For the past two Summers we have run a delightful Spearmint chocolate truffle.  As a child I was a big fan of Andes Candies.  These little mint chocolate squares we’re just a favorite.  Then over time I started finding that I had a mild allergic reaction to them.  Maybe too much of a good thing, maybe the ingredients shifted into something cheaper and that created the issue.  Whatever the case I could no longer have something I really enjoyed.

Until The Secret Chocolatier that is!

The Mint Monster

Our Spearmint is something we can easily source locally.  It has a very fast and very aggressive growth here in the South and a dear friend of the family, Anita Skogland, allows us entry into her beautiful garden to cut back her voracious mint plant as needed.

If the mint goes too crazy for her, we’ve even been greeted with a giant bag of it at the door!

Extracting the Minty Goodness

Like preparing a quality mojito or mint julep bruising the mint before we steep it in cream helps get the full essence out of the mint. We let it steep for a few hours depending on how much ganache we are preparing.  Our goal is to have the mint be strong enough to remember the leaf but not so overpowering that it blots out the chocolate.  It’s very important to strive for a balance in your flavor combinations.

Spearmint during the Summer, Peppermint (or as we call it Pep-O-Mint) during the Winter are some delicious cooling and enjoyable mints we use in our infusion series.  We hope you can grab one and enjoy the flavor at a market, regional retail partners or if you’re far from us–let us ship you a box!

Since we turned our sights in January to getting our own space to create chocolate in Charlotte it’s been quite a ride.  Our plans have been approved by mentors around the city, we hunted with the The Nichols Company for a space and are now working with architects Bryan & Jen Shields to design the shop.  With any luck we’ll be bringing on Clay Gordon of The Chocolate Life (and author of Discover Chocolate)  to help consult us through this new stage of development.

Other Chocolate Shops

Robin and I recently returned from a trip to Seattle & Alaska.  Whenever we are away we try to visit other chocolate shops to get an idea of what everyone else is doing.  Unlike the massive coffee industry there are only about 1000 chocolate shops in the US.  That means it’s a lot harder to find others trying to do what you want to do.  We visited Dilettante Chocolates, Frans Chocolate, and a confectionary shop in Ketchikan, AK.  It was great to see the varied differences and a few shared similarities.  I wish we had more time to visit the few others that were in the area but our time was meant for a family reunion.

Standing On the Shoulders of Our Peers

The shops we visited gave us some ideas and confirmed others we’ve been thinking.  We’re also a hybrid of chocolate and a bit of bakery so we’ve yet to really find a match like ours–which has it’s good and bad connotations.

When we spoke to our architects about our plans we wanted to bring a bit of the secret, and a bit of the transparency to bear.  We described ample display cases and frosted glass separations between the front of the house and back.  A place for consultations–to sit and discuss a cake or custom creation.

Being that we all co-locate and the administration of the business can float–instead of a classic office we’re looking more for a co-working nook.

All the while we want a very open and easy to navigate or reconfigure kitchen.  Chef Bill has instructed us on the finer points of kitchen control by having as little built-in as possible and more mobile/castered equipment.

More Work Ahead

Considering all we’ve done I still feel we are at the base of the mountain to be scaled.  This is all planning and aligning.  Funding and executing it all will be the feat of all feats.  Regardless, we are all so excited to move forward!

Your Inputs

What would you like to see in a chocolate shop?  Do you have any aspirations for our growth?

Looking for Chocolate in Charlotte?  If you are an area market goer, or been looking for a reason to get out and explore our markets here are a few that we participate in.  You can order chocolate online and pick it up at any of these locations as well.

Atherton Market at Atherton Mills

Formerly the Charlotte Tailgate Market. Lynn Caldwell’s efforts have crystalized with the help of Avant and Eden creating a lovely space for regional farmers, artisans and crafts people.  They have renovated the old Charlotte Trolly Barn and it is easily reachable by the Lynx light rail line.

Saturdays: 9am to 2pm

Tuesdays : 11:30am to 6:30pm

Meeting Street Market

(update: 07/10 we have suspended Meeting Street for the Summer. Expect us back in the Fall as temperatures cool.)

Our first year at this market at Marvin & Ardrey Kell rd in South Charlotte. Situated in a very residential community this market has a lot to offer and is worth the visit.  Protein & vegetable vendors abundant.

