The Chocolate Gallery Turns 30
22.05.12
In the following interview.
How did you get your start?
Well, I grew up in the chocolate business in Houston, working in my father’s store, Kegg’s Candies. It was a considerably different store. He had boxed chocolates — like See’s (which was only in California). And I love chocolate; my husband will tell you that we had to open our own store so he could support my habit! But I knew in college I wanted to open my own business. I had an older sister who didn’t know what to do with her life, so we took a trip to a candy convention in San Antonio, and I told her, “Let’s open a candy store.” Then, I worked for my dad every summer, and one summer when I was in college, I asked him, “Can you show me how to do this?” and he spent that entire summer teaching me how to run a candy business.
Where do you get your recipes?
Definitely from my dad. They’ve changed over the years, though. I’ve learned more, and I go to a lot of candy conventions and ask around and adapt candies for California — almonds and walnuts are way more popular here. The Texas Crunch, our most popular piece by far, is my recipe. It comes from my own personal addiction from when I worked for my father. I would take the scraps from the English toffee to make them and then, when we opened the store here, I’d do it for myself, and the customers found out about it. We started to put out small bags of the leftovers and they’d buy it. So I realized we should make it separately, and it has surpassed everything in the store.
Source: Santa Barbara Independent