May 22, 2024 • 19 mins
Who knew a mishap in the kitchen could lead to a chocolatey revolution? Rob Lawson, co-founder of Sweet Ashley's Chocolatier, joins us to recount the luscious tale of transforming an accident into the legend that is Schuylkill Mud—a toffee, peanut butter, pretzel, and potato chip sensation. With nearly two decades of crafting confections, Rob and his wife Connie have not just made chocolates; they've woven their family's heart and soul into a business that celebrates their daughter's namesake. This episode is a testament to the endurance of a dream sparked in Connie's Girl Scout days and nurtured through every obstacle, including the stormy seas of a pandemic. Rob gives us an inside look at their triumphs, the creativity that fuels their shop, and the importance of balancing business with family values, like closing doors on a bustling day to attend their child's graduation.
Step behind the counter of local charm where the aroma of cocoa mingles with the laughter of customers, and every almond is a spicy surprise waiting to tickle your palate. This episode is a cozy chat about the importance of an in-store experience that internet shopping can't replicate and the thoughtful attention that goes into every personalized package of chocolates—perfect for all gift-giving occasions. We even uncover a health secret: dark chocolate might just be your next cough suppressant! So, if your sweet tooth is calling, or you're moved by stories of small businesses with big hearts, you'll want to savor every moment of our conversation with Rob Lawson and perhaps get inspired to place an order for their all-time favorite, chocolate-covered strawberries—just be sure to call ahead!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we are, another episode on the best of the best.
Therese, who do you have herewith you today?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I have a sweet visitor today.
See what I did there.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I have Rob Lawson from Sweet Ashley's Chocolatier
and he is the best chocolatierout there.
So, him and his wife, amazing.
So, rob, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So I'm Rob Lawson, my wife and I own sweet ashley's
chocolate in roars ford,limerick, whatever you want to
call it um right on the border.
Right on the border um, weopened up in november of 2005,
so we're coming up on our 20thanniversary unbelievable um, and
the business sweet ash's isnamed after our daughter, who is
(00:47):
now 25.
Time flies.
We actually named the businessafter her when she was eight
months old, so technically we'vebeen in business 24 years but
had the store now for almost 20.
We started out on Main Streetin Roersford.
It's been 20 years of ups anddowns and all arounds, and the
(01:08):
market and COVID so many thingsthat I thought we would never
see and or experience.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I think it's interesting.
We met over 20 years ago andbecame friends from Rivercrest
right and then, of course, thenthe chamber and all the
networking groups and all thesethings that we did and we just
love what they do and they've somany new products.
But I was going to say onething before we got started.
I thought it was interestingwhen you just said it's named
after your daughter.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And that was 20 years ago, and we named a racehorse
after our daughter.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That's correct.
20 years ago.
We're both coming up on ouranniversary at the same time, so
see folks there's somethingabout naming your child, right.
Absolutely, and the things wedo for our kids you know.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I thought that was pretty funny.
Um, but why don't you tell themabout this one?
My daughter's favoritechocolate is Schuylkill mud.
The Schuylkill mud We've got totalk about Schuylkill mud,
because we're talking about thebest of the best, and this is by
far.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah.
So Schuylkill mud is aninteresting thing.
Um, it's really taken off.
It's become over the years, ourmost popular piece.
Um, for forever pretzels wereour most popular.
I'm going to say in the lasttwo years probably, the mud has
now surpassed pretzels.
It's the best mistake that weever made.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I love it Tell us about this mistake.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So we used to make a product it was a pretzel that
had toffee bits on top.
But the problem with toffee isif it's exposed to air it starts
to get soft.
Now I recently learned that Iguess some people like soft
toffee.
That's not our jam.
We like it crunchy.
So in an effort to fix thatproblem, my wife had the idea of
(02:57):
dipping the pretzels, puttingthe toffee on, letting it set up
and then re-dipping to coverthe toffee.
It created two problems A, thepretzel piece was entirely too
large.
Okay, Yep yep, it was a meal atthat point, not a snack, but in
the meantime a lot of bits oftoffee dropped off into the
(03:20):
kettle.
Oh, okay, so here she did a run.
