Brown Sugar Bakery opens new manufacturing facility, eyes nationwide expansion

Brown Sugar Bakery owner Stephanie Hart slowly pulled apart a chocolate-coated candy to reveal a gooey center dripping with caramel — a treat that will soon be available nationwide.

“See, this is what I love about our turtles,” Hart said. “They stretch like cheese.”

“Damn, that turtle is good,” she said after tasting the confection.

Hart was celebrating the opening Thursday of her bakery’s 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Ashburn with a ribbon-cutting. She was joined by politicians, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Deputy Mayor of Business Kenya Merritt.

Brown Sugar Bakery has been a mainstay on Chicago’s South Side and has operated at other locations, including at Navy Pier, that have closed. Its current storefront selling cakes, chocolates and candies is based in Greater Grand Crossing, at 328 E. 75th St.

But now Hart will be able to sell her products nationwide with the new manufacturing facility, formerly the home of Cupid Candies’ factory, near 76th Street and Western Avenue. The new plant will likely employ 50 people by the end of the year, she said.

In recent years, Hart has taken Cupid Candies under her sweets-based empire and now is partnering with Chicago-based Angelica’s Bakery to bring her cakes to grocery stores this holiday season, she said.

Pritzker praised Hart Thursday, calling her “a hero to many” and an inspiration to minority female entrepreneurs.

“With today’s ribbon-cutting, the Brown Sugar Factory — the pride of Chicago — will go national. That’s a big deal for us,” Pritzker said.

He said he hopes the new facility, by expanding partnerships and offering nationwide shipping, will make the company a national staple.

“I often say it’s a 21-year overnight success,” he said. “Because once people recognize it, they see it for what it is, which is something great. But those things don’t happen overnight. They really do take time.”

The state awarded Hart two grants to help get the factory off the ground. In 2020, she received $500,000 from the Minority-Owned Business Capital and Infrastructure program and $10,000 from the Back to Business grant program in 2022.

Hart knew the company needed to expand soon after Vice President Kamala Harris dropped in for a slice of German chocolate cake in 2021 to spotlight Black female-owned businesses.

“We were moving through the floors,” Hart said. “We couldn’t put in one more piece of equipment.”

Decked out in a red T-shirt with her bakery’s name and “Life is sweet” in glittery sprawl, Hart didn’t mince words about the bumpy road she’s faced over the last two decades.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

In 2022, a car smashed into the bakery, causing $20,000 in damages. The incident was a turning point and led Hart to “handle her life differently,” she said. After the news broke, Hart was contacted by businesses that wanted to sell her candies in airports, which led to new opportunities for the bakery.

“It’s been hellacious,” she said. “Now when I speak, I’m more honest about being an entrepreneur. Pre-pandemic, everybody was like, ‘Oh, entrepreneurship — yay! Everybody is gonna be an entrepreneur!’ And I’m sort of like, if you don’t have a little bit of a part of you that can really take a lot of pain, you might want to suck it up.”

In addition to the facility and partnership with Angelica’s Bakery, Hart plans to add a new menu item. She’s launching her first vegan cake, a poundcake that came to fruition with Gabrielle Darvassy, owner of Hyde Park’s vegan restaurant B’Gabs Goodies. It will be made in-house and shipped nationwide.

And with the manufacturing facility open, Hart is now preparing for the busiest time of year.

“I had to push through because it’s almost Christmas,” she said. “It’s candy time.”

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times