Coming Soon!

In an effort to be better bloggers, we have taken a little time off to create some exciting topics to write about.  We are almost finished compiling our list. Stay on the look-out for some exciting new posts.  Some include a "Blast from the Past" series,  Cocoa Dolce "in house" traditions, "Get the Know the Staff" series and much more!  

Cocktails & Cookies

For the second year now, we have participated in an event called "Cocktails and Cookies".  It benefits the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland.  Their event is the culmination of another successful cooking-selling season.  Since half of our staff was a Girl Scout at one point or another...it's hard to say no to participating in this event.  Plus...who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies!!

The event promotes the Girl Scout cookies for that season.  Each chef is asked to create some sort of dessert using cookies.  The "hardest" part about this event is having to taste test each possible dessert.  Someone's gotta do it...right?!?

This time, we decided to do something a little different than last year.  (Last year we made a Trio of Mousses in Chocolate Cordial Cups) We decided to make a cookie with 9 layers.  We named our creation "The Kitchen Sink and the Baby Too!"  

The night of the event went well.  We heard great things about our dessert.  We even had people in the crowd trying to help us "woo" the judges. One lady, in particular, wanted to make sure the ABC Cookie Executive ate our dessert right in front of us.   The judges eventually did a Top Chef-type judging table and discussed each participants dessert to the crowd.  I believe the words "decadence on steroids" was mentioned when describing ours! 

Although we didn't win any prizes, we were nothing but positive compliments from the judges!  

We were happy to be a part of such a fun evening that benefited a great organization!  

Here is the recipe...in case you wanted to give it a whirl!!

Kitchen Sink Cookie Bar

1 sleeve of shortbread cookie crumbs

1 sleeve of shout-out cookie crumbs

½ cup melted butter

Combine crumbs with melted butter and press into bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan.

1 cup chocolate chips (70% the best)

1 box Caramel Delites—cut in 1/8s

1 box Peanut Butter Patties—cut in 1/8s

Layer these in the pan, then top with:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Add:  1 1/3 cups coconut and 1 cup chopped pecans.

Pat the coconut and pecans down into the sweetened condensed milk.  Bake at 350 degrees for 32 minutes.

Cut and drizzle with milk and bittersweet chocolate!  Makes approximately 90 one-inch servings.

Until next time...that's the Sweet Stuff!!

Introducing the Two Newest Members of the Cocoa Dolce Family!

Happy 2011!  Where did January and February go?  In a heartfelt effort to post some interesting content on our blog this year, here is my attempt. 

I get regular inquiries about how we develop new products and flavors.  It’s really pretty simple…we brainstorm and then we experiment.  A great example would be our new artisan bar flavors launching next week.  When we started our bar line, the first few were easy—solid milk, white and bittersweet chocolate and the obvious additional almond variations.  Then it got a little more interesting…based on staff discussions, we brainstormed additional chocolate amendments—cherries, raisins, peanuts, hazelnuts, etc., etc., etc.

 

Then the really hard work began.  We had to taste test these combinations—tough work, but someone had to do it!  After exhausting testing we chose our winners and produced them for sale.  Now let’s flash to fall of 2010.  At least once a season, we look at our sales trends and assess objectively AND subjectively our winners and losers.  One of the pillars of Cocoa Dolce is a commitment to creating great tasting chocolate confections that make our customers happy.  Sometimes even when we think we have a winner you, our real voters, tell us differently.

That leads me to our new flavor launch.  After our last rigorous analysis of which of our kids failed 5^th grade, we found a couple of drop-outs.  After looking at flavor trends and, quite frankly, what our staff palates dictate, we proudly announce our two new bar flavors:  grey salt caramel in 57% bittersweet Belgian chocolate and toffee in Belgian milk chocolate. 

So here’s the scoop:  grey salt caramel bar--we made a fresh soft caramel and added French grey sea salt while it was cooling.  Once cooled to room temperature, we piped it into a bittersweet bar shell and then filled the rest of the bar with bittersweet chocolate.  When we break this bar into sections, it cracks and this delicious salted soft caramel oozes out…be still my heart!   Bar #2--we LOVE toffee and think that we make some of the best English toffee around.  So we crushed our buttery toffee base and mixed it with our premium Belgian milk chocolate.  It seems to us that we have a real keeper with this flavor combination…crunchy and sweet.

grey salt caramel bar

crushed toffee bar

Who could resist?  We hope you can’t!  Here’s to you loving our new kids.  If you do, drop us a line and let us know.  In the meantime, have a great March and here’s to dreaming big!

