Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Hsieh and Catharine Sweeney.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Elaine and Catharine. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Catharine Sweeney and I met over a wedding cake almost 20 years ago. A mutual friend asked us as a favor, and despite our combined lack of experience (and perhaps better judgement), we pulled together a beautiful multi-tiered cake with cascading edible seashells and delivered it to an August wedding on Martha’s Vineyard. Needless to say, it was a bonding experience. For the next 10 years or so, we continued with our careers and I also had a small dessert business on the side which Catharine would come in and lend a hand when needed. We got together every holiday season to make toffee and rolled truffles for gift giving. As the years went on, the holiday gifts became much more complex where we would work on developing packaging as well. It was the classic story you hear with family and friends lining up for their “gifts” and egging us on to start a business.
By 2009, we were both ready to “retire” from our “grown-up” jobs and move on to a new adventure and voila! EHChocolatier was created. We decided we would beta test to make sure we worked out all the processes while improving our technique, create new flavors, and just as importantly, that we would remain good friends. We launched a “Chocolate of the Month” club for our family and friends over a 9 month period. In retrospect, it was a little bit like Kickstarter, before it existed, since we raised enough money during this time such that we had our capital to invest in rent, overhead and equipment at the end of the Club season. Overall, it was more successful than we had anticipated.
We officially opened in the fall of 2010 at our current location in Somerville, and over the last 6 years, we’ve grown steadily. Very early on and consistently, we’ve been recognized locally and nationally as one of the top chocolatiers for our chocolates. The business has generated enough revenue such that we’ve never had to take out loans, or take on credit card debt, or investors. We’ve remained committed to our mission of creating remarkable delicious product that is perfectly balanced for taste, texture and simple beauty. It’s been a bit of a balancing act to grow enough to be sustainable while maintaining the level of quality that is key to our success. We currently retail online (although you can stop by our kitchen and see what’s fresh and available) and our products can be found in specialty food shops. The hope is to have a brick-and-mortar retail shop one day in Somerville or Cambridge. Cross your fingers 🙂
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think a smooth road is part of an entrepreneur’s path! The overarching challenge is the balance of creating new product and maintaining the level of quality overall while having to grow such that the business is sustainable in the long term.
At the beginning, it was only the two of us doing everything which ultimately isn’t sustainable for the type of business we’re in. Our margins are low compared to other products and making our products require a certain level of craftsmanship and aesthetic. So for us, hiring and maintaining a well trained staff that work well together and being able to compensate them appropriately is one of our bigger challenges.
Local and artisan foods have become the norm which is what makes Boston such a great place to live, eat and shop. Trying to stay relevant and competitive with this boon requires much more work now than when we started, both in terms of time and resources.
Please tell us about EHChocolatier.
EHChocolatier is a small women owned company that focuses on small batch crafting of bonbons and confections. We believe chocolates can be an extraordinary experience by creating the perfect balance of flavor, texture, and simple beauty.
All of our products begin with exceptional chocolates from remarkable chocolate makers. Whether they’re carefully paired with the flavors that inspire our bonbon line or to raise our confections such as the artisan candy bars, brown butter toffee and pecan clusters to a higher level.
We’ve been fortunate to have been recognized both nationally and locally for the level of quality and taste of our products which reaffirms our philosophy and mission. Our products are what we are the most proud of as a company and the amount of work, thought and creativity that each one is built upon.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Elaine: Can’t just pick one, but they are all food related for me: coming home from school and baking cookies or assembling parfaits of jello/coolwhip/fruit cocktail by myself to serve for dessert; watching my mother prepare for Christmas dinner starting right after Thanksgiving (we’re Chinese, so lots of preserved, or dehydrated oddities appearing in dishes on the counters), making dumplings with my mom on Sundays and then competitively scarfing them down with my brother at dinner ( usually a tie of about 20 or so); coming home after school to see Long Island ducks hanging outside on the front porch curing for a holiday meal while the neighbors’ dogs sit underneath.
Catharine: Coming home from school and picking apples from our apple tree and having my mom make pie…
Contact Info:
- Address: 561 WINDSOR ST. B206
Somerville, MA 02143 - Website: ehchocolatier.com
- Phone: 6172846096
- Email: info@ehchocolatier.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ehchocolatier/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EHChocolatier
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ehchocolatier
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ehchocolatier-somerville
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/ehchocolatier
Image Credit:
Elaine Hsieh
Brian Samuels
Jesse Buckley
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