Now we're looking at a kettlethat had at the time, I mean, it
wasn't a ton, but it was like10 pounds of chocolate in it
with all this toffee mixed in.
Well, we didn't want to throwit away, sure, so we just
started adding things.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And tell us what's in there.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So the Schuylkill Mud ?
It's a combination of toffee,peanut butter, pretzel and
potato chip.
Oh God that sounds so good.
Salty, sweet and crunchy.
You know it covers all the foodgroups.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yes, it does.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
It does and it's just taken off.
I'm going to say it wasprobably maybe 10 years ago that
we actually trademarked thename, Because in the chocolate
world there's not much you cancall your own.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Everybody makes buttercreams.
Everybody makes caramels,salted caramels we're the only
ones that make skugelmutt,skugelmutt.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I love it and it's so relatable.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Right Right now, we're actually in the process of
trying to come up with someequipment to help us make more
of it faster.
Currently, to date, my wifeConnie she is the only one that
makes the mud and she handdollops all of it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Oh my gosh and we're talking thousands upon thousands
of pounds well, I think weshould take a moment to talk
about connie right, because sheis amazing.
She's an amazing businesswomantoo, um, but very creative she
is.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
She's definitely the creative force behind it.
Um, we wouldn't have any ofthis without her, because my
career was in the golf industry.
So far from chocolate.
Yes, now I make a lot ofchocolate.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
This was her passion.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
This was her passion.
As the story goes, she justnaturally knew how to make
chocolate, and it all startedwhen she was in Girl Scouts.
I think and don't hold me to it, I think she was nine years old
or something like that on aGirl Scout trip, and that's when
it started.
And that's when it all started.
(05:25):
So, it's been a long journey,you know, and then the business
kind of evolved from there Well,flash forward, we got married,
had Ashley.
Where well, flash forward, wegot married, had Ashley and my
wife always made chocolate forthe holidays for our family as
gifts, you know, gift baskets.
(05:46):
We were poor, yeah, been there.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
done that A very young couple with a child.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You know we didn't have a whole lot of money for
gifts so we figured we'd makeeverybody their gifts.
She was in the restaurantindustry at the time and she got
out of the restaurant industry,ended up in pharma and we had
money.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Really cool.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So we bought everybody gifts.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And they were like we want our chocolate.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Everybody was so mad.
I have an uncle who's animposing figure and Christmas
was at his house and he actuallybanished us pretty much to the
living room where nobody was,because we didn't have his
chocolate.
So you know, not long afterthat, my wife was struggling
(06:40):
with some of the corporatethings going on, got passed up
on a couple of promotions andwasn't satisfied.
We'll say so.
We just said all right, youknow what, and at the time I
think we were in our early 30swe said if we don't do this now,
we may never do it.
Obviously, people like it.
There's a demand.
We got banished at Christmas.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, that's a good measure.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So we started looking for a store, we saw a spot on
Main Street that looked perfect.
As fate would have it.
Our original location on MainStreet was actually a candy
store in the 50s.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Oh really, yes, I did not know that it was called
Miller's Candies.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Okay.
So it kind of went full circle.
We walked in the building.
There's scalloped shelves andvery much the feel that we were
looking for, and when talking tothe landlord, whose family had
owned the building since the 60s, he informed us that it was a
candy store.
So we're like, all right, thisis meant to be.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It's like meant to be .
Speaker 1 (07:38):
This is perfect.
You know, as time went on, wegrew, space was getting to be an
issue.
Parking was a challenge.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Even space for production.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Space for production.
Wow, that still hasn't moved.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Okay, still there.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, that's not on main street.
Production is actually on lewisroad.
Okay, um but um, we decidedit's time to to move up I love
it.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
It's a success story um well, we're still still
growing, still growing I love itis your daughter involved in
the business at all.
So, ashley doesn't have a ton ofinterest um in the business.
I can say that one thing Iwould probably change we had to
do it all over again.
I don't know that I would opena store, um with my daughter's
(08:30):
name on it within the schooldistrict.
Yes, that she goes to school,yeah, no, kids can be um, and I
think it was a little bit of aturn off.
Now, as she's gotten older, um,you know, she graduates college
, um, finally okay, nice in maymay 10th, I think.
