you know we're not just any other baking or cooking school
it's this whole interactive experience [Music] I'm
Kristin "Baker Bettie" Hoffman and I am the owner and head chef instructor here at Bettie's Chicago
Bettie's Chicago is a brand new 1950s themed event space and baking school in the River North
neighborhood of downtown Chicago we host weekly date night events baking classes and private
parties so we've been doing a lot of corporate events birthday parties baby showers anything you
might want to celebrate we can host you for the path to opening Bettie's Chicago has been a really
winding one I started this business 11 years ago really as a hobby it started out as a food blog I
started bakerbettie.com in November of 2011 and I was really just looking for a reason to be baking
I loved to bake I had started a cookie company a few years before that kind of took off faster
than I knew what to do with and quickly realized that I did not want to be a production baker so
I started Baker Bettie as a hobby as a blog and I was really shy at the time I don't think that
I wanted people to know my true identity and I've always had an affinity for the 1950s aesthetic so
I came up with this alter ego of Baker Bettie to be sort of my online persona and it took off a lot
faster than I ever thought it would I didn't think anybody would ever read what I wrote but people
did start reading it and it quickly turned into my business and over the years I started doing
all of the things that all content creators do I started a YouTube channel started creating a lot
of content on social media we're really active on Instagram and Tick Tock and Facebook and all
the places that creators post their content but a few years ago I decided I really wanted to start
teaching in person so we started renting out some spaces around the Chicago area for me to
host live in-person classes and I just loved it so much I loved getting in person with people and
being able to be hands-on with somebody and walk them through the process because there's only so
much you can teach somebody through written word and even while video tutorials are more helpful
than written word there's just nothing like being able to be right there with somebody and showing
them exactly what the technique is like but that all got shut down with covid hitting and
so for a few years we weren't doing any in-person classes we were still doing some virtual classes
but once things started opening up a little more I decided that I really wanted to start
looking for my own space to be able to teach out of so at the beginning of 2022 we started looking
around the city for a space that I could teach out of that we could host events out of but we
also needed a studio space we needed a place where we could be filming for YouTube and social media
because I don't want to be doing that in my house anymore we've been running this business from my
house for the last 11 years and it was definitely time to have some separation and put everything
that we do into one space and we looked at quite a few properties we looked at some that had been
restaurants previously we looked at some that were completely raw that would need to be built out but
then we found this space it actually used to be a coffee shop so we were lucky in that the initial
layout of the space was really perfect for what we wanted to do there was not a lot of construction
that needed to be done most everything we wanted to do was completely aesthetic which as a first
time brick and mortar owner I think that that was definitely the right choice for us it is a
stressful process even when you have great amazing people around you helping you so I'm really glad
that we decided to go that route our build out process ended up being very fast once construction
started we were open in about six weeks so pretty quickly when I got into this process I
knew that I should probably hire a designer I had a really clear vision but bringing that to life
is definitely not my forte and I knew they would have a much better experience and being able to
quickly stumbled upon Siren Betty design here in Chicago and we all worked really closely together
to bring this vision to life and I was so excited that they really understood what I meant when I
didn't want it to go to a cheesy place because I think when you ever you design something to look
like the 1950s it can go really cheesy and kind of fake looking and I didn't want to go there and
they totally got that I really wanted it to look more authentic and kind of lived in and I think
we absolutely accomplished that so I've kind of always had this dream that I wanted to own a 1950s
diner I grew up with parents who were huge vintage collect doctors and our whole house was decorated
in vintage decor and we had a 1950s jukebox and a 1950s Coke machine and I think growing up around
those things have just you know kind of instilled in me this affinity for the 1950s aesthetic I
have worked in enough restaurants to know that I definitely don't want to own a restaurant or run
a restaurant so I think this idea of building out Bettie's to look like a 1950s diner is sort of my
way of being able to have the best of both worlds so each week during the week we usually have some
date night classes they're a little more casual you can come and make gnocchi or pizza or whatever
it is we're making for the week with your partner or you can bring your best friend or you can even
come solo you don't have to bring a date and then on the weekends we're doing more kind of
intensive classes so we'll do pie making classes or cake making classes or we do a lot of bread
speaking classes and sourdough and it's this really fun experience you know we're not just
any other baking or cooking school it's this whole interactive experience so when you come into the
space we have a entry area that looks kind of like a mid-century living room we have a really cute
vintage bar set up we have a lounge area with the Vintage couches and then of course we had
to have a 1950s TV playing some black and white videos of me teaching baking and then when you
come into the main part of the space you'll be set up at the diner counter to bake or cook whatever
it is we're making in class that day and then we have the really cute diner booth set up so that
you can sit down and enjoy whatever it is we made in class and it's just this really fun interactive
experience we also decided that instead of having the YouTube filming studio be something that's
kind of closed to the public and only used by us we wanted it to be part of the experience
so we have it set up like a 1950s kitchen but we also decided to put a little photo booth set
up there with it and you can take some pictures with the cake or pie that you made or whatever it
is you made in class and you'll have a little memento to take home with you after you leave
so we were able to open the space up for our first class on August 20th 2022. it was so exciting to
finally welcome people and see their excitement about the space see them interact with everything
and to finally get to teach some baking classes in person again we have not been doing that for
a few years so it was so exciting to finally do that again and pretty much since the day
we opened our doors we have been so busy people are so excited to come here we are pretty much
100% word of mouth we have not had to spend any money on advertising people are really excited
about the place and sharing it on social media and we are so grateful for that so my hope for
Bettie's Chicago is that when you come here you feel really welcome you feel as though you're
having this really fun interactive experience that is super memorable for you and that you
learn a lot we really try to be super supportive in whatever it is that we're teaching while
you're here and that you leave here feeling really confident to make it at home so if you're in the
Chicago area or if you're visiting the Chicago area we would love to host you for a class and
event you can see all of our upcoming classes on bettieschicago.com or you can follow Bettie's
Chicago on Instagram on TikTok on Facebook and you will see updates about everything that's coming up