The Business of Food with Steve Alexander

Among the winners of the 2023 Chicago Marathon are the charities for whom thousands of runners run to raise money. In 2022, about 12,000 runners raised more than 27 million dollars for 180 Chicagoland charities, including Nourishing Hope, which we knew for decades as the Lakeview Pantry before it changed its name to better reflect the expanded range of help it offers beyond food. In the audio clip below, Nourishing Hope CEO Kellie O’Connell and columnist Heidi Stevens join WGN’s Steve Alexander to talk about the effort. Stevens, formerly a Chicago Tribune columnist and now syndicated nationwide, says she had nearly convinced herself that she couldn’t run a marathon because of heart issues. But her cardiologist gave her the all-clear, and her goal is to cross the finish line. Heidi says if she can do it faster than Al Gore’s 1997 time of 4 hours, 58 minutes, she’ll be delighted.

It’s been a big summer for events that poured millions of dollars into the Chicago economy: The NASCAR Street Race; Taylor Swift’s concerts, Beyonce’s concerts, and on October 9th, the Chicago Marathon. The expected 1.7 million spectators along the marathon route will pour oodles of cash into restaurants and other businesses. Daniel Briceno’s three restaurants along the race route include two Fons Empanadas concepts (in Lincoln Park and The Loop) and Fons Plant-Based Café, a concept he opened in collaboration with father and son team Eduardo and Gabriel Fleury  of Deep Purpl  in the West Loop. In the audio clip below, he tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that all three locations saw an increase of sales of at least 150% during 2022 marathon weekend, not only spectators but pre- and post-race runners. He also tells about how the sponsor of the marathon, Bank of America, is a partner in expansion plans to nearby states.

When plant scientist Mohammad Babadoost took a job at the University of Illinois in 1999, he was asked to travel the short distance to the country’s richest pumpkin-growing farms. There was a problem. Pumpkins, the canning type used for pumpkin pies, were dying on the vine. Farmers needed help. When Professor Babadoost arrived and surveyed the damage, he joked that they really should have called the FBI because it looked like terrorists had wiped out the field. In the audio clip below, Professor Babadoost tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that he and his team worked day and night until they came up with the cause of the devastation: a pathogen called Phytophthora, which has a dark place in history. It’s the same pathogen that caused the potato famine in Ireland which starved a million people to death and caused millions more to leave the country. Not only did Babadoost’s diagnosis and treatment work, acreage and production more than doubled, and Illinois retained its spot as the number one pumpkin-producing state in the country.

Until October 31st, high school students in Illinois can enter the “Create-a-Crunch” essay contest for the chance to win, and design, a cereal box with their school’s name and mascot on it. The Illinois Manufacturers Association and Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation, a private label food manufacturer in Illinois and Missouri that started celebrity cereals more than 20 years ago with Flutie Flakes, are sponsoring the contest. In the audio clip below, Gilster-Mary Lee CEO Tom Welge tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that the winner will work with cereal designers at Gilster-Mary Lee to create their cereal and box design. Gilster-Mary Lee will deliver 2,500 boxes of cereal, which the school can sell or distribute as it wishes. This is the second year for the contest. Last year’s winner was a student at Red Bud High School in southern Illinois. Welge says this year’s essay topic is A.I., and its potential in manufacturing, as well as what concerns A.I. brings with it. To enter, send the essay to [email protected].

It’s harvest time and combines are beginning to roll across the Midwest, which got WGN’s Steve Alexander wondering how the all important candy corn crop turned out for 2023. In the audio clip below, Chad Womack, marketing director for seasonal confections at Ferrara Candy Company, says candy corn season begins in August and this year’s was a bumper crop — over 30 million pounds — with not only the traditional yellow, orange and white kernels, but several new ones: the Fall Festival varieties. Womack says Ferrara’s new Innovation Lab at the Old Post Office in downtown Chicago is where developers decided to create flavors reminiscent of the activities and events we engage in this time of year. Then, “Willie Wonkas” (what they call their in-house food scientists) at the Lab whipped up the colors and flavors: Kettle Corn, Caramel Apple, Cotton Candy, Lemonade Shake-Up, Strawberry Funnel Cake, and Lemon-Lime Snowcone.

If you’re really into candy corn, there’s a club for superfans: www.brachscandycornclub.com

He adds that because Ferrara buys so much sugar, and locks in prices months in advance of delivery, it’s unlikely the recent global spikes in sugar prices will impact this year’s candy corn prices.

John and Lisa Skopick didn’t have “pizza parlor owners” on their vision board. But here they are, three years into ownership of Pizza Pete’s, a popular pie place in the southern Chicago burbs which they bought in 2020 to help their daughter, Danielle. In the audio clip below, John and Lisa tell how their daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at age two and was given less than a five percent chance of having a meaningful life. So, after she defied the odds and graduated high school, Mom and Dad made a plan. To help her find that meaningful life, and help her find her way in the work world, they bought the iconic Pizza Pete’s in Orland Park in 2020, then added a location in Frankfort. That’s where Danielle takes phone orders and is the person out front every day. Each Tuesday, the Frankfort store has “Pizza With a Purpose Day” where they partner with a local charity, to whom the Skopicks donate a large portion of the day’s take. The Orland Park store does Pizza With a Purpose on Wednesdays and on 10/3, Scout Troop 385 from Tinley Park will be the partner. In Frankfort, the partner on 9/26 and 10/3 is Best Buddies; on 10/10, the Tinley Park Co-Ed Scout troop; on 10/17, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation in Tinley Park; and 10/31, Maddog Strong.

