amount of love and support from the community, and the business grew beyond my dreams,” she says.
Three days after the grand opening of Sherman Phoenix on Nov. 30, Greer-Smith appeared on the Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge”. She limits decorated cookies to custom orders, but she has since expanded with other items. “The Marley Bites are an item we offer every day. People always come looking for them, so we cannot run out!” she says. Also popular are layer cakes including caramel, red velvet, banana or coconut; peach cobbler; and the Phoenix cookies, which are chocolate chip cookies with pecans and secret ingredients.
Greer-Smith appears monthly on WITI/FOX6’s “Real Milwaukee,” and she leads cookie-decorating classes through the Milwaukee Public Library. Past generations have influenced her baking; today, her husband and two sons help at the bakery, along with her mother and a staff of students.
For more information, visit confectionatelyyoursggg.com.
