Something very sweet is about to make its way to Chicago’s Park West Neighborhood.
XO Marshmallow is a popular new dessert company from Kat Connors and Lindzi Shanks. Founded in 2016, the two friends set out to reignite the nostalgia of sipping cocoa and roasting s’mores by the campfire by bringing marshmallows into the 21st century. While marshmallows have been a staple of American desserts for over a century, Kat and Lindzi have spent the past years transforming the squishy treat into fabulous, never-before-seen creations.
The shop specializes in selling boxes of custom marshmallows with wild new flavors. Some of the most popular marshmallow flavors include butterbeer, Funfetti, champagne, bourbon, Nutella, and lavender honey. From the start, the boxes have been available for direct shipping through their website, but Kat and Lindzi recently changed the marshmallow world for good when they launched their first ever marshmallow café.
Founded in 2017 oat 6977 North Sheridan Road, XO’s marshmallow café touts itself as the “World’s First Marshmallow Café,” and is also the home of XO’s “Wonderland”, the lab in which Kat and Lindzi test out their ambitious new creations. At the café, guests can order homemade s’mores made with XO’s signature ‘mallows and of course, gourmet hot chocolate, once again topped off with custom marshmallows of your choice.
While the café has become extremely successful since launching over five years ago, it appears that Kat and Lindzi will be taking their concept further downtown. Formerly located east of Rogers Park, the new marshmallow café will be opening up at 2730 North Clark Street. The new location will feature an impressive 1,780 square feet of space, and will function as XO’s newest flagship store. While the new location is only a few blocks away from Lincoln Park, the store’s original location will be closing for good on March 30, 2022. To celebrate the move, XO is currently selling their signature boxes for 15% off until March 15th, and those boxes are available for delivery through XO’s website. Thankfully, the new marshmallow café is expected to be announced for mid/late April 2022.
