Happy New Year!

When each New Year begins, we have a chance to look back at our accomplishments as well as our mishaps. We have a chance to see what we did great and what can be done differently. The New Year allows us for a new beginning.

At Cocoa Dolce, we also looked at this New Year as a new beginning. We are excited for what 2012 has in store for us. But, before we got ahead of ourselves in planning for the future, we reflected on how the days of 2011 helped us grow into the business we are today.

As we talked about what a great year 2011 was, we decided to find out what our top sellers were. The Top 5 Items are listed below!

Thanks again for making 2011 Chocolate-filled!  Here’s to a great 2012!!

1.Caffe Mocha
2. Caffe de Cocoa Coffee
3. Latte
4. Mexican Hot Chocolate
5. Cappucino

1. 57% with Grey Salt
2. Solid Milk
3. Milk with Peanut Butter
4. Milk with Almonds
5. Single Origin Java

1. Vino Cobos Felino Malbec 2009
2. Lioco Sonoma County Cardonnay 2008
3. Small Gully Mr. Black’s Concoction 2006
4. Elio Perrone Sourgal Moscato Biano 2010
5. Lindemans Frambroise

1. Champagne
2. Crème Brulee
3. Salted Caramel
4. Mayan
5. Strawberry Balsamic



'Tis the Season

It's NEVER too early to start thinking about your holiday orders! 

Newest Members of the Cocoa Dolce Family

We are happy to introduce two new members of our Cocoa Dolce Family!  These bundles of joy arrived in October. We are so happy to have them in our "extended family".  We'll have more of their stories after their moms and dads can catch up on sleep and get used to being first-time parents.  Congrats James and Molly and Leah and Ben on these amazing new little ones! 

Adelaide Noel Tully
Born October 12th at 3:28 pm
10 lbs 13 oz
20.5 inches long

Ethan James Jung
Born October 22nd at 1:25 pm
6 lbs 9 oz
19.25 inches long

Guest Writer--Palazzolo's Artisan Gelato and Sorbetto

We decided we wanted to have select "outsiders" write on our blog.  In an effort to get a different perspective on some of our products, chocolates classes, wine/beer tastings, etc...we will have periodic blogs from those outside the official "Cocoa Dolce Family". 

Davie Seidel, the Head of Accounts and Business Development with Palazzolo's Artisan Gelato and Sorbetto, is a great example of this.  He was the first person we talked to about the possibility of carrying Palazzolo's products in our store.  Thank you, Dave, for taking the time to tell us his version of this story...

Roasted Pistachio

White Chocolate Raspberry

I hadn't been working with Pete Palazzolo for very long when Beth Tully rang in. Actually...I think the first call was from her husband. He was doing some checking around for her as they were looking for a good gelato manufacturer and a quality gelato display source. Luckily...we're both!

After he understood that our gelato is from all real and perishable ingredients...(versus the artificial and powder-based ingredients that most of the other manufacturers rely on)...he cleared the way for his wife.

 The next contact from Cocoa Dolce was Beth. Gotta love Beth! I simply informed her of our products and our ability to produce whatever our customers want...and she was quickly up and running. I remember thinking...well...this should be a fun job if other customers like the Tully's keep calling. And they have. We're truly not salesman over here...we simply answer the phone and offer up the information.

Join us if you can and we'll have as long a relationship as we're currently enjoying with Cocoa Dolce.


Thanks again Dave!!  Until next time....that's the sweet stuff!  You can find out more about Palazzolo's by checking our their website www.4gelato.com. 

Blast from the Past--Hello/Good-bye Parties

The Hello/Goodbye Party came up on us quick this year.  It’s the party we have right before our college-bound girls leave and after we have hired our new employees. It sounds like a great idea but it always comes around the time when everyone is taking last minute summer vacations and we really don’t have enough hours for new employees. Inevitably, it ends up being more like a Goodbye Party than a Hello/Goodbye but it’s always a good time to get everyone together, regardless.

