After more than six years with the Boka Restaurant Group, pastry chef Meg Galus has joined forces with Kim Hack– the founder of Cocoa + Co., a coffee and chocolate café in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.
Cocoa + Co. celebrates chocolate in all its forms, featuring crafted beverages, freshly baked pastries, a rotating selection of bonbons and confections, and a selection of bean to bar chocolates from across the globe.
Meg was named a three-time finalist for the James Beard “Outstanding Pastry Chef” award, received Chicago Tribune’s “Pastry Chef of the Year” in 2016, and the Jean Banchet Pastry Chef of the Year in 2017. In addition to her six-year stint at BOKA, she has previously served as the pastry chef at Swift & Sons/Cold Storage, Somerset, and Momotaro (all for the Boka Restaurant Group); the Park Hyatt Chicago and NoMI; as well as Sofitel Chicago and TRU.
Kim opened Cocoa + Co. in 2015, as a long-dreamed-of “playground for chocolate lovers”. Her passion for all things chocolate shaped the brand, and her career in marketing and strategy, and previous entrepreneurial endeavors helped spearhead Cocoa + Co.. “I’m so thrilled Meg has joined me as a partner, and I’m looking forward to all the new ways we can delight and engage our customers–the delicious possibilities are endless. I can’t imagine a more exciting future for Cocoa + Co.!”
Meg and Kim describe their collaboration as “the planets aligning”. Kim had long been looking for a partner with both pastry and chocolate chops, and Meg had been thinking of opening her own chocolate-focused pastry business. When a mutual friend heard Meg describe her vision she made the introduction. “Cocoa + Co. represents the culmination of the best parts of my career, training, and passions rolled up into one place,” says Chef Meg. “Kim is incredibly knowledgeable about chocolate and has built the kind of café I want to go to as a chocolate lover. We each bring a slate of different talents and aptitudes to the partnership and will learn so much from each other while pushing the business to be bigger and better than it could be with just one of us.”
Together, Meg and Kim will be working on an array of new daily breakfast pastries and savory items as well as weekend “chef’s collection” pastry boxes; adding to the range of afternoon cakes, cookies and sweets as well as seasonal and holiday chocolates and confections.
Cocoa + Co. is located at 1651 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60614. They are open every day from 7:30 AM to 6 PM.
After more than six years with the Boka Restaurant Group, pastry chef Meg Galus has joined forces with Kim Hack– the founder of Cocoa + Co., a coffee and chocolate café in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.
Cocoa + Co. celebrates chocolate in all its forms, featuring crafted beverages, freshly baked pastries, a rotating selection of bonbons and confections, and a selection of bean to bar chocolates from across the globe.
Meg was named a three-time finalist for the James Beard “Outstanding Pastry Chef” award, received Chicago Tribune’s “Pastry Chef of the Year” in 2016, and the Jean Banchet Pastry Chef of the Year in 2017. In addition to her six-year stint at BOKA, she has previously served as the pastry chef at Swift & Sons/Cold Storage, Somerset, and Momotaro (all for the Boka Restaurant Group); the Park Hyatt Chicago and NoMI; as well as Sofitel Chicago and TRU.
Kim opened Cocoa + Co. in 2015, as a long-dreamed-of “playground for chocolate lovers”. Her passion for all things chocolate shaped the brand, and her career in marketing and strategy, and previous entrepreneurial endeavors helped spearhead Cocoa + Co.. “I’m so thrilled Meg has joined me as a partner, and I’m looking forward to all the new ways we can delight and engage our customers–the delicious possibilities are endless. I can’t imagine a more exciting future for Cocoa + Co.!”
Meg and Kim describe their collaboration as “the planets aligning”. Kim had long been looking for a partner with both pastry and chocolate chops, and Meg had been thinking of opening her own chocolate-focused pastry business. When a mutual friend heard Meg describe her vision she made the introduction. “Cocoa + Co. represents the culmination of the best parts of my career, training, and passions rolled up into one place,” says Chef Meg. “Kim is incredibly knowledgeable about chocolate and has built the kind of café I want to go to as a chocolate lover. We each bring a slate of different talents and aptitudes to the partnership and will learn so much from each other while pushing the business to be bigger and better than it could be with just one of us.”
Together, Meg and Kim will be working on an array of new daily breakfast pastries and savory items as well as weekend “chef’s collection” pastry boxes; adding to the range of afternoon cakes, cookies and sweets as well as seasonal and holiday chocolates and confections.
Cocoa + Co. is located at 1651 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60614. They are open every day from 7:30 AM to 6 PM.
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