Marc Schulman, President of Eli’s Cheesecake, was featured on the Afternoon Shift on WBEZ 91.5 Chicago yesterday, June 3rd. The Afternoon Shift is a live talk show featuring in-depth interviews and conversations with newsmakers, artists, writers and innovators. The talk show features a series of expert contributors from WBEZ and beyond in lively, thoughtful dialogue with newsmakers of the day. In addition to news, The Afternoon Shift delves deeply into arts and culture, media, technology, science, human behavior and the workplace. Music and social media also figure prominently. Marc was featured on their episode “What local business owners were doing a week ago” where he discussed the steps that are being taken to maintain and run Eli’s Cheesecake. Click here to listen to the full interview.

Eli’s Cheesecake was recently mentioned in Moment Magazine’s Talk of the Table column.  This month’s column discussed the history of cheesecake, starting from the dessert’s origins in ancient Greece.  Our president, Marc Schulman, was interviewed on Chicago’s unique variation of the traditional cheesecake, saying, “[Eli's Cheesecake is] almost like a soufflé, richer and creamier.”  Eli’s Cheesecake has defined the “Chicago-style” of cheesecake since the company’s founder, Eli Schulman, first began serving the delicious dessert at his restaurant, Eli’s The Place for Steak.  In addition to the creamier texture of the cheesecake, Eli’s also strays away from the traditional graham cracker crust, replacing it with a homemade shortbread cookie crust.  Read the full article here to learn more about the history of cheesecake.

This past Monday, CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy) held a fundraising benefit at Navy Pier.  Over 1,200 guests were in attendance to help fund continued research in the treatment of epilepsy.  Since CURE was founded in 1998, the organization has provided over $26 million to research and other special initiatives aimed at finding a cure for epilepsy.  Monday’s benefit raised an additional $2.2 million toward the organization’s efforts.  James Taylor performed at the event and Eli’s Cheesecake provided individual-portioned key lime cheesecake to everyone in attendance.  Check out photos from the event below.  To learn more about CURE or to make a donation to their cause, click here.

We were delighted to have Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle tour the Eli’s Cheescake Bakery last Friday. It was a great opportunity for President Preckwinkle to meet our People, taste our Products and learn what makes Eli’s so special. Pictured above with President Preckwinkle are Eli’s Jeff Anderson, Elias Kasongo, Jolene Worthington and Marc Schulman.

President Preckwinkle toured the Decorating Team at Eli’s Cheesecake and learned about all the skills of the artisans who decorate so many of Eli’s Cheesecake’s and Desserts.

President Preckwinkle met Eli’s Laurel Boger and learned about the Research & Development Process at Eli’s and sampled several of Eli’s Highest Quality Ingredients as well as Eli’s new Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake.

After the tour, President Preckwinkle met with a group of Eli’s Associates to express her thanks for having Eli’s Cheesecake’s jobs in Chicago and Cook County and to offer her assistance to Eli’s Cheesecake in hiring and in future growth.

Yesterday, Eli’s Cheesecake announced its new line of vegan cheesecakes at Mariano’s stores.  Eli’s company president, Marc Schulman, along with Roundy’s CEO, Bob Mariano, were at the Ravenswood store to announce the vegan cheesecake line to the press and local vegan bloggers.  Attendees sampled both varieties of vegan cheesecakes, the carrot cake vegan cheesecake and the Belgian chocolate vegan cheesecake.  Eli’s pastry chefs were also on hand to answer any questions visitors had on the new line.  Take a look at some photos from the press event below and visit your local Mariano’s store to pick up a vegan cheesecake for yourself!

Education was the topic of discussion at last night’s On The Table community meeting.  Our company president, Marc Schulman, emceed the event and helped start a great conversation on Chicago public education.  Everyone agreed that public schools throughout Chicago were in need of reform, but the solutions to the problems were much more complex.  Local parent, Cindy McMahon, talked about her son’s limited options in public schooling before discovering the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS).  CHSAS was able to provide Cindy’s son with a unique form of education centered around the study of agriculture.  Educators from CHSAS were also on hand to elaborate on the school’s curriculum and unique teaching methods, which help students to understand the role of agriculture in an urban environment.  Grace Rappe followed up with her views on public school’s utilization of property, noting that a school with resources and programs like CHSAS was rare in a city in which playgrounds were often placed on rooftops to save space.  State representative Robert Martwick continued the discussion by addressing the spending gap found between public high schools on the northwest side of Chicago versus those found on the south side of the city.  Overall, a wide range of ideas were shared and talks continued long after the formal On The Table dinner had concluded.  We would like to thank everyone who participated in the event.  Check out photos from the event below and please visit www.OnTheTable2014.com for more details on the event.

This past Tuesday, Eli’s Cheesecake attended the 29th Annual Future Farmers of America banquet and presented three scholarships to students of the Chicago High School of Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS).  This is the third year Eli’s Cheesecake has provided scholarships to students.  Two students, Tabitha Lundy and Koriana Kluss-Klekamp, received the Aaron Easter Scholarships to attend the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.  The scholarship was named in honor of University of Illinois President Robert Easter’s son, who passed away in 2012 after a snowboarding accident.  Both scholarship recipients received $2,500 toward their education at the university.  Eli’s own Jeff Anderson and Marc Schulman also presented the Eli M. Schulman & Bobby Hatoff Scholarship.  The scholarship is named on behalf of Eli’s Cheesecake founder, Eli M. Schulman, and his close friend, Robert Hatoff, the owner of Allen Brothers Meats.  The scholarship was awarded to Brittany Clay, who is the 2013-2014 President of the FFA’s CHSAS Chapter and who received $5,000 toward her education at Iowa State University.  Eli’s Cheesecake prides itself on making a difference in the community and is proud to partner with CHSAS to help grant opportunities to outstanding young leaders as they begin their college careers.  We look forward to awarding next year’s scholars.

This past Saturday, our own Elias Kasongo was the keynote speaker at RefugeeOne’s Annual Many Voices, One Vision Gala to help raise money for refugee support.  RefugeeOne is a resettlement agency that provides assistance to incoming refugees as they begin a new life in the U.S.  Elias told the audience of his journey, fleeing from his home country of Zaire to Zambia in 1990 before coming to the United States four years later.  He quickly found work at Eli’s Cheesecake as a member of the cleaning crew and moved through the ranks over 19 years to become a Senior Buyer.  The crowd was moved by his story and praised him with a standing ovation at the end of his speech.  The event included a spectacular dinner for guests and, of course, Eli’s Cheesecake provided dessert.  Check out some photos from the event below.  To learn more about Elias’ incredible journey, click here.