The Office of Admissions recently added a new stop to campus tours, Beijo de Chocolat, located at 3332 W. Foster Ave., in an attempt to connect North Park University with the surrounding neighborhood.

Beijo de Chocolat is the first and only non-campus stop on the North Park University tour. Head of admissions, Shari Nordstrom, said the decision is part of an effort to restructure and personalize the tour. “We’re not a bubble,” she said. “We’re promoting the Chicago experience. We want to show North Park and the great neighborhood it’s in as well.”

Nordstrom said that Beijo de Chocolat, which is privately owned and operated, fits in with North Park University’s emphasis on community. Groups are taken to the chocolate shop halfway through the tour, where owner and chef Laura Case and her assistant, Krunch Kretschmar, chat with customers as they fill orders. Each prospective student can pick out two chocolates, financed by North Park University. “We view it as an investment in the student,” Nordstrom said.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the North Park tour,” Case said. “We think it’s great, we love it.” Case, a Michigan native, transitioned to chocolate shop owner from being a broadcast journalist in Cincinnati. “It’s a big career change,” she said. “I just got to the point where I wanted to do something that made people happy, made people smile, including myself.” Case quit her job, moved to Chicago, and became a French pastry chef.

When 3332 W. Foster Ave. became available early last spring, Case said she decided to “bite the bullet” and open her own storefront. The name Beijo de Chocolat, coined by Case and Kretschmar, means “Kiss of Chocolate” in Portuguese and French. It’s a combination of Case’s French pastry chef training and Kretschmar’s multi-lingual background.

“I want this spot to be a place where families can come and enjoy [themselves], and I want it to be a well-liked, well-loved place interconnected with the school [NPU],” Case said. She and Kretschmar enjoy the proximity to North Park, and enjoy the students who visit.

Students and parents alike seem to appreciate Beijo de Chocolat. Prospective student Monica Coldea, a high school senior, liked the off-campus tour stop.  “If I come to North Park, I would spend a lot of time there,” she said.

“This is a great tour stop!” one mother exclaimed as her daughter selected a couple chocolates. “They [parents] love the atmosphere of this store,” Kretschmar said. “They like the fact that the chef and owner is right here. It’s such a difference from corporate chains.”

Tour guide Brian Wallin, a junior at NPU, likened the new tour stop to an intermission. “It breaks up the tour a little. It gives people another view of the neighborhood,” he said.

“When people walk in, they’re all smiling,” Case said. “They love the fact that they’re on a tour, and they’re coming to a family-owned shop. It’s a huge compliment to be a part of the tour.”

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