Beth

Autumn & Art 2010

Autumn & Art Blog

We had our first concession stand experience this weekend at a new Bradley Fair event, Autumn and Art. The event took place behind the shopping center, along the lake. Artists came from all over the country to show off their work and we were one of several Bradley Fair food vendors represented in the food tent.

8 AM Saturday arrived very early after a fun night at the VIP Preview Party Friday night. Everyone enjoyed great food, music and a chance to get a shot at the art prior to the public opening. 

Our decision to sell chocolate, Italian sodas and gelato turned out to be a bit of a challenge in the 90+ degree weather, but with our amazing ice machine and the use of dry ice, we made it work.  We had a great turnout on Saturday; our Palazzolo’s gelato and refreshing Italian sodas did a great job refreshing the visitors while they strolled through the show.

Highlights of the weekend included college graduates try to count change (we didn’t even use a calculator) and watching Jay (Beth’s husband and Cocoa Dolce right-hand man ) transport and entertain us with his frequent ice runs in which he filled his large hiking backpack with bags of ice. 

Year one down! Next year...less gelato, lower temps and case quantities of club soda! ~ Just a bit of flavor!

Santo Caffeina!

Holy Caffeine!  I'm so excited right now!  Last week, we proudly rolled out our own line of artisan coffee!  As a small business owner, a challenge over time is to keep things fresh and exciting.  It's often easier for me to think of chocolate innovation, but this time the opportunity came to our hip little lounge.  Through a serendipitous convergence of business relationships and family connections, Mountain Goat coffee came calling.

A subsidiary company of a local restaurant chain, Mountain Goat Coffee is the real deal.  When these guys decided roasting their own coffee would yield better profitability as well as quality for their restaurants, they became coffee experts.  They traveled, studied and practiced.  And our paths crossed!

After three cuppings (intense coffee tastings) with customers, family and staff--we felt like we were onto something amazing!  Tasty, nuanced and smooth, the feedback was fantastic and the buzz began!  In addition to joining forces with such creative coffee artisans, we also got a chance to develop and visually brand a new addition to the Cocoa Dolce family of products.  Since we are blessed with so many creative and talented staffers, I gave much of the branding decision to my right AND left-hand adviser's, Angie and Amber.  In collaboration with our dream designer, Paul Fountain.

So how did we do?  Coffee has been roasted, packaged and consumed since almost the beginning of time.  It's hard to reinvent any aspect of coffee...but let's see how we did?? How about this for a label design??

The Cocoa Dolce Think Tank came up with the tag line:  Shattering Expectations!  And look at the cup!  Paul came up with this idea to carefully break one of our coffee mugs and then show the coffee bursting out of the cup.  Genius!  

And the rest is the beginning of history.  Sales are great, customers are happy and we have these really cool new products to talk about.  So if you see any of us, ask us about our coffee!

Academy Awards

Well okay, not THE Academy Awards, but certainly as small businesses go, one of the highest honors bestowed!  On May 17^th, Jay and I flew to Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Summit.  At this event, it was to be revealed which of seven businesses from around the U.S. would be awarded the Small Business of the Year Award. 

From the moment we set foot in the Omni Shoreham Hotel, we were treated like royalty.  Since 1930, the Shoreham has been host to presidents, world leaders and inaugural balls.  We should have known we were in for a great experience when at registration we were recognized and directed us U.S. Chamber literature table where we saw the following…a promotional poster for the Small Business Network!

After that thrill, we went to check into our room which turned out to be a beautiful suite complete with wine, macaroons and chocolate.  I think we could easily make a pitch for their in-room chocolate amenity, but otherwise, it was amazing!  We had about an hour before the first 'official' event of the week would begin.  We were invited to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building for a welcome cocktail party.  We had heard there was a great photo op there, but had NO idea what that might be.  When we walked in, once again we were immediately recognized by one of the wonderful U.S. Chamber staff who ushered us to the elevator for our rooftop photo.  Okay, for those of you who haven't visited D.C., every building in the downtown is a huge, stately limestone structure with columns, tons of dark wood everywhere and marble where it's not wood.  So off to the elevator for our photo.  So in addition to the beautiful building, the neighborhood doesn't suck either!

We could actually see Secret Service on the back portico and I think if I'd shouted, they would have pointed their guns at us!  It was amazing and so cool!


