The Little Cocoa Bean Company

The Little Cocoa Bean Company is a kid-friendly cafe in Boston’s Seaport that makes culturally diverse, fresh and healthy food for babies, toddlers and their caregivers. Located inside Boston Children’s Museum, it serves a regularly rotating menu built on nutrient-rich global ingredients, always made fresh without preservatives. The cafe is designed to be a joyful, low-stress place where families of every background can eat, play, learn and connect.

Founder Tracy Skelly started the company after the birth of her first child in 2018, when she could not find baby food with the culturally diverse flavors and nutrition she wanted for her daughter. She began making her own, using ingredients from the African Diaspora tradition such as collards, chayote, papaya and tamarind. Beyond meals, the cafe hosts snack times, play dates, classes, parties and community events listed on its events calendar.

What to Know

• Visitors do not need a museum ticket to visit the cafe, and it has its own entrance near the Hood milk bottle.
• Little Cocoa Bean was named Best Kid-Friendly Eatery in Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston 2025.
• The founder’s approach treats first foods as heritage foods that connect cultural traditions with what is available locally.
• The company is listed in a public directory of Black-owned Boston businesses.