Meet Katherine Duncan

In the October of 2006, Katherine launched Katherine Anne Confections with a specialized focus on classic truffles and caramels using local and organic ingredients. Working out of several rental kitchens over the next few years, Katherine grew her business from 3 small coffee shops and bicycling all of her deliveries, to her first employees, 6 farmers markets, selling to Whole Foods, and an online store.

In 2010, Katherine moved to a dedicated production studio in Logan Square, with the idea of eventually opening a retail store. In 2012, Katherine Anne Confections confiserie opened for business, serving up rich, European-style drinking chocolate alongside their acclaimed truffles, caramels, and marshmallows. Katherine started working with even more local chefs and farmers, with the ambitious goal of launching 176 local-focused flavors a year.

Katherine Anne Confections can be found at the confiserie at 2745 W. Armitage; also online and in select stores all over Chicagoland. Press has included the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, RedEye, TimeOut Chicago, WGN, ABC7, and many more.

Q+A

What is your favorite place to travel to?  

The country…somewhere nice and quiet and peaceful. Though Paris is pretty awesome, too. The food there is splendid, though it’s easy to fall in to a tourist trap. I’ve only gone off my list of friends’ recommendations once and really hit gold.

What don’t people know about you?  

That I lived on a goat farm growing up, and once placed 4th in national goat showmanship (seriously! It was a really big deal!)

What do you believe? 

That if we work hard at something we know and love, anything is attainable.

Have you ever stolen anything? 

Never. It’s super weird, actually, I’ve come back to pay for something I was undercharged for. Though now that I think about it, I did get a credit from a bank once that I should have returned, but didn’t.

What do you hate? 

Hypocrisy. Being fake. Lack of integrity.

What do you geek out about?  

Food, of course! Single origin chocolate, estate wines, handmade pastas. I love to do in-depth experiments at home, such as when I perfected the chocolate chip cookie (hint: use real chocolate, not chocolate chips which have added ingredients; use extra sea salt; age the cookies in the fridge for 3-5 days before baking; keep the dough chilled for baking.)

Want more? Check out this piece by Zagat where Katherine was named one of the 30 Under 30 or this fun slideshow from Timeout. Follow her on Facebook + Twitter.

But really you won’t “get” just how badass she is until you try her products…so get on that!