40 Year of Smiles: Celebrating the Smiley Cookie’s Sweet History

This year, our iconic Smiley Cookie is celebrating 40 years of smiles! That’s four decades of memories and sweet moments shared in our Eat’n Park restaurants and across the country!  

Smiley Cookies are more than a treat. They are a symbol of kindness, tradition, and hometown hospitality that has brought generations together at Eat’n Park restaurants in Pittsburgh since 1986. However, the story of the Smiley Cookie began well before that in Titusville, Pa. 

Jim Broadhurst, the former chairman of Eat’n Park, grew up in this oil town northeast of Pittsburgh, and each day on his way to and from school, he would pass Warner’s Bakery, a small local pastry shop. Every day, Jim would stop at Warner’s to purchase a cookie – one hand-iced with a happy, smiling face – for five cents.  

Those happy memories of his favorite childhood cookie stuck with Jim. When he joined Eat’n Park and oversaw the opening of its first bakery, he wanted to recreate the magic he remembered from his own childhood. With the blessing of Ellsworth Warner, the original owner of Warner’s Bakery, Eat’n Park began baking Smiley Cookies to give to every child for free after their meal.  

It wasn’t long before guests of all ages wanted a Smiley Cookie for themselves, and soon enough, they were no longer a treat reserved just for kids. Eat’n Park fans of all ages began enjoying them by the dozen, and what started as a simple smiling cookie eventually became Eat’n Park’s icon and mascot, spreading joy and giving the restaurants their nickname, “The Place for Smiles.”  

Today, Smiley Cookies come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. SmileyCookie.com launched in 2006 to send Smiles to all 50 states. Our team and hand-ices every Smiley Cookie they bake, from original Smiley Cookies to spring flowers, Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns, and winter snowmen. All cookies from SmileyCookie.com are tree nut and peanut free, individually wrapped, and certified kosher, making them perfect for sharing a smile! 

From their small-town beginnings forty years ago to spreading smiles nationwide, the Smiley Cookie legacy is a reminder that the simplest gestures can leave the sweetest lasting impression!