Dancing Bear Chocolate planned a quiet opening weekend and completely sold out
Dancing Bear Chocolate opened this past weekend in Victory neighborhood to long lines of people who happily emptied store shelves. Photos by David Pierini
By David Pierini Staff Reporter
When Joe Skifter and Steven Howard applied for a loan to open their chocolate business in the Victory neighborhood, the loan officer dismissed their monthly revenue projections. He told the couple they would “never make that much money on the Northside.”
Three hours after Dancing Bear Chocolate opened on Friday, the shop was out of chocolate. In one short shift, the couple had earned that monthly total they had filled in on the application.
Looking at the growing line outside the building on Thomas and 44th avenues, Skifter predicted another sell-out day Saturday.
“[Friday] was supposed to be a quiet opening for the neighborhood,” Skifter said. “We should’ve known better because people were over the moon about our business right from the get-go.”
Joe Skifter worked the window to sell chocolate for Dancing Bear’s opening weekend. He is eager for the day he can open the shop.
One customer proved it by approaching the takeout window from where Skifter took orders. He presented him an empty bag and told him to fill it with an assortment up to $100. The customer before him spent $61.
“This chocolate is life-changing,” said Paul Schulz, who was first transformed by their truffles when he won a basket of them in a school fundraiser.
Howard is the chocolatier behind the artisanal confections, which include chocolate-dipped nuts and fruits, assorted truffles and a fudge brownie called a “Bear Paw.” He is a longtime pastry chef who opened chocolate shops in Tulsa, OK and was an executive pastry chef at D’Amico Cocina.
Howard wanted a bear to be part of the branding to honor his Minnesota roots. Skifter suggested the name Dancing Bear because his husband used to dance in the basement of their nearby home for exercise.
Howard and Skifter started Dancing Bear Chocolate in January 2018 with an Etsy store and the occasional pop-up shop. The chocolates grew in popularity and soon, they began looking for a brick-and-mortar shop and kitchen.
Two customers walked away happy but not sure how long their new stash of chocolate would last.
Last year, they bought the building that was once a dentist’s office, directly across the street from Loring Elementary School. Let that sink in: a sweet shop where a dentist once filled cavities across the street from a school.
But John Steffens, whose father Dr. Vernon Steffens bought the building for a dentist practice, said his father would be pleased with the building’s new use. He stopped by Saturday for a sample of Dancing Bear products.
“My dad used to say, ‘Don’t floss all your teeth, only the ones you want to keep,’” John Steffens said with a laugh.
For now, the shop will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 12-7 pm. The couple is still completing the kitchen so that all of the chocolate will be made there. A larger cooler will be installed within the next week, allowing the two to make larger quantities of chocolate.
Skifter said he and Howard were so insulted by the disparaging comments about North Minneapolis the loan officer made that day, they turned down that loan.
Opening on the weekend of Mother’s Day was a smart business decision, but Skifter and Howard never planned for a pandemic, which has also been good for business. Turns out, chocolate is an essential tool to get through these anxious times.
“We’re not going to let a pandemic stop us,” Skifter said. “We decided to try and do whatever we can to open. But if this is any example of what we can do in a pandemic, what happens when we can invite people into the store so that they can see what we’re doing?”