Inside the Chocolate Factory in Time for Valentine's Day

We head right to the kitchen, where the chocolate is heating, then cooling, and reheating, a process which, Glenn Knowles explains, “breaks down sugar and fat molecules,” reforming, then bonding them, which  “gives the snap and shine of tempered chocolate.”

Snap and shine indeed! In fact, these chocolates are so beautiful, that people are reluctant to eat them at first. They want to sit and look at them a while.

“My whole concept is an experience, not just eating chocolate,” says Knowles. “An experience that includes how they look, how they’re packaged, how they smell, and then the flavour. It’s not about eating a whole box in one sitting.”

I watch as he pours the chocolate into shell molds and jiggles the tray to remove the air bubbles. Then he scrapes the excess chocolate off the bottom of the mold and puts the tray aside to let the chocolate set for a couple of hours.

Next, Knowles turns to making ganache fillings—fruit peel, tea, or spices in cream, which he heats, then cools to allow the flavour to infuse.

Mixing, heating, cooling, blending, pouring, scraping—such is Glenn Knowles’ life when he gets home from eight hours of work as a consultant.

Ah! But there’s also the tasting.

One of his friends may have come closest to describing the experience. “She left a voice message, moaning in ecstasy,” says Knowles.

In his first month of business, he sold several hundred boxes.

He’s still shaking his head.

“I can’t believe it,” says Knowles. “That I’ve turned into a chocolatier after 20 years working in finance. I believe it because I can see it. I’m just awestruck that I’m turning out beautiful chocolates—that it’s all coming out of me—the receipts, the branding, the packaging, the whole concept, and because it’s happened so quickly.”

Last March, Knowles decided to take an online course in making chocolates in order to prepare for a pastry course he’d signed up for. Within weeks, he was launching a business plan, because, he says, “I was having such a great time making chocolates.”

It’s not as though he was starting from scratch. He knew his way around a kitchen. He’d taken some courses at La Petite France in North Vancouver. And he has an extensive background in business, including an Executive MBA from Simon Fraser, as well as years of experience at the Stock Exchange and the Investment Dealers Association.

When the recession hit, many of his consulting contracts dried up. He was turning 50.

“I didn’t want to have regrets when I got older,” says Knowles. “I decided to start a business. And people will always eat—no matter what the economy.”

So he combined what he’d learned from his MBA—marketing, financial forecasting, creating project management timelines—a natural business acumen, and good old-fashioned discipline.

“I knew what I needed to deliver and when. I had everything mapped out in preparation for the launch. So it’s not like I was flying by the seat of my pants, though it sure felt like that sometimes.”

Especially on December 1^st, the day before his first orders were due.

Each box had to be packed by hand, alternating Caramel Creme, Mint, Orange, Lemon, Passion Fruit, Mango, and Blueberry—two trays for boxes of twenty. A friend came over after work and helped him with the first 100 boxes. When she left, Knowles realized he had another 60 to go. He finished at four in the morning.

Now he’s getting ready for Valentine’s Day: themed chocolates, “scents of love.”

 You mean aphrodisiacs like Rhinoceros Horn Creams? Oyster ganache?

“Probably not,” says Knowles, laughing. But he doesn’t elaborate.

I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

For more information about Gem Chocolates or to place an order, visit their website: http://gemchocolates.ca/