{"id":19116,"date":"2013-04-18T12:12:39","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T16:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=19116"},"modified":"2013-04-18T12:12:39","modified_gmt":"2013-04-18T16:12:39","slug":"chocolatiers-growing-pains-are-good-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2013\/04\/18\/chocolatiers-growing-pains-are-good-for-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolatier\u2019s Growing Pains are Good for Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raleigh certainly loves its chocolate.<\/p>\n

Especially when it is grinded, mixed, flavored and packaged locally by hand, with cacao beans sourced directly from farmers in Venezuela and Costa Rica.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s first bean-to-bar chocolatier, Escazu<\/a> Artisan Chocolates of Mordecai, is reaping the benefits of a growing love affair\u2014locally and nationally\u2014with artisan food. Sales now top $500,000 annually, so much that chocolatiers Hallot Parson and Danielle Centeno are forced to turn business away.<\/p>\n

\"Danielle<\/a>

Danielle Centeno, Escazu co-owner, holds “push up pops” \u2014 ice cream made with their chocolate. Photo by Karen Tam.<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u2019s simply not enough space at 936 N. Blount Street to produce any more chocolate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Whole Foods wanted us nationally instead of just in the Southeast, we couldn\u2019t do that without increasing our production immensely,\u201d said Centeno, a pastry chef who runs the confections and retail operations. \u201cAnd we couldn\u2019t do that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too much business isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. It\u2019s helped Escazu hire nine workers, pay off its first business loan (secured when it moved from Glenwood Avenue in 2009) and operate profitably for the first time. It\u2019s let Parson and Centeno master their current operation\u2014winning 2012 and 2013 Good Food Awards and recognition in Southern Living and Wine Spectator magazines. Escazu now distributes its eight bars to specialty markets and retail stores nationwide.<\/p>\n

The retail shop, with a hot chocolate bar, hand-made decorative confections and ice cream each day, has become a neighborhood staple.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are looking for quality and are willing to pay a little more for that,\u201d said Parson, who made his first chocolate bar in 2005.<\/p>\n

The quality of Escazu and other bean-to-bar chocolate comes from a process 100 years old or more that starts with a farmer of cacao in some tropical climate. Parson built a relationship with a Costa Rican farmer (Escazu is named after a town there) and Centeno brought her ties to her native Venezuela. They now import three or four tons of beans at a time from those farms. The beans are sorted and roasted in an antique coffee roaster they bought and shipped from Spain.<\/p>\n

\"Hallot<\/a>

Hallot Parson, Escazu co-owner, checks the consistency of the chocolate as it is mixed in the 1930s machine he bought in Spain. Photo by Karen Tam.<\/p><\/div>\n

About 180 pounds of nibs are then ground into a liquid, and sugar (and sometimes cocoa butter) is added to meet a certain percentage of cacao. The chocolate is aged, and later, tempering machines heat and cool it to achieve the perfect appearance and texture.<\/p>\n

Ingredients such as pumpkin seeds and chipotle chili are added just before the chocolate goes into a mold. Sea salt is sprinkled after. Bars are then wrapped and labeled by hand, about 100 per hour.<\/p>\n

Escazu produces 200 to 400 bars on a slow day and 1,600 to 1,700 daily before holidays such as Christmas and Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

Centeno\u2019s small team of chocolatiers produces about 87,000 truffles a year for the retail shop. Daily, they bake cookies and make ice cream and introduce specialty treats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating,\u201d Parson said. \u201cWe can see so many avenues for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Escazu<\/a>

Escazu chocolate bars. Photo by Karen Tam.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bean-to-bar chocolatiers have grown in number since 2005, when a Colorado man named Steve DeVries opened the first shop in Denver. Escazu was among a dozen or so chocolatiers nationally when Parson opened the first retail shop in 2007. Today, bean-to-bar chocolate is one of eight categories included in the Good Food Awards, a three-year-old competition to recognize U.S. producers of craft food. For the 2013 awards, 67 chocolate makers entered.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the popularity of these bean-to-bar manufacturers is that they are local, maybe the \u2018new\u2019 local chocolate shop,\u201d said Susan Smith of the National Confectioners Association. \u201cThey bring with them a certain amount of hometown pride \u2026 since they sell the products they make in the back of the store right up front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escazu\u2019s success has allowed it be picky about the future. The partners recently quashed plans to move alongside Market Restaurant and Yellow Dog Bakery in the Person Street retail center two blocks away. Developers failed to meet Escazu\u2019s timeline. Now, they\u2019ll wait until the right deal comes along.<\/p>\n

A lease was renewed for another year in March. They hope to self-finance the move when the right property becomes available.<\/p>\n

Parson and Centeno hope to double the existing 1,600 square feet. They\u2019d like room to add more equipment sourced from overseas and a larger retail shop and hot chocolate bar to serve loyal customers and attract even more.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The inside of Escazu, located on Blount Street. Photo by Karen Tam.<\/p><\/div>\n

They plan for more storage and prep space, and sophisticated and professional d\u00e9cor this time around. And perhaps someone besides Parson will operate the forklift required to move the roaster and grinder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a place that will allow us to make as much as we want to make and grow as much as we want to grow,\u201d Centeno said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raleigh\u2019s homegrown chocolate company Escazu is ready to expand, but waiting for the right space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24062,"featured_media":19090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[42,15,23],"tags":[1233,1234],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24062"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}