New Happenings

So, I know it has been a while since my last post, but I have been busy interviewing potential new employees so we can be up to speed for the holiday season. Being in the chocolate business is like being in the retail business-in July, we are planning for February and in March we are planning for December.

I am happy to report that I have found a couple of great new employees-both who will be training as chocolate production staff. One of the challenges of being an artisan chocolate maker is that everything that we do is done by hand, so it takes a while to train someone in the techniques of how we do things. It is not like we are training them on the operation of a big piece of machinery that will do all of the work-they have to learn the various technical variances of the chocolate we happen to be working with on any given day. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Speaking of big machines, we have upgraded to a new chocolate machine that can melt and temper about 60 pounds of chocolate at one time, this versus the machines we were using previously which had a capacity of only 10 pounds. Our newest addition to the family is the JKV 30-which is a very easy to use machine that does not rely on a lot of fancy bells and whistles. The advantage of a machine like this is that if something does go wrong, it can be repaired quite easily, for there are not a lot of complicated digital parts. This machine, if maintained on a regular basis will last for decades-which is makes it a very valuable asset to the production line and helps add to bottom line.

When one owns their own chocolate business, it helps greatly if one can take apart a machine and fix it. Luckily, I am pretty mechanically inclined-I often remind my friends that I put a new engine in my 1967 Ford Fairlane station wagon that I had while living in Tucson, Arizona. I loved that car-every time I hear the B-52’s song “Love Shack”, I think of that car. It was the song that was popular at the time and I really liked cranking up the stereo! This picture is not one of mine, but it looked very similar-oh, those were the good ole days! In fact, I drove this car which had air conditioning, during one of the hottest summers on record-at least back then, where air traffic control diverted flights from Phoenix to Tucson, because it was only 117 degrees Tucson and 123 degrees in Phoenix. The issue was that the aircraft were not certified to land in temperatures over 120 degrees-now that is hot-not even my Ford Fairlane’s AC could keep up with that.

I actually sold this car and used the money to move to the SF Bay area-so I guess, in a way, my old Fairlane had something to do with founding my chocolate company. Hmm, maybe it is time to come up with a chocolate named for it.