Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Congressman Mike Quigley Remarks Following Tour of Eli’s Cheesecake Company

REMARKS

ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE

ELI’S CHEESECAKE COMPANY

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.  Hey, good afternoon, everyone.  So the secret is that this entire trip to Chicago was actually an excuse to come here to Eli’s.  (Laughter.)  And I shared that with the Schulmans.

It is actually wonderful to be here.  This is an iconic place, an iconic product, and it’s been a real pleasure to meet the family that’s behind this and the entire team here.  And it’s iconic in two ways.  It’s iconic because – and I’m not supposed to advertise products, but, boy, is that incredible cheesecake, and I think that’s something well-known to people around the world as well as, of course, the United States; but also iconic because what Eli’s has done over decades is to create a family that is making this extraordinary product.  Thirty percent of the team here is a refugee coming from some other distant part of the world, coming to the United States and making their future here.  It’s an incredibly powerful thing to see as you walk down the line and talk to people who are coming from all over the world, coming to the United States as their beacon of hope, and then making their future here.

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