Let's Meet Catering Partner Madame of Coco

As our former morning shift manager, Danielle Erby is likely a familiar face to you. What you may not know is she’s also the entrepreneur behind Madame of Coco, a new food business serving Chicago delectable sweets, and the newest addition to our esteemed catering vendors!

Kira recently chatted with Danielle to shine a spotlight on the talented Madame. Get acquainted with her now, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be back here soon and tasting her delicious food offerings…

Kira: Danielle, in addition to managing our morning operations, you also created a lot of special occasion treats for clients. And you’d often be in the kitchen preparing crafty snacks.

Danielle: Yes! When I started at CR in 2017, we were doing all these treats for the Inner Circle clients and for the Signature Snack Table. I think because Catalyst Ranch is such a creative environment, it just brought it out of me. So, when we did the afternoon snacks I always had these big ideas and people would say “Tone it down, Danielle. You’re doing too much!” But that’s what you do when you’re a creative person. You gotta go with the flow! Take it in the moment.

Of the snack dishes that you made for our clients, what were your favorites?

One of my favorite things to make was this vegan chocolate dip, using avocados. I think that really hits differently because you don’t think about things out of the norm when you’re used to cooking a certain way. When you learn something new, you’re like “I never thought I could put avocado with chocolate!” Like how clever is that?

Being on a shift with you there was like coming home from grade school to a plate of magical dessert!

The best was getting everyone to taste my snacks, and seeing everyone’s reactions. Making people smile and enjoy it.

As a kid, I used to go to my grandma’s house and she would cook all the time. The first cake I baked was a chocolate cake with mints. I’ve really been baking since I was a child, but more seriously within the past 7 or 8 years. That’s when I started baking cakes and selling them.

So you’re self taught?

Yes. My mom is the baker, my grandma is the cook. But my mom will NOT tell you a recipe, you gotta figure it out yourself. She thinks I’m going to tell people.

Again, I’ve always liked baking. And I think that it’s just a staple for me. I’ve always been a creative person. I like cooking because it’s therapeutic for me.

It’s very important to me to make sure my food not only tastes good – but looks good. Presentation is everything. Almost like a seduction that draws you in! I don’t want just a good looking piece of cake, I want it to taste good too. I wanna take you on a trip!

Yes! There’s so much art to making and serving food. So of course, the art and aesthetics of it play a big part in naming and branding your business. Where did the name “Madame of Coco” come from?

My sisters and I came up with it because a lot of the stuff I was making was with chocolate.

And I’ve always loved the name “Coco” —I had a dog named Coco! She was the color of coco. And that name just stuck with me.

When you think of madam, it’s like, “…Yummm! Fancy!”

Yes, there’s definitely the aura of refinement and a special occasion! And the logo really fits, with the polish of the gold accents.

Making the logo was really hard for me though! I wanted something simple with nice, rich colors. That’s why I have brown and gold, and the green is from the cacao leaves. It’s 3 cacao leaves in the shape of a heart. That took a minute!

What about the future? What are your goals for Madame of Coco?

My dream is to open a coffee shop that I can sell my treats from. That would be my joy! I’m debating about having a small coffee shop or a bigger place where I could have small events with tea parties!

That’s why I’m in business school right now. I just need to know the back-end of owning a business—I know I’m good with people!

That is a fact. We’ll testify to that!