Lauren Wille

Meatloaf: big, gooey, crumbly, good. It’s a comfort food and reminder of Mom’s homemade cooking, and for one unique chef, a window for creation. Cynthia Kallile, owner and creator of the Meatloaf Bakery in Chicago, has put a new spin on home style cooking.

Cupcakes, pies, cakes and other pastries, line the glass counter of this unusual bakery in Lincoln Park. As colorful and cute as they may be, these cupcakes aren’t sweet. With mashed potato frosting and parsley confetti, Kallile combined her love for pretty foods and meatloaf to make savory, meaty pastries.

A Toledo, Ohio native, Kallile’s dream as a child was to become a psychiatrist.

“I liked the word,” she said. “It was interesting to say and I thought it was cool. Whatever they did was cool.”

Her interests changed in high school when her love for writing became more prominent. She ended up at Ohio State University majoring in journalism.

“All through high school I absolutely loved writing. I loved asking questions. I was an investigative type of reporter and I did have a knack for writing. I wrote for the Ohio State Lantern and I did all types of different writing projects.”

After graduating, Kallile spent 25 years in marketing communications and public relations, but decided to make a major career change three years ago. She worked for a variety of businesses, but her passion was always with cooking. She loved to cook, she loved to eat, and she always found herself wandering around farmer’s markets and grocery stores.

Kallile and meatloaf share a special bond, which is where the idea for the Meatloaf Bakery came into focus. She describes meatloaf as “the way she likes to cook” and has been making it for friends for years. In simple terms, she loves meatloaf.

“You just take lots of different ingredients, and it doesn’t have to be meat. And you mix them together and you play with them and you pop them in the oven and out comes this wonderful creation.”

The idea for the Meatloaf Bakery formulated with a string of “ah-ha” moments, the most important being presenting her creations in the shape of cupcakes. “Cupcakes were so popular and meatloaf is really an unattractive kind of product, so why not make it look pretty?”

Since opening 10 months ago, Kallile has found success for herself and the Meatloaf Bakery. But getting to this point wasn’t easy. She has no previous culinary or business-owning experience, which made it hard for her to get the help she needed. She also didn’t have much money to start with. The chef says that two of the hardest obstacles were finding a bank to finance her endeavors, and a the property.

Kallile was turned down by a number of banks for financial assistance and met some landlords that would not consider leasing to her.

“Why? Because I didn’t have any experience. The food industry is tough, and they didn’t want to take a risk on someone who had never done it before.”

Never once stepping foot into a culinary school, Kallile spent almost three years formulating a business plan to launch the Meatloaf Bakery. Although her PR background helped with the marketing plan, she had no experience or training in writing a business plan. She found a Kendall College Culinary graduate who had opened his own business in the suburbs to help shape the business plan.

“He was a God sent,” she said. “I told him I was only freelancing at the time, so I couldn’t pay him a lot. I told him I’d pay him a little something because I needed his help. So, he helped me.”

Her business plan ended up being 42 pages long. “That was a bump. That was hard,” she said. “It took me a long time to do. But I tend to be somewhat of a perfectionist. I don’t know if anyone read my 42 pages but it was a very well written business plan if I do say so myself.”

The Meatloaf Bakery has been up and running for just under a year, and specializes in dishes such as The Mother Loaf, The No Butts About it Burger Loaf, and Kallile’s personal favorite, the Chicken Shiskaloaf. And her plans don’t stop here. In the future, Kallile hopes to expand her bakery to more locations and maybe even offer her products in grocery stores. The meatloaf chef also plans on writing a book about her bumps, struggles and happy moments she experiences along the way.

Kallile believes that everyone has something to be proud of, and a passion to pursue. It’s just a matter of what, and when you figure it out.

            “When someone comes in and buys a cupcake and they say, ‘Oh my God this is so cute’ or ‘this is so clever,’ I get excited, then I get excited. Because you know, it’s my creation and I pulled it off.”