Um, she's starting to come back.
(08:50):
Yeah, like she'll help us outbehind the scenes.
Okay, um, social media stuff,which is something that she's
going to school for.
And you know, more paperwork,computer type stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
She's getting a little bit of the bug.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
She's getting a little bit of bug of it.
And she also, you know, as ourkids mature, she's becoming
fully aware that she's been ableto do the things that she's
able to do because of ourbusiness.
So you know it helps.
It's coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I like it yay right, such a good thing.
I saw you brought somechocolates with you.
I did.
We were at an event this, uh,the last few weeks, and it was
for pope john paul high school.
It was called savor the flavor,and you're there every year.
You're a great supporter oflocal businesses, I must say,
but we ever need something for acharity event.
(09:43):
You're always there, you know,helping out with a basket or
whatever the case may be verygenerous.
Um, one of our agents was there, netty, and she tried the
chocolate that you had there tosample and you had a bunch of
different ones, but the one inparticular were
chocolate-covered almonds withcayenne.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
With cayenne.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Oh my God.
So a little bit of heat to them.
They are so good.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit of heat to them.
I actually bought some, andI'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
you told me when you eat one, just wait until it's
done, and then, when it wasfinished, you get this little
pop of heat.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You get the heat Now heat's a relative thing, yeah.
So what you and I might thinkis not too hot, somebody else
might.
Somebody else runs for the milk, you know, after they eat it.
That's why I always have peoplesample this piece in our store
To make sure.
Well, I'm a big believer.
I don't want to sell somethingthat somebody is not going to.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's what makes you super successful?
I mean really, because how manypeople you know?
In this day and age, it's gotto be about the consumer.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Absolutely there's, so many choices, right.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
People can order online, they can do all kinds of
things, but you don't get theservice, you don't get the
attention to detail, you don'tget the care that you just
talked about.
When you order something onlineand it's so nice to walk into
the store and just see what'sthere and I mean Easter at your
store is like Christmas to meLove it.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Oh, you want me to try one of these little suckers?
I'd like to try a piece.
That's the cayenne almond.
You can?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
hear me chew them.
Sorry, out there I'm chewing.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Oh, oh, my goodness so good, and then he'll hit you
in a second.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
It's not there, yet it's coming right.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Um so good case in point, though.
Yeah, customer service is ahuge thing for us.
Um, you know, with mybackground in the golf industry,
that was all about customerservice.
Yes, um being at private clubsand whatnot, and that carries
over my wife in the restaurantindustry.
Same thing, customer serviceand our business let's face it
hinges on people coming back.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
That's right, that's right.
You know it's not a one-timedeal and telling other people.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And I'm not trying to pull anything away from real
estate because I know you try toget repeat business too, but
people aren't buying homes everyweek.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I wish It'd be great.
It'd be great right.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
In our case, we need those people to come back on the
regular.
We do have our once a yearcustomers, which is fine.
That's all good.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But there's so many occasions where people could use
chocolate instead of flowersthat die and any of those types
of things, so it's a greathousewarming gift.
There's just so many awesomeways that you can use it and you
have a lot of really awesomeways of packaging things so you
can customize.
Maybe talk about that a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So, yes, we do all of our packaging as well.
We do work with box companiesthat will hot stamp the boxes
with logos.
We also have a product that alot of people don't even realize
we have it because maybe Idon't do a good enough job of
promoting it Well you're goingto do it right now, but we
actually create our own box topsin-house in full color.
(12:54):
Oh, we are.
As far as I know, we are theonly company in the country
that's subscribed to thisproduct.
Okay, we were at a candy show anumber of years ago and the
gentleman was there as a vendorand he had this product.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Essentially, it's almost like think of it like a
vehicle wrap, okay, where it'sphoto paper that's adhesive on
the back end of it, but it's diecut to fit our box tops so I
can take any image, pretty muchany image, and put it on a box
top so all my agents that arelistening right now, oh,
(13:32):
absolutely great, greathousewarming present, as you
said, chocolate's the easiestgift out there it is, and, and
most people like I mean if youdon't like chocolate.
