Sweetness in Seattle - Fran's Chocolates Ltd - Cover Story - Company Profile

Prepared Foods, Oct, 1996 by Margaret Littman

In the past 12 months, sales for Fran's Chocolates Ltd. have jumped 53.8 percent, following the previous year's 30 percent growth. Owner Fran Bigelow is hoping for something more modest in 1997--a 20 percent increase.

With a recipe and reputation built on mixing small batches of chocolates and hand-wrapping each confection, growing too fast concerns Bigelow.

She doesn't want to stunt growth, just keep it manageable. "There may be a point when the company can't get any bigger, but I don't see that happening," she says, "I just want to keep growth to a pace with will allow us to continue to hire and train people who are passionate about what we do, people who love chocolate."

Bigelow is describing herself as much as her 30 employees, who work out of a 6,500-sq.-ft. plant in Seattle, which she likes to call "a chocolate laboratory." The plant was added in 1993.

What began in 1982 as a two-employee, retail dessert ship has grown into a well-respected specialty food confection company with national distribution, as well as strong mail-order and retail shop sales.

The credit goes to Fran's European-inspired recipes, along with her experience working as a dessert chef in two California restaurants and formal training from the California Culinary Academy. Consistently a favorite in the National Association of the Specialty Food Trade competitions, Bigelow herself was recently named best chocolatier in the U.S. by "The Book of Chocolate."

Among her new chocolate innovations are Fixations, cigar-shaped chocolates which were named the best confection at the International Fancy Food Show this summer. Fixations feature Belgian Callebaut-brand chocolate enrobed in peanut butter, espresso, orange or mint: basically a one-half ounce baton-shaped truffle.

But what really made Fran's famous was the 1986 introduction of the GoldBar, an "adult candy bar" with caramel, almonds or macadamia nuts, and dark Callebaut chocolate. Both products highlight Bigelow's penchant toward minimal sweetness and strong flavors. In development now is a Venezuelan chocolate with what Bigelow calls an "earthy" taste

The Fran's line of dessert sauces, including a new rapsberry, a caramel and a dark chocolate and caramel combination, helped leverage the brand into national distribution. Specialty stores such as Williams-Sonoma, Starbucks and Bristol Farms started carrying the sauces as ice cream toppings or dipping sauces, then expanded into distributing the packaged chocolate bars and truffles. Full desserts, such as a brie cheesecake or a chocolate espresso torte, are available through the mail order catalog (with a mailing list of 18,000) and the Seattle retail shop, but not through retailers across the country.

"We decided to provide the chocolates to other retailers because chocolate takes a lot more care than most people realize." Bigelow explains.

"In addition, chocolate must have that visual impact, particularly in a specialty store. Being hand-wrapped, ours have that appeal," she says. Unique Japanese-style boxes, made from handmade Washi paper, are just one example of the care that goes into the premium packaging.

"None of us feel that this is an impersonal production line, because we are not mass-producing, but doing multiple small batches a day to preserve the integrity of the recipes," she says. "And maintaining that is our continued goal."

That is not a modest goal, and one where many specialty food companies have' failed. but Bigelow is confident that she will be able to maintain the status quo and still prosper. Next, Bigelow plans to step-up marketing, brand-building and promotional efforts, which, up to this point, have been almost non-existent. Retailer promotions, broadening distribution, and P-O-P displays, are all a part of the plan.

"Advertising is too expensive, so we are looking at the retail level to create a brand identity," she says. "In-store kiosks will help us develop a strong company image."

Fran's Chocolates Ltd. Seattle, Wash. FY 1996 sales: $2 million Employees: 30 Distinction: Less-sweet chocolates geared to grown-ups; made in small batches from one location but sold nationwide.