A ‘modern bakery experience’ is coming to Chicago’s North Shore in the form of Sugarcoated, a new CO-OP bakery concept from co-owners Hillary Rikower and Allison Schachter. The two have over 25 years of combined industry experience and will bring their respective businesses, Sugar Hill by Hillary and Cookie Face, together under one roof.
Rikower, a Pastry Chef, has worked in Chicago fine dining establishments like Custom House, MAS, and The Gage for 18 years. She founded Sugar Hill by Hillary in 2018; the company specializes in made-to-order cakes and cookies, as well as catering trays and sweet tables. Through Sugar Hill, Rikower offers pastry consulting services to new restaurants.
Schachter has worked as a teacher and an educational consultant. In 2017, she merged her formal training with her love of baking to create Cooks and Books, a culinary-themed enrichment class designed for preschool children. Cookie Face is a home-based bakery focused on decorated cookies; Schachter offers decorating kits as well as private decorating workshops and parties.
Rikower and Schachter were introduced by a mutual friend three years ago. “We realized our growth potential would always be limited if we worked independently,” Rikower and Schachter shared in an interview with What Now Chicago. “We were both extremely busy and needed a commercial kitchen that could help us accomodate more orders. We realized joining forces, collaborating and sharing the expense would enable us to grow our businesses. It was then that we decided to expand into a retail shop.”
The pair set about searching for the perfect storefront on the North Shore and found it at 479 Central Avenue in Highland Park. “We have always had so much support from our local community here and are excited to be able to bring a fun and different upscale bakery concept to the North Shore,” the owners added.
Daily menu items will rotate at Sugarcoated, and the bakery will offer custom decorated sugar cookies, custom cakes and cookie cakes, edible cookie dough, and cake jars. Sugarcoated will also host decorating workshops, children’s enrichment classes and birthday parties, and private events for adults.
Look for Sugarcoated to open by mid-January. Find the bakery online for updates.
