A family-owned, event planning business that successfully navigated through the pandemic has expanded to offer some unique sweet concoctions in the south suburbs.
A Trio of Creations Gourmet Shake Bar in Matteson has a menu of 22 shakes, among them its peach cobbler shake, a banana pudding shake that includes vanilla wafers, the lemonade shake that features Lemonhead candy and the strawberry shortcake that includes a strawberry short-cake ice cream bar.
The enterprise is among Black, women-owned businesses featured in the vendor guide directory for the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago in August.
Tramaine Hampton-Brown and her first cousins, sisters Truddie Woodard and Crystal Jackson, are partners in the business, which marked its one-year anniversary in April.
The trio’s goal was to bring something unique to the south suburbs.
“We’ve always been extra anyway,” said Jackson. “ A gourmet shake bar, that’s something different outside of regular restaurants,” said Jackson.
But necessity also was the mother of invention for the shake enterprise as their event planning services business, called A Trio of Creations, evolved, they explained.
Monee resident Hampton-Brown said the three decided to launch the event planning business after producing a birthday party event for a close friend that drew rave reviews from attendees.
“Everybody said it was above and beyond, it was beautiful and we should do this for a living,” said Hampton-Brown.
She holds a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and previously worked as an auditor for Panera Bread and in accounting at Park Grill restaurant at Millennium Park, she said.
The event planning business, which does the arrangements for a variety of events including weddings, baby showers, proms, and birthday, anniversary and graduation parties, launched in 2019, said Hampton-Brown. Initially it was based out of her home. Business took off, said Hampton-Brown. Then the pandemic hit.
“People started calling saying we need our money back because the event space is closed so we can’t have this now,” she said. “We started giving people their money back.”
One of the theme party settings put together by A Trio of Creations Gourmet Shake Bar in Matteson. The company does settings there but grew by doing home parties during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tramaine Hampton-Brown)
Then they pivoted — when people called to cancel, the entrepreneurs started asking if clients would be open to having the events at their own homes.
“A lot of people said we think that’s a really good idea, so we started going to everybody’s houses,” Hampton-Brown said. “We were doing balloon arches in front of houses for proms.
They also did Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation and surprise events.
“We got more clients because we were going to peoples’ houses,” she said. “We probably did over 200 events in 2020.”
In 2022, they secured their own venue space for events in Matteson. But they were told due to village regulations they couldn’t exclusively offer event planning from the site; they had to provide an additional service, which led them to offer their gourmet shakes last year, said Hampton-Brown.
One of the specialty shakes created by A Trio of Creations Gourmet Shake Bar in Matteson. (Tramaine Hampton-Brown)
“We brainstormed and started coming up with different ingredients and different types of shakes,” said Woodard, a South Side Chicago resident who also works part-time in customer service for the Chicago Transit Authority.
Besides shakes, A Trio of Creations Gourmet Shakes also sells smoothies, sundaes, banana splits and doughnuts. It is located at 4451B Lincoln Hwy in Matteson and operates from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2-6 p.m. on Sundays. It will soon expand to summer hours, said Jackson.
The trio love that their businesses are family enterprises run with various family members helping, said Jackson, who lives on the Southeast Side of Chicago.
“Doing it with family makes it fun,” Woodard said. “We have fun doing this for people, and they can tell that it’s done with love.”
“We come from a close-knit family,” said Jackson, who also works in medical claims. “Our grandmother had nine kids, and we all grew up like siblings.”
They fantasized about living in the same neighborhood as adults.
“We don’t live next to each other, but we work next to each other,” Jackson said.
A key focus of the business is giving back, the entrepreneurs said. Toward that end, they’ve worked with schools on events.
Ina Jones, family and community engagement coordinator with Elementary School District 159 in Matteson, said the business donated 125 gourmet ice cream treats for a Unity in the Community Back to School Fair last August.
There were long lines of children and adults waiting for their tasty treats, said Jones, who noted the entrepreneurs have sought out partnerships with the schools to offer ice cream events on site or at their business.
Some of the theme party settings put together by A Trio of Creations Gourmet Shake Bar in Matteson. The company does settings there but grew by doing home parties during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tramaine Hampton-Brown)
Theresa Kelsey, who runs the Ecology Club at Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, has partnered with the business the past two years to raise funds for the school’s arboretum. The business has come out and sold its shakes at a discount with 10% of the proceeds going to the arboretum.
“They helped us raise money to get supplies,” she said,
The children couldn’t believe their eyes when they first saw the shakes, she said.
“I think that their shakes are amazing,” Kelsey said. “It’s really nice we can have something like that in south suburbs.”
Woodard and Jackson said what they enjoy about the two business ventures is seeing the surprise on people’s faces.
“I like the wow factor, the shock value from customers,” Jackson said. “I get joy out of seeing peoples’ reactions.”
The company does a lot of theme parties, and Jackson said clients can’t believe it when they see their themed parties brought to life.
One of the more unusual recent themed events was a 48th birthday party for Twanita Burnett. Her theme was the first 48, said Burnett, and included a murder mystery involving a murdered rapper in his dressing room. Part of the venue was transformed to resemble a crime scene.
“When I came in my mouth dropped,” said Burnett. “Everything was absolutely phenomenal.”
The entrepreneurs said their long-term goals are to expand the client base of both enterprises. They also hope to one day sell their gourmet shakes at Soldier Field and Chicago airports.
Hampton-Brown said mottos that help guide their business are “Don’t quit, do it” and “Humble Hustle.”
“’Don’t quit, do it’ reflects our perseverance in the face of adversity, while ‘Humble Hustle’ embodies our humble yet relentless pursuit of success,” she said.
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
