Eight years we’ve had our retail location. It’s crazy to think how well I can remember sitting in its shell during the buildout every day, watching it come together. We’ve gotten older, a bit wiser, expanded, shrank, Logan’s growing up, made new friends, and hired a few too. We’re lucky to be here and thankful for all the good treats we’ve made (and you’ve enjoyed) along the way.

Instead of a party, we decided to go back to our roots and have a tasting of new chocolates.

New Chocolate!?

It’s always fun to play with new ideas, and we’ve been ruminating on quite a few. Chef Laura thought of introducing some mendiants (French chocolate discs with inclusions). They’re great for wine pairings or as snacks. We also explored further creativity in candy-bar making, polling our fans to see what they think would make a great upscale candy bar.

Some fan submissions included:

• Fig
• Honey
• Maple
• Bacon
• Strawberries
• Balsamic
• Pecan
• Cookies, etc.

We took many of these ideas into consideration, and after testing, a few creations stood out during our tasting event:

• Pecan Cheesecake (inspired by Eugene-Jeanette Lowry)
• Raspberry Cinnamon (inspired by Crystal Davidson)

The Bacon Dilemma

Many people wanted us to create something with bacon, and we tried! However, bacon is tricky—it’s hard to get the texture right without compromising the chocolate. Plus, there are licensing considerations. For now, we’ve shelved the idea until we can research it further.

Tasters Line Up

After trials, these creations were finalized by Chef Laura, Robin, Logan, and myself:

Logan, who was born a month after we opened, made two mendiants that were fan favorites. It was great to see him share his creations with everyone, which was a proud moment for Robin and me.

These events are a fun way for us to reconnect as a family with our community. We truly value everyone’s feedback so that we can turn great ideas into future products.

If you haven’t noticed, our peanut-butter cloud bar has grown into a new size, and we’ve also introduced a dark chocolate coconut bar due to popular demand. As we continue to tweak and test these products, they’ll be available in our case for the upcoming season.

We’ve always loved making happy bellies, so if you have an idea that would make yours happy, let us know!

Hope to see you at our next gathering.