I think you might be weird butthat's okay.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
95% of Americans like chocolate.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I must say I had that almond and you're right, I ate
it.
And then, about maybe 30seconds later, I started to feel
the heat in the back of mymouth and I was like oh, this is
really good.
It's the gift that keeps ongiving.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Right, a little fun fact, since we're talking about
how stuff dissolves andeverything else Dark chocolate
is a tremendous coughsuppressant.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
You're kidding.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
No, we actually just learned it a couple years ago
from the news.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I'd rather eat that than cough syrup Right, tastes a
little bit better.
And now I know with Conniewhenever she struggles with
allergies and stuff and whenevershe has a little bit of a cough
dark chocolate.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I'm glad you told me that that's an awesome tip,
right?
Yes, that's a great tip.
So tell everyone where you'relocated so that they know where
your storefront is, where theycan come get some chocolate.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So we are at 70 Buckwalter Road.
It's the Limerick SquareShopping Center.
So we are at 70 Buckwalter Road.
It's the Limerick SquareShopping Center.
We just actually had a newChipotle added to our shopping
center, so Chipotle is rightnext door to us.
Nice, we're the first storewhen you come in the shopping
center to kind of face TexasRoadhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's a really great shopping center.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
The shopping center has really come around.
It's a really great shoppingcenter.
The shopping center has reallycome around.
When we first opened there I'mnot going to say it was a dead
shopping center- but it wasstruggling a little bit.
The anchor wasn't there and nowwe have the Urban Air in there
and I think there's only one ortwo vacancies.
That's amazing.
When we moved in, I think therewas nine.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So it's right off the exit of 422 at Royer Sports so
it's so easy to get to.
You can pop in there.
They always have a greatinventory and ready to go.
You can also order ahead oftime.
So if you know what you want, Iwould suggest doing that,
because then when you get thereit's all ready.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yes, especially at the holidays.
I highly encourage people to doonline ordering for in-store
pickup, mainly for items thatare very specific for the
holidays.
Easter is probably the bestexample.
We'll say peanut butter eggsYep.
Even though I make thousands ofpeanut butter eggs, we do run
(15:56):
out, yep, and we hit a point intime where we stop making them.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You run out of time Because I don't want to have too
many left over.
Unfortunately, even though Imight have made a peanut butter
egg the day before Easter andit's good for six months the day
after Easter nobody wants it,right, right?
So we've learned over the yearsto you know what our numbers
should be and produceaccordingly.
However, retail's a ficklething.
(16:21):
You never know when people arecoming in what they're going to
buy, because people are fickle.
People are fickle, right.
So this year everybody mighthave bought.
This happens a lot between thevanilla cream eggs and the
coconut eggs.
One year coconut outsellsvanilla, the next year vanilla
outsells coconut.
From a manufacturing standpoint, it's a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I don't discriminate against any of those three.
I like all of them.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
The peanut butter, the coconut and the cream,
they're all great and that's howit should be.
That's right, that's how itshould be.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I agree with you Mother's Day is coming.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Mother's Day is coming, and actually I'll use
this as an opportunity to blastit out there as well.
Bad news is, we are going to beclosed the day before Mother's
Day.
What yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
that Saturday before Mother's.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Day, and it's only because of Ashley's graduation.
Okay, she's graduating college,we're not going to miss it, so
you have to get your stuff early.
We're encouraging everybody tocome in by Friday.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
You have the chocolate-covered strawberries,
right?
Do you do those?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Strawberries we do on an order basis.
We do make them all year long,but because the shelf life is
only about a day and a half, wejust strictly do them by order.
So as long as we know, by theday before.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Okay, they're so good , you have to try them Right.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So if you like, chocolate cup of strawberries.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They're a great gift for mom.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
They're a great gift for any holiday, but make sure
order those ahead of timebecause they do have a smaller,
short life.
It's extremely short so, butyeah, no, so we're going to be
closed that day.
However, leading up to it willbe open and fully stocked and
and ready to go.
It's um, you know, I've had mystaff.
I have a couple staff membersthat were willing to work that
day and the way my wife and Ioperate it potentially can be a
very, very busy day, which we'redisappointed not to have that.
