Marc Schulman will be an honoree at the 40th annual Ed Kelly Sports Foundation’s Giant Awards Dinner on June 30th.  The Ed Kelly Sports Program has honored individuals who have made significant professional and personal contributions to their respective communities for the past forty years. The program has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Chicago area charities and helped more than a quarter of a million children and adults participate in Ed Kelly Sports Program events. Other honorees during the evening’s festivities will be the Chicago Blackhawks Coach Joel Quinneville, Illinois State Senator John Cullerton, and businessmen Dominic DiFrisco, Tom Fitzgibbon Sr., and Luis Toledo. Along with the honorees, Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey is to be honored with the Ray Meyer Coach Award.

The Eli’s Cheesecake Blog debuted the week of June 11th in 2004. It was a busy week as I (Marc Schulman) attended the graduation at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences on Friday evening with Catherine Bertini, winner of the World Food Prize and then Under Secretary General of the United Nations was our guest speaker, and then I delivered the Commencement Address on Saturday at Kendall College, the last graduation before the move to the Goose Island Campus.

Ten years later, I am delighted that we continue our support of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences and to have Dr. Robert Easter, the President of the University of Illinois as our Speaker. I met Dr. Easter when he was the Dean of the College of Agriculture, Consumer & Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Dr. Easter has been a great advocate for CHSAS and the Food Industry in Chicago and Illinois and we are so honored by his support of CHSAS.

President Easter greeted the Top 10 Graduates of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences and learned about the educational plans for the future

President Easter address the 186 graduates in the Class of 2014 at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. The students come up to receive their diplomas by Career Pathway: Agricultural Finance & Economics, Food Sciences Technology, Horticulture/Landscape Design, Agricultural Mechanic & Technology and Animal Science.

After the Graduation Ceremony, President Robert Easter and Eli’s Cheesecake Marc Schulman congratulated the recipients of the Aaron Easter Memorial Scholarship, given annually by Eli’s Cheesecake, in memory of the late son of Robert and Cheryl Easter, for outstanding students attending the College of ACES at UIUC. The recipients for 2014 are Tabitha Lundy, studying Food Science and Human Nutrition and Korianna Kluss-klekamp, studying Agribusiness: Markets and Management.

Eli’s Cheesecake Marc Schulman and University of Illinois President Robert Easter congratulate Brittany Clay, the recipient of the Eli M. Schulman & Robert Hatoff Memorial Scholarship, given by Eli’s Cheesecake in the name of Marc’s Father and the Founder of his namesake company and his best friend, Bobby Hatoff, the owner of Allen Brothers Meats. Brittany, the FFA Chapter President, will be attending Iowa State University.

President Easter is congratulated after the Graduation Ceremony by Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences Principal William Hook, Assistant Principal Lucille Shaw, Rouhy Shalabi, LSC Chair and Co-Chair of the CHSAS Business Advisory Board and Marc Schulman, President of Eli’s Cheesecake and also a  Co-Chair of the CHSAS Advisory Business Advisory Board.

President Robert Easter thanks Sheila Fowler, a University of Illinois Graduate, and Agricultural Department Chair for her Leadership and support for the Graduates.

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.