It lends itself to a wonderful landscape for creativity. I love the diversity of our neighborhoods in Chicago, the lakefront, the architecture and our culture. Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least? What sets us apart is my entire staff’s dedication to making the ordinary extraordinary and our commitment to hospitality which is why I believe we have been open for 13 years in Bucktown and going strong. The freshness and quality are at the utmost of excellence.

I am most proud of all the breads and laminated doughs that we make. My bakery is a scratch bakery where everything is baked with love! We bake our own bread, make all of our desserts from scratch and have an extensive hot chocolate menu. So, as you know, we’re impressed with Mindy’s HotChocolate & Mindy’s HotChocolate Bakery – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.īasically, HotChocolate is a full-service restaurant that, at the heart, has a love for pastry. Working in the restaurant industry and owning your own small business is a labor of love and very difficult! You basically have to dedicate your life to your craft, nurturing your staff, evolving your style constantly and cultivating a core customer base while paying your bills, paying your staff and paying yourself. I have have been working on my craft ever since. I went to culinary school and found that I had a knack for pastry and focused on that for 15 years before I opened HotChocolate in 2005. I always had a passion for cooking, even when I was a little girl I wanted to own my own restaurant. Mindy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. Today we’d like to introduce you to Mindy Segal.

Mindy’s hot chocolate