(18:04):
But, once again, our kid onlygraduated college once.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And they offered to work that day and we kind of
decided, we made the decisionnot to.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Just because we don't want to set our staff up for
potential failure.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You know what I mean.
They're our family, even thoughthey're not blood Right.
Right.
They've been with us quite sometime and we value them.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, that's something that sets you apart as
well the caring level that youboth have for the business, for
your craft, but for the peoplethat come into your shop and the
ones that work for you, I thinkthat is something super special
.
So how can everybody get intouch with you?
Do you have a website?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So the website's wwwsweetashleyscom, or you can
always give us a call610-948-1085.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Rob, thank you so much.
The best of the best.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I'm going to eat some more of this chocolate.
Yeah, we have to have somealmonds.
Thank you.
Here we are, another episode on the best of the best.
Therese, who do you have herewith you today?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I have a sweet visitor today.
See what I did there.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I have Rob Lawson from Sweet Ashley's Chocolatier
and he is the best chocolatierout there.
So, him and his wife, amazing.
So, rob, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So I'm Rob Lawson, my wife and I own sweet ashley's
chocolate in roars ford,limerick, whatever you want to
call it um right on the border.
Right on the border um, weopened up in november of 2005,
so we're coming up on our 20thanniversary unbelievable um, and
the business sweet ash's isnamed after our daughter, who is
(00:47):
now 25.
Time flies.
We actually named the businessafter her when she was eight
months old, so technically we'vebeen in business 24 years but
had the store now for almost 20.
We started out on Main Streetin Roersford.
It's been 20 years of ups anddowns and all arounds, and the
(01:08):
market and COVID so many thingsthat I thought we would never
see and or experience.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I think it's interesting.
We met over 20 years ago andbecame friends from Rivercrest
right and then, of course, thenthe chamber and all the
networking groups and all thesethings that we did and we just
love what they do and they've somany new products.
But I was going to say onething before we got started.
I thought it was interestingwhen you just said it's named
after your daughter.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And that was 20 years ago, and we named a racehorse
after our daughter.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
That's correct.
20 years ago.
We're both coming up on ouranniversary at the same time, so
see folks there's somethingabout naming your child, right.
Absolutely, and the things wedo for our kids you know.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I thought that was pretty funny.
Um, but why don't you tell themabout this one?
My daughter's favoritechocolate is Schuylkill mud.
The Schuylkill mud We've got totalk about Schuylkill mud,
because we're talking about thebest of the best, and this is by
far.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah.
So Schuylkill mud is aninteresting thing.
Um, it's really taken off.
It's become over the years, ourmost popular piece.
Um, for forever pretzels wereour most popular.
I'm going to say in the lasttwo years probably, the mud has
now surpassed pretzels.
It's the best mistake that weever made.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I love it Tell us about this mistake.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So we used to make a product it was a pretzel that
had toffee bits on top.
But the problem with toffee isif it's exposed to air it starts
to get soft.
Now I recently learned that Iguess some people like soft
toffee.
That's not our jam.
We like it crunchy.
So in an effort to fix thatproblem, my wife had the idea of
(02:57):
dipping the pretzels, puttingthe toffee on, letting it set up
and then re-dipping to coverthe toffee.
It created two problems A, thepretzel piece was entirely too
large.
Okay, Yep yep, it was a meal atthat point, not a snack, but in
the meantime a lot of bits oftoffee dropped off into the
(03:20):
kettle.
Oh, okay, so here she did a run.
Now we're looking at a kettlethat had at the time, I mean, it
wasn't a ton, but it was like10 pounds of chocolate in it
with all this toffee mixed in.
Well, we didn't want to throwit away, sure, so we just
started adding things.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And tell us what's in there.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So the Schuylkill Mud ?
It's a combination of toffee,peanut butter, pretzel and
potato chip.
Oh God that sounds so good.
Salty, sweet and crunchy.
You know it covers all the foodgroups.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yes, it does.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
It does and it's just taken off.
I'm going to say it wasprobably maybe 10 years ago that
we actually trademarked thename, Because in the chocolate
world there's not much you cancall your own.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Everybody makes buttercreams.
