Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joe Skifter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joe, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

After our first full year of selling thru wholesale, pop-up and event sales we purchased a 1929 vintage corner grocery store that had been converted to a small medical clinic and was nearly abandoned. Our building is not on a traditional retail street rather it is located in a lovely neighborhood of North Minneapolis. We completely remodeled it, opened up the large windows that had been filled in years ago and we created a bright/open kitchen and Shop. we have become the pride of the neighborhood.

We hope that once we are done/ready to sell that this location will live on as a small cafe/coffee shop.

There are many small corner stores throughout most cities, we saved one, brought it back to life and we hope that will continue for the next generation.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Steven Howard is my husband and is the Co-Owner of Dancing Bear Chocolate.

After graduating from Boys Town in Omaha NE Steven made his way to Minneapolis in 1979 working in the kitchens of various restaurants, 510 Groveland, Pam Sherman’s, Le Quatre Amis. In 1985 Steven landed a position with what was then a “startup” D’Amico Partners. Working with D’Amico in the kitchens of D’Amico Cucina, & Azur as Executive Pastry Chef. Leaving ‪D’Amico‬ in 1994 Steven spent the next few years honing his craft as the Executive Chef for RSVP Cruise Line. During his time on the Cruise ship Steven met the owners of a Chocolate company on Nantucket, his passion for Chocolate ignited while working on Nantucket and studying Chocolate Arts In Montreal. In 2003 Steven moved to Tulsa OK to open 3 storefronts of Kokoa Chocolatier. Kokoa received much acclaim and accolades during its time in Tulsa. The financial crisis of 2008 happened, Steven lost everything. After a brief time he decided to return to Minneapolis, a place he always considered his home-and back to ‪D’Amico‬.

Joe and Steven met during the summer of 2013, Married in Sept 2016.
We knew that someday we wanted our own business, Joe had an extensive background in store management, operations, sales so its appeared to be the perfect match.

In 2015 Steven was named Executive Chef of Open Arms, a nonprofit providing meals for those living with life threatening illness, he considers this position one of his greatest honors.

Steven and Joe launched Dancing Bear Chocolate in 2017 as a pop-up, event sale and wholesale business. Dancing Bear Chocolate opened a brick and mortar store at 44th and Thomas Ave North in May 2020.

Dancing Bear Chocolate is the result of a life filled with hard work, passion, perseverance and the execution of a lifelong dream.

Today Joe and Steven own and operate their top rated Chocolate, Gelato and Pastry shop with the help of seasonal staff. We are going into our 5th year of operating our store front.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

See first response for details of the path Steven.

We purchased our building in the spring of 2019 with permitting and construction taking nearly a year.
We received our final permits and license of occupancy in April 2020-right at the beginning of Covid-19.
Fortunately during the remodel we change one of the 4 doorways into a walk-up service window. We originally thought we would use this to sell gelato of Sunday afternoons. This window ended up saving us as we operated solely out this window for the first 4 months. We slowly transitioned to allowing customers inside albeit one at a time.

Today we operate a full retail store and the walkup service window.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Our attention to quality and Stevens ability to create delicious and beautiful items. We have also always maintained a very approachable sense, the atmosphere of our shop is friendly, kind and honest. We do not pretend to be in some far-away place (Paris-New York) like so many Chocolate shops.

One of our favorite stories is a lady came in with a $5 gift card and she commented that our prices seemed high. She purchase a slice of our Carrot Cake and since that day has become one of our biggest fans. She tells everyone, her entire family comes to see us. After starting at “you are to expensive” to our biggest fan is a point of pride for us.

We will not do cheap food at the expense of quality and taste.

Contact Info:

• Website: DancingBearChocolate.com

Image Credits
All photos were taken by Joe Skifter Dancing Bear Chocolate