HUMBOLDT PARK – Window procuring on Division Road, it’s inconceivable to overlook the colourful mural and vibrant storefront asserting Reina’s Truffles.
A warehouse that sat empty for years at 2550 W. Division St. is now residence to Humboldt Park’s solely Latina-owned bakery and cake store.
“I mentioned to myself, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to supply every part,” mentioned Reina Marcelle, 53, who’s the founder and proprietor of Reina’s Truffles. “I would like this place to be for everybody.”
Marcelle has definitely remained true to her phrase. The bakery has solely been open for seven months however has shortly turn out to be the favourite amongst many Humboldt Park residents. Even Chicago vacationers hunt down the shop, she mentioned, studying about her elaborate creations and galvanizing story from her Fb web page, which has garnered over 1,700 followers.
Reina’s Truffles affords dessert lovers 30 types of cake flavors starting from banana pudding and chocolate coconut to the standard “bizcocho mojadito” Puerto Rican almond cake. Gluten and sugar-free variations are additionally obtainable for these with dietary restrictions.
Credit score: Claire Murphy
Marcelle moved again to the neighborhood the place she grew up in 2020 after elevating a household in North Carolina for 25 years. Native prospects turned accustomed to her signature truffles when she offered them from an ornamental road cart together with her face painted on it. The shop catapulted the recognition of the truffles she has been baking since she was a young person.
“It’s simply such an honor. Folks come from all around the world,” mentioned Marcelle. “I get up each morning and go, ‘I’m going to make truffles, I’m going to assist individuals at present. I do know that is my goal.”
Marcelle first began baking when she was 15 after her mom signed her up for a cake adorning class. Her love of truffles and fervour for supporting her Puerto Rican neighborhood compelled her to pursue baking full-time.
On the peak of the pandemic, she hit a breaking level.
“I used to be working retail on the time and I used to be simply uninterested in being a quantity. I used to be uninterested in not doing sufficient,” she mentioned. “I refused to remain in a job that made me really feel insufficient.”
Marcelle stop her cake adorning job on the Jewel with “$25 in my pocket and a coronary heart stuffed with desires,” she mentioned.
Throughout this time, she leaned on the help of neighborhood members and buddies to encourage her. One good friend gave her $50 to make use of as a primary funding in beginning her personal enterprise.
“[My friend] mentioned to me, ‘God needed to take you out of your consolation zone so you are able to do what you’re imagined to do,” Marcelle mentioned. “Little by little, I began saving cash.”
Marcelle took a job as a cashier at a neighborhood restaurant to help herself till she might save sufficient.
“I used to be afraid of debt, I used to be afraid to owe anybody cash, particularly the financial institution. So I mentioned what can I do to start out a enterprise with out being in debt. That’s the place the cart got here in.”
Convincing the restaurant proprietor to lend her a service provider cart, she shortly started to make use of it to promote
truffles in her off hours on the neighborhood’s park. She purchased an umbrella imported from India
to brighten the surface and employed a neighborhood artist to color her portrait and emblem on the entrance.
Marcelle offered her first cake out of the cart on Mom’s Day in 2021. From there, she mentioned, the remainder was historical past.
Marcelle quickly started promoting her treats virtually daily, along with main cake adorning courses to make more money. These pursuits didn’t come with out battle, although.
“There have been some days I’d exit for hours and never promote something,” she mentioned. “However I saved telling myself, in any scenario I confronted, I needed to determine it out. There was no excuse.”
She met José López, govt director and co-founder of the Puerto Rican Cultural Heart (PRCC) at Humboldt Park’s annual Fiesta Boricua. López manages numerous native companies within the neighborhood, together with the Mercado Del Pueblo, an incubator initiative working as a storefront for entrepreneurs.
He promised her he had already reserved an area on the mercado. “I would like you to be the following Roeser’s Bakery, however on Division,” he advised her. “I circled and mentioned to him, ‘I’ll,’” Marcelle mentioned.
Flash ahead and Reina’s Truffles is the only real cake bakery on Division from Western to California avenue. With the help of PRCC, Marcelle was in a position to ditch the cart and open her very personal retailer, virtually three years to the day she first started promoting truffles.
“After I reduce that ribbon [at the store opening], I bear in mind I checked out José, and I mentioned, ‘I did it,” Marcelle mentioned. “I used to dream about having a retailer right here, and I consider with all my coronary heart it was ready for me.”
Ald. Jessie Fuentes (twenty sixth) spoke on the grand opening, which introduced over 400 individuals to the shop. “Once we speak about opening companies [in Humboldt Park], we speak about supporting ladies such as you,” Fuentes mentioned in a recorded video of the occasion.
Reina’s Truffles celebrates the numerous faces of the neighborhood, with pictures of shoppers collaged all around the partitions and painted by hand drawings of Puerto Rican flags inside hearts.
As a self-run enterprise, Marcelle depends totally on volunteers for baking help. And not using a kitchen inside the shop, all orders are hand-prepared in a licensed kitchen close by.
Victoria Perez volunteers with Reina a number of instances every week, serving to to organize truffles and host adorning courses.
“I see every part she does for the neighborhood, with the courses she leads and the individuals she is aware of. It’s wonderful,” Perez mentioned. “She takes care of all of us.”
Perez’s granddaughter, Mylieniya Torres, additionally volunteers on the bakery. Studying from Marcelle has impressed her to start out baking at residence after faculty.
“[Mylieniya] loves her. She’s realized loads due to her. I inform my daughter, who’s a single mother, ‘Look, [Reina] did it, and so are you able to,” mentioned Perez.
Marcelle’s affect on the neighborhood matches her motivations.
“I do know I’m imagined to generate profits, everyone knows that. However [Reina’s Cakes] has nothing to do with the cash,” mentioned Marcelle. “[It’s about how I can help these people, how I can influence these people and make a difference in the community that means everything to me,” she said.
Marcelle said her next endeavor is writing a book about her journey and recipes. She believes sharing her story will inspire others to fight for their dreams and pursue their passions.
“It’s almost like magic. [People] are available, they arrive from throughout they usually need to hear what I’ve to say,” mentioned Marcelle. “I used to inform myself once I would battle, that in the future I’m going to inform my story. That’s what I’m doing now with each cake I bake.”
Cowl Photograph: Reina Marcelle stands exterior of her bakery, Reina’s Truffles. Credit score: Reina Marcelle/Fb
Claire Murphy is a grasp’s pupil within the investigative specialization at Northwestern College’s Medill Faculty of Journalism. She can be a contract journalist and a graduate of Santa Clara College, the place she labored at The Santa Clara as an editor on the information group. Murphy beforehand served as an editorial guide at Santé International.
IL Latino Information companions with Medill Faculty of Journalism in offering college students mentoring and actual work experiences.