This is the one party of the year that is Potluck style. Everyone is assigned a dish and Cocoa pays for the main course (this year, it was hotdogs and hamburgers that Mr. Frederick nicely grilled for us). Traditionally, we always try to play a game and have some prizes. The main game this year was a rendition of the Bobby Bones’ Show “Name That Tune” where someone reads the lyrics of a song in a normal tone and everyone guesses the song title and artist. (It’s actually a lot harder than you think but is super entertaining when people realize the song afterwards and beat themselves up about not knowing it beforehand).  

Although it’s fun and games and relaxing with co-workers at a non-work event, it’s also sad to realize that several members of our Cocoa Dolce Family are leaving us. It’s hard to grasp the thought of these young, semi-mature girls we hired just a couple years ago are actually grown up enough to go out into the real world on their own. We hope that they will always take a little bit of Cocoa Dolce with them wherever they go. 

Until next time...that's just a bit of flavor!

Blast from the Past--Christmas Parties

December is the month that we prepare for all year long. It’s a love-hate relationship leading up to Christmas with all of the early morning prep, the never-ending line of customers, making (what feels like) 100 hot chocolates a day and trying to stay on top of the chocolate inventory. Nevertheless, there is ironically always a sense of cheer during this month despite all the craziness. It’s sort of a month-long practice run for what Valentine’s Day will be in just a couple months. It’s literally a huge sigh of relief when Christmas Eve rolls around and we can finally relax.


The excitement comes a couple weeks later when we arrive at the Cocoa Dolce Christmas Party. This party is the main event of our year. It’s the first time we actually get to see our fellow workers with their hair down, a time to get both the kitchen and retail staff together, a time for delicious food, great drinks, touching speeches and awesome presents!

Even though I didn’t start working at Cocoa until after the first Christmas Party, I have seen it grow so much in the last 5 years. So much that we now have the entire backroom of Chester’s Chophouse instead of just a few tables lined up in the “normal” seating. It’s kind of like our own VIP party back there. We have expanded the party to fiancés, husbands and wives and have introduced fun trivia and games, along with a raffle of prizes. It’s the perfect way to celebrate a year’s worth of accomplishments with the staff that helped get us to where we are today.  I’m looking forward to it already!

Until next time...that's Just a bit of Flavor!

Just trying to take a group picture takes more organizations!!  (2010)

One of the first Christmas Parties! 

Blast from the Past--Sitting at the Big Kid's Table

At every holiday gathering, when the entire family was over at the house, we were always at different tables. You know, the “adult table” and the “kid table”. My cousin’s and I were always so jealous of the adult table because it looked like they were always having so much fun. By the time some of us were old enough to sit at the “big kid’s table”, as we nicknamed the “adult table”, it was like our dinner tasted so much different. After all, we had finally made it to the Big Kid’s Table!!


In a similar story, we (Cocoa Dolce) thought we had made it to the Big Kid’s Table (of the candy world) when we exhibited at the Fancy Food Show in January 2011. This is one of the major specialty food shows held in the United States. It has over 17,000 show attendees throughout the weekend with around 1,500 exhibitors. This was a big difference for our exhibiting past experiences here in Wichita.

The preparation for this show is crazy! We wanted to make sure we had enough literature and samples for everyone that may be interested in us. And, we didn’t want to look like we had just pulled our booth display out of the trunk of our car…so, we went through the process of getting a custom display made.

So, we were off to the show in San Francisco.

Luckily, our hotel was just a couple blocks away from where the show was held. I mention this because we had to carry all of our display pieces, samples and literature to the show. And here’s the “kicker”, we literally had to CARRY everything. There was some rule about not using any rolling items. So, here we are, looking like the Clampit’s from Beverly Hillbiliies, carrying boxes and display pieces down this street in San Francisco. Yep…we really looked cool!

Within a few hours, our booth was ready to go. The show lasted 3 days. We got several compliments on our booth, our colors and even our staff clothing. Whether it was the main food buyer at Nordstrom’s or a local coffee shop owner in Massachusetts….we talked to everyone that walked by.

We went into this trip hoping we would make some great connections with different vendors and potential customers. Although we didn’t catch our “big break”, it was a great first time experience of exhibiting at a major candy show…and sitting at the “Big Kids Table”.