Tasteful Art: Chocolat LLC

April Heaton is living her entrepreneurial dream at the young age of 26.

As the co-owner and operator of Chocolat LLC, Heaton fashions gourmet artisan chocolates to display and sell at her Dogwood Plaza shop in Branson.

She is the chocolatier, and her husband, Shane, is the graphic artist. The Heatons employ one part-time staffer.

"We've really had fun doing it because it's been all of our own ideas," April Heaton says.

Her culinary creativity runs in the family. Heaton's mother, Debra Ioannides, has owned several restaurants throughout the Midwest, including Pepper Bellies, a Mexican restaurant that operated downtown before Branson Landing, and most recently, Zoey's Mediterranean Cuisine. Pepper Bellies just reopened in Zoey's former location, 5378 State Highway 265.

A vast background in foods and spices might explain the unique tastes that can be found at Chocolat. The delectable sweets are given names such as Aztec Gold, the signature chocolate infused with herbs and spices; Masala Chai, Indian spices and herbs wrapped in white chocolate; The Beasting, chili oil ganache; Peachy Keen, a peach cobbler ganache in milk chocolate; and Bee Sting, honey and spicy chili with dark chocolate ganache. Chocolat also sells European drinking chocolate; the company is, after all, named after the 2000 movie set in a French village.

Heaton says her mother came up with the idea of creating artisan chocolates from the pastries she made for her restaurants. The mother and daughter contacted an artisan chocolatier in Kansas and traveled there to learn the business.

"We learned where to order the ingredients and the machinery," Heaton says. "Most of the rest of it, I taught myself."

In April 2008, Heaton and her mother opened a shop in downtown Branson's Chappy Mall, 204 N. Commercial St.

Preventing a meltdown

Heaton says the shop's goal was to give something unique to the Branson area.

"We didn't want to step on anyone's toes who are doing the traditional candies," Heaton says. "We were opening blind, and luckily, people grabbed on to the concept."

But the rosy start was met with some turbulence. While the new store was still finding its footing in mid-2008, the economy came crashing down.

"We probably couldn't have picked a worse time to start a business," Heaton says.

Ingredient prices have steadily increased by about 15 percent from what Heaton paid on her first order.

On top of that, Heaton was slapped with a rent increase after Chocolat's first year in business. She decided to find another spot that would give Chocolat its own storefront and a more central location in Branson.

"The first location was an expensive learning lesson," Heaton says. "But we felt really lucky to find this new location."

At 1,000 square feet, Chocolat's Dogwood Plaza storefront, 607 State Highway 165, is about 500 square feet smaller, but Heaton says most of the space she relinquished was in the kitchen.

About 50 chocolate varieties are available - up from 13 when she opened - and they retail for $1.95 apiece. Bulk orders start at a box of six for $10.50, Heaton says.

Whipping up wholesale

Once word spread about her Chocolat with flair, Heaton says a couple of businesses approached her about selling her treats wholesale. She now has contracted with 10 businesses from Branson to Springfield to sell Chocolat products.

"My wife works in Branson, and she was insistent that we get them into our store," says Matt Bekebrede, owner of Springfield's Vino 100 franchise, a wine retailer. "We are planning on doing several pairings with our wines as gift baskets this season."

Heaton says the wholesale business is keeping the store afloat this year in such a difficult economy.

"The wholesale business has helped us reach out to a more diverse group of people," Heaton says, pointing to Branson visitors via Chateau on the Lake Resort and Spa, where Chocolat products have been sold in its dessert shop since spring.

Getting in front of hotel guests builds the brand among people who weren't scouting it out.

"From a marketing standpoint, I think the product does well here because it has such an eye-catching look, is local and (has) unique flavor combinations," says Bob Haislip, Chateau on the Lake's operations director.

Heaton says wholesale revenues represent about 25 percent of the company's total. While declining to disclose Chocolat's first-year revenues, she says they met her goals.

"We just hope to open a new location at some point, possibly in Springfield, as well as to expand our wholesale outlets," Heaton says.