Black-owned Chicago bakery Schweet Cheesecake is 'close to perfection'

CHICAGO -- Schweet Cheesecake, a Black family-owned business, is making a difference in its community.

The artisanal bakeshop attracts customers from all over Chicagoland to the city's Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

"What is Schweet Cheesecake? Original, homemade, and Chicago," Co-owner Chamille Weddington said. "What makes our cheesecake different is it's really light, it's fluffy, and they know it's freshly made as soon as they bite into it."

Inspired by and named after Weddington's grandmother, The Viola Strawberry is their signature cheesecake.

"We were just in the kitchen one day, and we were eating our grandmother's pastry. We took her idea and we reengineered it and turned it into a cheesecake," Weddington said.

While fulfilling every customer's sweet tooth, Schweet Cheesecake also aims to foster economic growth in the Austin community with its 'Ujamaa' program.

"It's a program that allows us to help blooming entrepreneurs to showcase their products," Weddington explained. "It's a promotional campaign. It's meant to inspire. It's meant to give artists awareness."

Weddington said revitalization is important to the business and wants people outside of the Austin community to see what the neighborhood has to offer.

"It's refreshing to grow something that belongs to you and that belongs to the community," Weddington emphasized. "It's not just about cheesecake at all. It's about community."

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