Everybody makes caramels,salted caramels we're the only
ones that make skugelmutt,skugelmutt.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I love it and it's so relatable.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Right Right now, we're actually in the process of
trying to come up with someequipment to help us make more
of it faster.
Currently, to date, my wifeConnie she is the only one that
makes the mud and she handdollops all of it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Oh my gosh and we're talking thousands upon thousands
of pounds well, I think weshould take a moment to talk
about connie right, because sheis amazing.
She's an amazing businesswomantoo, um, but very creative she
is.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
She's definitely the creative force behind it.
Um, we wouldn't have any ofthis without her, because my
career was in the golf industry.
So far from chocolate.
Yes, now I make a lot ofchocolate.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
This was her passion.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
This was her passion.
As the story goes, she justnaturally knew how to make
chocolate, and it all startedwhen she was in Girl Scouts.
I think and don't hold me to it, I think she was nine years old
or something like that on aGirl Scout trip, and that's when
it started.
And that's when it all started.
(05:25):
So, it's been a long journey,you know, and then the business
kind of evolved from there Well,flash forward, we got married,
had Ashley.
Where well, flash forward, wegot married, had Ashley and my
wife always made chocolate forthe holidays for our family as
gifts, you know, gift baskets.
(05:46):
We were poor, yeah, been there.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
done that A very young couple with a child.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You know we didn't have a whole lot of money for
gifts so we figured we'd makeeverybody their gifts.
She was in the restaurantindustry at the time and she got
out of the restaurant industry,ended up in pharma and we had
money.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Really cool.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So we bought everybody gifts.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And they were like we want our chocolate.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Everybody was so mad.
I have an uncle who's animposing figure and Christmas
was at his house and he actuallybanished us pretty much to the
living room where nobody was,because we didn't have his
chocolate.
So you know, not long afterthat, my wife was struggling
(06:40):
with some of the corporatethings going on, got passed up
on a couple of promotions andwasn't satisfied.
We'll say so.
We just said all right, youknow what, and at the time I
think we were in our early 30swe said if we don't do this now,
we may never do it.
Obviously, people like it.
There's a demand.
We got banished at Christmas.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, that's a good measure.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So we started looking for a store, we saw a spot on
Main Street that looked perfect.
As fate would have it.
Our original location on MainStreet was actually a candy
store in the 50s.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Oh really, yes, I did not know that it was called
Miller's Candies.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Okay.
So it kind of went full circle.
We walked in the building.
There's scalloped shelves andvery much the feel that we were
looking for, and when talking tothe landlord, whose family had
owned the building since the 60s, he informed us that it was a
candy store.
So we're like, all right, thisis meant to be.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It's like meant to be .
Speaker 1 (07:38):
This is perfect.
You know, as time went on, wegrew, space was getting to be an
issue.
Parking was a challenge.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Even space for production.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Space for production.
Wow, that still hasn't moved.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Okay, still there.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, that's not on main street.
Production is actually on lewisroad.
Okay, um but um, we decidedit's time to to move up I love
it.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
It's a success story um well, we're still still
growing, still growing I love itis your daughter involved in
the business at all.
So, ashley doesn't have a ton ofinterest um in the business.
I can say that one thing Iwould probably change we had to
do it all over again.
I don't know that I would opena store, um with my daughter's
(08:30):
name on it within the schooldistrict.
Yes, that she goes to school,yeah, no, kids can be um, and I
think it was a little bit of aturn off.
Now, as she's gotten older, um,you know, she graduates college
, um, finally okay, nice in maymay 10th, I think.
Um, she's starting to come back.
(08:50):
Yeah, like she'll help us outbehind the scenes.
Okay, um, social media stuff,which is something that she's
going to school for.
And you know, more paperwork,computer type stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
She's getting a little bit of the bug.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
She's getting a little bit of bug of it.
And she also, you know, as ourkids mature, she's becoming
fully aware that she's been ableto do the things that she's
able to do because of ourbusiness.
So you know it helps.
It's coming back.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I like it yay right, such a good thing.
I saw you brought somechocolates with you.
I did.
We were at an event this, uh,the last few weeks, and it was
for pope john paul high school.
It was called savor the flavor,and you're there every year.
You're a great supporter oflocal businesses, I must say,
but we ever need something for acharity event.