The cocktail party was a total blast...sorry I can't locate my photo standing on the podium acting like a dork.  I also got a chance to be interviewed by Free Enterprise.com for their upcoming media campaign.  Haven't seen it yet, but we'll keep you posted.  So after a glass or ten of wine at the cocktail party, we made our way back to the hotel for a little rest and relaxation before the awards ceremony on Tuesday.  Of course, I couldn't sleep and weirdly enough found Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on late-night TV.  How perfect!!


Tuesday morning began with a private breakfast for the 75 Blue Ribbon Finalists.  Delicious food, fascinating attendees and a photo op.  This is Jay and I receiving our finalist certificate presented by Tom Donahue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Of course, I stepped on my dress going up the stairs and made a bit of an entrance not captured in this photo.

  

After breakfast, Jay and I sort of hung out and visited with several of the other Regional Finalists we had met at breakfast.  I found it amazing that regardless of the business each nominee conducted, the passion and commitment to their business was consistent.  Bright, interesting individuals from all over the country--awesome! 
During the morning, Jay gave me a gift from our Cocoa Dolce family...hilarious, charming and totally heartwarming.  It made me cry because I had so wished that the whole gang could be with us that day.  And the best part?  The message was, "win or lose, we still booze."  Highly inappropriate in so many ways, but it made me laugh and broke some of the tension.  The gang also included a $20 bill so that I could buy Jay and I a drink when the event was over.  Perfect!


Time flew and suddenly we were in the main ballroom for rehearsal of the awards ceremony.  This is when it began to really feel like a big deal.  All seven finalists met and we were walked through coming onto the stage, hitting our mark (yes, there was actually tape where we were supposed to stop!) and exiting smoothly. 

Next thing we knew, we were front and center at our table sharing it with Sam's Club executives, U.S. Chamber executives, Phyllis Robertson from the Wichita Metro Chamber and a couple of American Airlines marketing executives.  I got so nervous--sweaty palms, nauseous and fidgety. I probably re-applied my lipstick 50 times in the time leading up to the awards.  And then it was our turn.  We were in a huge ballroom and there were floor to ceiling screens on either side of the stage for the people in the cheap seats.  It was unreal.  Our video started to play and people in the room started to cheer (well actually, we had made friends with most of Texas the night before and they became our cheerleaders).  It stood up and began the walk to the stage--made it up the stairs, hit my mark, received my Regional Finalist award, shook hands and was able to exit the stage without injury! 

Then the drum roll.....the winner of the 2010 U.S. Chamber Dream  Big Small Business of the Year...Fintech!  You know, I was thrilled for them.  Jay and I could not have been happier for the whole Fintech family.  Great business, great people!

This whole experience made us feel like Rockstars!  You know what the most satisfying part of this summit was?  Being able to represent Wichita and Kansas at-large and to receive such validation that our dreams and hard work mean something beyond our personal scope.  


Now the fire is lit...I want to come back to Washington, D.C. in 2011 and WIN this thing!  Who's with us?  


Until next time, Dream Big!!

A Brush with Fame

I recently received a call from Debbie Kennedy, the Executive Director of the Alumni Association at Wichita State University.  She was planning a surprise visit with the famous, local celebrity, WU, to our store to meet and take pictures with Beth.  Debbie was representing the Alumni Association in congratulating and recognizing Beth and Cocoa Dolce as a Regional Finalist in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards.

Through several phone conversations and e-mails back and forth, we finally decided on a specific Wednesday evening for the "surprise attack".  This was a perfect night because Beth was supposed to be moderating one of our beer nights that we feature each month.  And, from the picture perspective, I knew Beth would be a little more "clean cut" and have "chocolate free" clothing rather than a normal evening of working in the kitchen all day and then dropping off chocolates.  It was the perfect plan....

Until Beth calls in SICK!!!!

So, Debbie and I went back to square one.  We picked another day and had it officially on our calender.  I told Beth she would be meeting with a potential new wholesale client named William Unruh.  Pretty clever, the initials W.U.  It made all of us chuckle as to how inventive we were!

Beth came in that morning and was helping me get together some samples and packaging ideas for our new client because "I just ran out of time" to do it myself.  She was quickly grabbing chocolates, packaging items and getting paperwork ready.  She was so busy getting these items together when WU came in and tapped her on her shoulder!!

She was completely surprised!  There was a short photo session with WU and Beth, which also included a discussion about chocolate.  Take a look at this little Brush of Fame!

And that's the Sweet Stuff!!