little outrageous to some, but a lot of people
love it,” says Marinho, who was born
in Brazil and usually comes up with the
recipes. “A lot of things that are in nature
European, like tiramisu and dulce
de leche, have kind of been imported to
South America, and people here may be
more familiar with them.”
Some Chicagoans may recognize flavors
from the couple’s former cake business, All
Tomorrow’s Pastries. When the two moved
to Chicago in May 2020, they developed a
menu of 12 cakes inspired by the zodiac.
They sold the popular cakes at markets
until they found a place to open their ice
cream shop. “We had to step away from
making cakes to focus on the shop because
we could really only do one without hiring,”
says Sutcliff. “It’s just us two, and so
we had to step away from cakes and say,
this is our next thing, this is the big one.”
For closure, the couple put their cake
recipes into a cookbook — which they
call a Cakebook — and offered it as one
of the donor rewards for their successful
Kickstarter campaign that ended in
April 2021.
Launching a business is nothing new
for Marinho and Sutcliff. The path to
Vaca’s Creamery started five years ago
at Sweet Ritual in Austin, Texas, where
the two met and later started dating. As
managers at the vegan ice cream shop,
they began brainstorming business ideas.
Their first venture, in 2018, was creating
gluten-free waffle cones for Sweet
Ritual and other Austin ice cream shops.
“We were working at Sweet Ritual, and
we knew there was a huge demand for
gluten-free waffle cones, so we started
the business while still working there.”
The business, All Tomorrow’s Waffles,
took off, so they quit their jobs to make
cones full-time. “We made thousands of
waffle cones a week during the heat of the
summer,” recalls Sutcliff.
Then, when Rebel Cheese — a vegan
deli in Austin — requested cakes, they
started making those in addition to cones
and changed their business name to All
Tomorrow’s Pastries. “I just really love
baking, and it was a hobby until then,”
says Marinho. “But then that opportunity
appeared, and we just decided to do that
on the side. We did some markets, too.
That was way more exciting than making
waffle cone after waffle cone.”
However, an ice cream shop or truck
was always the original plan, and Chicago
had been on the couple’s radar for a
few years. Sutcliff ’s family is in Yorkville,
and he had lived in Chicago for two
years before moving to Austin. When
the Covid-19 pandemic hit, clients were
limited by food industry restrictions and
stopped ordering cones. “They only did
curbside,” Sutcliff says. “Nobody walks
a dripping cone out to the car for you
during Covid. So it kind of became a necessity
to move to Chicago, and we were
like, well, this is a sign.”
Finding the perfect spot seemed to
be another sign. Marinho spent her free
time looking for the ideal location but
wasn’t expecting to find something they
could manage at the time. Then she came
across a small building on the corner of
Blackhawk and Cleaver streets. “Thinking
of rent in Chicago, it’s not easy, and
I didn’t think it’d be possible until we
found this place,” says Marinho. “It’s just
small enough, and it has a walk-up window,
which we thought was great, especially
for Covid, and we like the idea of an
ice cream shop with a walk-up window. It
feels nostalgic.”
Sutcliff says they found the listing a day
after realtors posted it. They called right
away and visited the property within an
hour. A week later, they were signing papers.
“Once we found it, things moved really
fast,” he says. “We just felt lucky. We
still feel really lucky we found this spot
and can finally make this happen after
planning it for so long.”
The couple sees a need for Vaca’s
Creamery. For one, there aren’t any similar
businesses in the area. Second, they
recognize the difference between an
all-vegan establishment and one that offers
vegan options.
“It’s just different,” says Sutcliff.
“That’s one thing we learned at Sweet
Ritual, that it’s almost like a sanctuary
where you get there and you don’t
have to worry about so many things you
think about when you walk into a typical
restaurant. And for us as owners, too,
we’re so excited to be able to stand behind
our product 110%.”
BY PLANTED STAFF
QUICK INFO
Vaca’s Creamery is located at 1436
W. Blackhawk St., near Pulaski Park.
» Follow Vaca’s Creamery on
Facebook and IG: @vacascreamery.
ILLUSTRATION BY JOSHUA CLAY JOHNSON
Planted | 17