(09:43):
You're always there, you know,helping out with a basket or
whatever the case may be verygenerous.
Um, one of our agents was there, netty, and she tried the
chocolate that you had there tosample and you had a bunch of
different ones, but the one inparticular were
chocolate-covered almonds withcayenne.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
With cayenne.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Oh my God.
So a little bit of heat to them.
They are so good.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit of heat to them.
I actually bought some, andI'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
you told me when you eat one, just wait until it's
done, and then, when it wasfinished, you get this little
pop of heat.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You get the heat Now heat's a relative thing, yeah.
So what you and I might thinkis not too hot, somebody else
might.
Somebody else runs for the milk, you know, after they eat it.
That's why I always have peoplesample this piece in our store
To make sure.
Well, I'm a big believer.
I don't want to sell somethingthat somebody is not going to.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's what makes you super successful?
I mean really, because how manypeople you know?
In this day and age, it's gotto be about the consumer.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Absolutely there's, so many choices, right.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
People can order online, they can do all kinds of
things, but you don't get theservice, you don't get the
attention to detail, you don'tget the care that you just
talked about.
When you order something onlineand it's so nice to walk into
the store and just see what'sthere and I mean Easter at your
store is like Christmas to meLove it.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Oh, you want me to try one of these little suckers?
I'd like to try a piece.
That's the cayenne almond.
You can?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
hear me chew them.
Sorry, out there I'm chewing.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Oh, oh, my goodness so good, and then he'll hit you
in a second.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
It's not there, yet it's coming right.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Um so good case in point, though.
Yeah, customer service is ahuge thing for us.
Um, you know, with mybackground in the golf industry,
that was all about customerservice.
Yes, um being at private clubsand whatnot, and that carries
over my wife in the restaurantindustry.
Same thing, customer serviceand our business let's face it
hinges on people coming back.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
That's right, that's right.
You know it's not a one-timedeal and telling other people.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And I'm not trying to pull anything away from real
estate because I know you try toget repeat business too, but
people aren't buying homes everyweek.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I wish It'd be great.
It'd be great right.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
In our case, we need those people to come back on the
regular.
We do have our once a yearcustomers, which is fine.
That's all good.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But there's so many occasions where people could use
chocolate instead of flowersthat die and any of those types
of things, so it's a greathousewarming gift.
There's just so many awesomeways that you can use it and you
have a lot of really awesomeways of packaging things so you
can customize.
Maybe talk about that a littlebit.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So, yes, we do all of our packaging as well.
We do work with box companiesthat will hot stamp the boxes
with logos.
We also have a product that alot of people don't even realize
we have it because maybe Idon't do a good enough job of
promoting it Well you're goingto do it right now, but we
actually create our own box topsin-house in full color.
(12:54):
Oh, we are.
As far as I know, we are theonly company in the country
that's subscribed to thisproduct.
Okay, we were at a candy show anumber of years ago and the
gentleman was there as a vendorand he had this product.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Essentially, it's almost like think of it like a
vehicle wrap, okay, where it'sphoto paper that's adhesive on
the back end of it, but it's diecut to fit our box tops so I
can take any image, pretty muchany image, and put it on a box
top so all my agents that arelistening right now, oh,
(13:32):
absolutely great, greathousewarming present, as you
said, chocolate's the easiestgift out there it is, and, and
most people like I mean if youdon't like chocolate.
I think you might be weird butthat's okay.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
95% of Americans like chocolate.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I must say I had that almond and you're right, I ate
it.
And then, about maybe 30seconds later, I started to feel
the heat in the back of mymouth and I was like oh, this is
really good.
It's the gift that keeps ongiving.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Right, a little fun fact, since we're talking about
how stuff dissolves andeverything else Dark chocolate
is a tremendous coughsuppressant.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
You're kidding.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
No, we actually just learned it a couple years ago
from the news.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I'd rather eat that than cough syrup Right, tastes a
little bit better.
And now I know with Conniewhenever she struggles with
allergies and stuff and whenevershe has a little bit of a cough
dark chocolate.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I'm glad you told me that that's an awesome tip,
right?
Yes, that's a great tip.