Tuesdays: 4pm to 8pm

Matthews Community Farmers Market

A very local only market with many of the board being the farmers themselves.  The market is very kid friendly and getting to know your local vendors is always a pleasure.  From Chef demos to kids activities it’s a lot of fun if you can get their early enough.  A note that the market goers tend to be very loyal so if you want the cream of the crop as it were get out early.

Saturdays: 7am to 12pm

Wednesdays: TBA

NCDA Regional (aka Yorkmont) Farmers Market

A long standing market run by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. The market is an all week but the prime time to be there is on Saturday.  The market is home to a number of resellers, look for NC/SC Slow Food farmer flags or better yet ask them how they raise their food or bring it in.  Try and support the local option before you pick up the out of state or worse out of country ones.

We hope to see you out!

Anyone who has ever developed and made a business succeed knows the difficulty involved.  Entrepreneurship is both awesome and terrible at each and every stage along the way.  For those who don’t really know us we’ve been in business to this point for three years in June.  From a single market testing our truffles to now.. 4 markets, 5 retail accounts, a number of commercial clients, and our happy chocolate for weddings.

Where does that leave us?

Growing Pains, Kitchen Strains

During the Christmas holiday rush this past year we found where our maximum was.  We literally had nights we were in the kitchen till 2 or 3am and someone would start giggling and then we’d all capitulate into laughter.  It was sheer madness and we enjoyed every silly minute.

The reality of our situation was a bit less gleeful as our maximum output is a lot less than I had originally thought we’d be able to accomplish.  That began the acceleration of our business plan and financials.

Chocolate Planning

What goes into a chocolate business plan, or “How hard can that really be?”  The plan quite honestly hasn’t been the crux.  Having written plans before it requires a good idea of who you are, where you are going (vision), competition,  demographics, etc.   Out of all of those items the toughest bit for us to really answer was where we are going.

Customer Defined, Market Tested

We were defined by you (and of course I mean the plural you.)  Bill Dietz is the expert, Robin, Karen and I his minons.  Bill can craft all sorts of Wonka-like delights but if you don’t want any of them; how is that helpful?  With each offering we asked, we listen, we refine, we move forward.  In a business plan this type of mentality isn’t well accepted as it isn’t concrete (funny to even use the word concrete in something so generally unproven.)  They really want you to know, to dream, to see the future.

How do you define a future when you are creating it bit by bit, proving each chocolate bit as you develop it?

Dream a little Chocolate Dream

Consensus from many told me you still have to define it. Dratz.

During one of our recent meetings we took a chunk of time to each ideate what we thought the future held, how long it would take us to mature, and then what thoughts we have beyond that.  While there were some great thoughts that tied into how as a family we wanted to grow and mature together.  As a business we desire to develop our niche; a hybrid chocolate bakery/confections shop, establishing ourselves strongly with our first store.  Beyond that we can take many directions of secondary locations/distributions, etc.  Blue sky thoughts are great but too far out and I start fearing what befell Icarus.

Financials & Pro Formas — Oh My!

What really took time was building our financials.  With the help of friend and business associate Tamela Rich I was well mentored in the facets (the many…many…many facets) of financial planning.  What started with one small sheet has bloomed into 16 pages that are all tied together into something very Rube Goldberg oriented.  All of it based on what we have done for the past few years.

We actually have our finances rooted in reality. What a concept. Most financials are built off assumptions that start with demographic percentages and traffic counts.  Having multiple markets and commercial sales gave us some initial leverage.  The tough part is how does all of that translate into a brick and mortar store with a family working full-time (as opposed to 3 years of overtime)?

Live, Learn, Input Formulas

I had to build a different level of assumptions based off of what qualified a market and how many days a month could we really expect to sell those quantities.  Our multiplier was built off this concept and I reduced it even farther just to stay conservative.

I’m a life long learner and every time I think I have my mind wrapped around a topic matter someone with more knowledge comes along and shows me just how little I do know.  I appreciate such moments as they give me more and more scope of how things work.

Where’s the Chocolate Shop?

To finish this burgeoning post of early business growth we are just about done with a peer review.  I’ve met with SCORE and now I need to start meeting with those able to lend our capital requirements.  We’re also working with Josh Beaver from the Nichols Company to locate a space and he’s been so patient with us as we go through this process.

It is my dear hope to say that we will be opening a shop sometime in the Fall or sooner.  We have something special and look forward to sharing it not only at the markets or online, but at our own store where you can see Chef do his magic.

We always appreciate your kind support!