(Thank you to Erin McElroy and Audrey Haynes at WGN-TV for sharing this story.)

As the stories go, what started as a way for the football team to get into shape each fall turned into one of the most unique high school mascots in the country. The Hoopeston Corn Jerkers of Central Illinois will again take the field each weekend this fall. Their training program has been modernized and no longer includes picking, or “jerking” corn off stalks. Plenty more has changed in the town two hours south of Chicago, too, and not all for the better. Hoopeston, which calls itself the “Sweet Corn Capital of the World,” shares a familiar fate seen across the country: Farm towns, once thriving with industry and commerce, are left with fewer shopping choices as industry and residents move away. Mary Lawley was born and raised in Hoopeston, but moved away for school and work. She didn’t forget her hometown, though. Mary is now a vice president with Tractor Supply Company, and in the audio clip below, she tells WGN’s Steve Alexander that part of the company’s big expansion plan to bring jobs and shopping back to farm towns includes a new store in Hoopeston. It opened in July of 2023.

Mr. Beef and other Chicago Italian Beef stands got a big boost from the FX/Hulu streaming series “The Bear.” And so did other restaurants, such as Pequod’s Pizza, Margie’s Candies, Publican, Avec, Lao Peng You, and, most notably in Season Two Episode Seven, the Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant Ever. Briefly, one of the rag-tag characters trying to convert a beef stand into a fine dining restaurant is sent to Ever to be an intern, or stage, for a week. It could be argued that the star of the episode is the restaurant and its staff, many of whom were included in the filming, at least one of them getting a few lines. And all of the food shown on the episode was created and plated by Ever Chef Curtis Duffy. Duffy and his partner, Michael Muser, opened Ever three years ago in Chicago’s Fulton Market, and in the audio clip below, Muser talks with WGN’s Steve Alexander about the experience of shutting down Ever for a week for filming, and how what’s seen on screen compares with reality. Muser also shares how you can get a taste of Chef Duffy’s food without having to pay for the full Ever experience.

If some is good, more is better, seems to be the concept of Black Restaurant Weeks, which runs Sunday, 9/10 through Sunday, 9/24. It’s put on by Black Restaurant Week, an organization that builds awareness and aims to create financial growth/sustainability for black-owned culinary businesses in Chicago and nationwide. In the audio clip below, WGN’s Steve Alexander shines a light on two Chicago restaurants: Bell Heirs BBQ at 47th and Union, featuring some unusual BBQ experiences such as Brisket Pizza; Taylor’s Tacos, a Mexican-soul fusion street taco stand located appropriately on Taylor Street after a drunk driver wiped out its first location.

In the audio clip below, gardening guru Jim Fizzell, aka “Mr. Fizz,” tells WGN’s Steve Alexander about his plans to travel to Gays Mills, Wisconsin, for apple picking. That’s in the heart of the Kickapoo Valley, which happens to be where Orion “Big O” Samuelson was born and spent his boyhood. Jim says there are dozens of orchards on the rolling hills of southwest Wisconsin, but there are plenty of places much closer to Chicago where you can take the kids and pick some apples. Many orchards have other attractions, such as hay rides, corn mazes, petting zoos, food, etc., and some offer early pumpkin picking. The list below includes websites for each spot, which provide essential details like hours and directions. Some require reservations. If we missed any in the area, please note it in the “Suggest a Correction” box at the bottom of the page.

ILLINOIS

All Seasons Orchard, Woodstock, IL   https://allseasonsorchard.com/

Apples On Oak, Lockport, IL  https://applesonoak.com/

Edwards Apple Orchard, Poplar Grove, IL https://edwardsorchard.farm/

Garden Patch Farms, Homer Glen, IL   https://www.facebook.com/GardenPatchFarm/

Heinz Orchard, Libertyville, IL    https://heinzorchard.com/

Homestead Orchard, Woodstock, IL  http://homesteadorchard.net/

Honey Hill Orchard, Waterman, IL https://honeyhillorchard.com/

Jonamac Orchard, Malta, IL    https://jonamacorchard.com/

Kuipers Family Farm, Maple Park, IL   upickfun.com

Prairie Sky Orchard, Union, IL  (815) 923-4834

Royal Oak Farm Orchard, Harvard, IL   http://www.royaloak.farm/

Stade’s Farm & Market, McHenry, IL  https://stadesfarmandmarket.com/

SunBerry Orchard, Woodstock, IL    https://sunberryorchardfarm.com/

Valley Orchard, Cherry Valley, IL   https://thevalleyorchard.com/

NW INDIANA

County Line Orchard, Hobart, IN    https://www.countylineorchard.com/

SW MICHIGAN

Jollay Orchards, Berrien County, MI     https://www.jollayorchards.com/

SE WISCONSIN

Apple Holler, Sturtevant, WI    https://www.appleholler.com/