This Alabama Maker wants G Mommas cookies to taste like a million
G Mommas cookies have emerged as a popular brand and the Selma Good company hopes it keeps growing. (Michael Tomberlin/Alabama NewsCenter)
The maker: Robert Armstrong
G Mommas (Selma Good), Selma
When Robert Armstrong was a teenager, he jokingly told his grandmother he would one day make a million dollars selling her cookies to the masses.
After earning a business degree from the University of Alabama, Armstrong tried his hand at business. He returned home to Selma in 2009 and started making cookies in a former restaurant he refurbished.
Named for his grandmother they called “Gammy Momma” and her family-favorite recipes, Armstrong learned to make the cookies like she did and soon found it difficult to keep up with the demand and decided to end the original run of G Mommas cookies in 2011.
G Mommas cookies make Selma and grandma proud as an Alabama Maker from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
He then started a few of other businesses with various degrees of success and in 2013 he decided to try his hand at the cookie business again.
Armstrong found a commercial baker in Pennsylvania that could produce cookies at the quality he wanted and a packaging plant in Indiana that could get the cookies ready for stores. Once again, G Mommas cookies were publicly available.
Through his company Selma Good, Armstrong wants to grow a successful business in his hometown and, as he says, be part of the solution in a city that has long been defined by its problems.
He has already brought some production and distribution of G Mommas to Selma and would like to see other elements of the business grow in Alabama. Selma Good is also adding other divisions and operations to the mix to diversify what it is able to do.
G Mommas are available in 5.5-ounce packages in all Cracker Barrel stores, in 88 regional Walmart stores and can be found in stores throughout Alabama such as some Piggly Wiggly and Western Supermarket locations. The product has some distribution in the Northeast and the Northwest, but the greatest saturation is in the Southeast.
Armstrong said there are talks with other grocers and in August the company plans to launch a smaller, 1.75-ounce bag for convenience stores and checkout aisles of grocery stores.
The long-range plan calls for adding new recipes and adding to its distribution, but Armstrong said he wants to keep the focus on quality first.
“The most satisfying thing is seeing other people enjoy our cookies,” he said. “That will always be the most important factor of G Mommas.”
He hasn’t made a million dollars, but that doesn’t mean he can’t feel like a millionaire sometimes.
The Product: G Mommas chocolate chip with pecans and “buddascotch” oatmeal.
Take Home: A 5.5-ounce package of each, available throughout the Southeast.
Selma Good/G Mommas P.O. Box 101, Selma, AL 36702