Last week I had my epiphany when asked ‘What is your favorite chocolate?’ I always seemed to not know.  Really it would instill a sort of funny, ‘Well all of them are our favorites, why would we sell anything otherwise?’ internal dialog.  The reality being so close to chocolate all the time the term favorite gets more granular, more delicious, because time and mood can play a factor.

To this we ran a quick contest for people to tell us a moment and what kind of chocolate they would pair it with.  Now most people took my examples and made them their interpretation.  I was hoping for a little larger play with the idea but I understand.  I probably wasn’t being as clear in the scope I was letting you all have fun in.  We’ll play again soon.  This is all for fun anyhow!

Your Chocolate Moments

Since there were just a handful of respondents, we’ll recap them here.

From the ever faithful Jenny, aka Mom:

• Sunny spring afternoon, outside: I’ll SHOCK myself and go with the new white, or a fresh mint truffle.
• A quick snack before your work day is done: The darker the better!!
• A quiet moment to yourself when all might be still: Dark with a single yet complex flavored infusion, preferably that has warmed to room temp.

A chocolate lady in her own right, Andrea:

• Outside: A delicate key lime truffle
• A quick snack: Dark chocolate truffles
• A quiet moment: Your chai truffle

The (in)famous Terie:

• My special time is when I am able to work under the pergola smelling all the flowers with my laptop designing anything that has to do with graphics. The best compliment is rich dark chocolate and anything orange. I love the aroma of the orange and the pairing with chocolate is something special for the senses. It’s almost an overload between the sweet clean smell of the outdoors and when I close my eyes and pop a chocolate confection in my mouth, ohhhhhhh baby. Heaven

We have thousands of visitors a month, hundreds of fans across the galaxy, and three of our loyal fans are there to talk with us.  I hear Princess Bride references in my head but I’ll digress too much.  On to our thoughts..

The Secret Chocolatier

Bill’s Chocolate Moment

• The one time that I always enjoy a truffle is when we rotate flavors into a new season. It’s only when we rotate flavors and one of my favorites comes back, like grapefruit in the spring or basil in the summer, that I even take the time to stop and actually enjoy the moment. It is not a big ordeal though. I just stop, still in the kitchen, and eat one truffle from the first batch of that season. It’s a perfect moment four times a year.

Karen’s Chocolate Moments

• Sitting on the porch with a white chocolate truffle would be my current moment of choice.  I love the smooth creamy texture with a slight sweetness yet a hint of salt.
• If I could have anything I wanted it would be a few moments with our extra dark tcho chocolate truffle.  It makes me think of  an espresso roast of the chocolate, it has a bite to it that leaves me wanting more yet only able to take small bits at a time.  It gives me that extra buzz too.

Robin’s Chocolate Moment

• My days are crazy (and I’m not talking about just the family), I teach too and after a long day in the classroom all I want is a little isolation.  If the weather is right sitting outside on my chair-swing with an espresso truffle can do me wonders.  A moment of quiet enjoyment and pleasure that also gives me a little pick-me-up to handle a second shift of chocolate duties.

Andy’s Chocolate Moment

• The day is long over but I’m at the keyboard still.  A large orange truffle has been at my desk for over an hour and I can just tell it’s only holding form for me.  My lightly heated office has created a perfect moment, orange infused chocolate held together by a tenuous shell.  Pop it in my mouth and it’s just perfect.
• Another quick moment I have a lot lately is when the market has gone quiet during a lull between rushes and I find myself haunted by something.  A quick trip to our sampler cooler with a big spoonful of white chocolate ganache is amazing at refreshing the palate and making a piece of my soul just smile.  Something about that buttery–hint of salt flavor that keeps me smiling for the rest of the morning.

Enough! Who won already?!

As I read over a draft of this I can hear in my head Jenny badgering me into getting done and telling who wins a sampler box from us.  Well the results are a four way tie.  I should have known a simple vote wouldn’t work..

To complicate this (*grin*) I went to the most random place on the internet and ran a number randomizer from 1-300, each hundred aligned to a person based on when they submitted their entry.  The result was: 151.

Andrea wins a chocolate sampler box of her choosing (Spring box not listed but available).

There was a Reason..

The heart of it all was our taste-buds and our desires change throughout the day.  We want different things based on a myriad of personal factors.  Next time you ask an artisan crafter what their favorite it, give them some context.  Besides making them look at you funny, you might get a far more useful and serious response.