So tell everyone where you'relocated so that they know where
your storefront is, where theycan come get some chocolate.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So we are at 70 Buckwalter Road.
It's the Limerick SquareShopping Center.
So we are at 70 Buckwalter Road.
It's the Limerick SquareShopping Center.
We just actually had a newChipotle added to our shopping
center, so Chipotle is rightnext door to us.
Nice, we're the first storewhen you come in the shopping
center to kind of face TexasRoadhouse.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It's a really great shopping center.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
The shopping center has really come around.
It's a really great shoppingcenter.
The shopping center has reallycome around.
When we first opened there I'mnot going to say it was a dead
shopping center- but it wasstruggling a little bit.
The anchor wasn't there and nowwe have the Urban Air in there
and I think there's only one ortwo vacancies.
That's amazing.
When we moved in, I think therewas nine.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So it's right off the exit of 422 at Royer Sports so
it's so easy to get to.
You can pop in there.
They always have a greatinventory and ready to go.
You can also order ahead oftime.
So if you know what you want, Iwould suggest doing that,
because then when you get thereit's all ready.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yes, especially at the holidays.
I highly encourage people to doonline ordering for in-store
pickup, mainly for items thatare very specific for the
holidays.
Easter is probably the bestexample.
We'll say peanut butter eggsYep.
Even though I make thousands ofpeanut butter eggs, we do run
(15:56):
out, yep, and we hit a point intime where we stop making them.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You run out of time Because I don't want to have too
many left over.
Unfortunately, even though Imight have made a peanut butter
egg the day before Easter andit's good for six months the day
after Easter nobody wants it,right, right?
So we've learned over the yearsto you know what our numbers
should be and produceaccordingly.
However, retail's a ficklething.
(16:21):
You never know when people arecoming in what they're going to
buy, because people are fickle.
People are fickle, right.
So this year everybody mighthave bought.
This happens a lot between thevanilla cream eggs and the
coconut eggs.
One year coconut outsellsvanilla, the next year vanilla
outsells coconut.
From a manufacturing standpoint, it's a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I don't discriminate against any of those three.
I like all of them.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
The peanut butter, the coconut and the cream,
they're all great and that's howit should be.
That's right, that's how itshould be.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I agree with you Mother's Day is coming.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Mother's Day is coming, and actually I'll use
this as an opportunity to blastit out there as well.
Bad news is, we are going to beclosed the day before Mother's
Day.
What yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
that Saturday before Mother's.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Day, and it's only because of Ashley's graduation.
Okay, she's graduating college,we're not going to miss it, so
you have to get your stuff early.
We're encouraging everybody tocome in by Friday.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
You have the chocolate-covered strawberries,
right?
Do you do those?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Strawberries we do on an order basis.
We do make them all year long,but because the shelf life is
only about a day and a half, wejust strictly do them by order.
So as long as we know, by theday before.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Okay, they're so good , you have to try them Right.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So if you like, chocolate cup of strawberries.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They're a great gift for mom.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
They're a great gift for any holiday, but make sure
order those ahead of timebecause they do have a smaller,
short life.
It's extremely short so, butyeah, no, so we're going to be
closed that day.
However, leading up to it willbe open and fully stocked and
and ready to go.
It's um, you know, I've had mystaff.
I have a couple staff membersthat were willing to work that
day and the way my wife and Ioperate it potentially can be a
very, very busy day, which we'redisappointed not to have that.
(18:04):
But, once again, our kid onlygraduated college once.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And they offered to work that day and we kind of
decided, we made the decisionnot to.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Just because we don't want to set our staff up for
potential failure.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
You know what I mean.
They're our family, even thoughthey're not blood Right.
Right.
They've been with us quite sometime and we value them.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, that's something that sets you apart as
well the caring level that youboth have for the business, for
your craft, but for the peoplethat come into your shop and the
ones that work for you, I thinkthat is something super special
.
So how can everybody get intouch with you?
Do you have a website?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So the website's wwwsweetashleyscom, or you can
always give us a call610-948-1085.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Rob, thank you so much.
The best of the best.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I'm going to eat some more of this chocolate.
Yeah, we have to have somealmonds.
Thank you.
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