Tag: Easter basket

Filling Easter Baskets & Feeding Those Less Fortunate

Chocolate bunnies have been part of the Easter tradition for a very long time. This year, we at The Happy Chocolatier will again add another element to the Easter chocolate and candy tradition: feeding those less fortunate.

Parents fill Easter baskets with chocolate bunnies and other treats every year. Easter Sunday is a time of joy as Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It is also a time of celebration and fun for children as they awake to find their Easter baskets brimming with treats like chocolate bunnies, buttercream eggs, foiled chocolate eggs, jelly beans and much more.

This year when people purchase Easter chocolates and candy from The Happy Chocolatier, they will be adding another element of joy to the season. The Happy Chocolatier is going to donate a portion of sales from Easter candy purchases to Acton Community Supper and Food Pantry.

So, while we are all enjoying the holiday with our families, we can also know that a part of our Easter celebration helped to feed those less fortunate. Jesus did ask us to feed the hungry, right? Acton Community Supper and Food Pantry distributes 291,275 pounds of food to an average of 754 individuals each month. That’s a lot of families and we’d love to help them out.

So why IS chocolate part of the Easter tradition?

Every spring chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs arrive in shops announcing the coming of Easter. But why?

In pre-Christian pagan times, spring was celebrated by giving thanks to the ancient goddess of fertility Eostre—from which “Easter” derived its name. Since the rabbit was recognized as a symbol of fertility and new life, it became associated with the rituals of Easter and spring.

According to the National Confectioner’s Association, Whitman’s Chocolates was one of the first American manufacturers to produce chocolate bunnies in 1842, but the popularity of the bunny mold didn’t pick up speed until the turn of the 20th century. In 1916, Bortz chocolate factory began mass-producing the creamy confection, and over the decades many chocolate makers began making their own version of the chocolate bunny. Today, more than 90 million chocolate bunnies are produced each year!

Many small chocolate shops like The Happy Chocolatier still make bunnies by hand. With the evolution of the chocolate bunny one will find many varieties to choose from – chocolate bunnies filled with everything from cookie pieces to jelly beans and M&Ms. However, the plain milk chocolate bunny remains the most popular version.

The method of biting into a chocolate bunny has become a tradition in itself. More than 75 percent of Americans go for the ears first. What do you do? Regardless of how you plan your first bite, one thing is for certain: Easter bunnies have become one of the sweetest parts of the springtime season.

Chocolate Easter Eggs

Eggs have been associated with the Christian festival of Easter, which celebrates the death and resurrection of Christ, since the early days of the church. However, Christian customs connected with Easter eggs are to some extent adaptations of ancient pagan practices related to spring rites.

The earliest Easter eggs were hen or duck eggs decorated at home in bright colors with vegetable dye and charcoal. Orthodox Christians and many cultures continue to dye Easter eggs, often decorating them with flowers. The Victorians had cardboard, ‘plush’ and satin covered eggs filled with Easter gifts and chocolates.

Chocolate Easter eggs were first made in Europe in the early 19th century, with France and Germany taking the lead in this new confection. milk chocolate bunnies, eggs and pops being made. Some early eggs were solid, as the technique for mass producing molded chocolate had not been devised. The production of the first hollow chocolate eggs was painstaking, as the molds were lined with paste chocolate one at a time. Well, this handmade tradition still exists in smaller chocolate shops like The Happy Chocolatier.

Chocolate eggs are produced in milk, white and dark chocolate and available in solid and hollow versions. Many times the hollow versions are filled with assorted Easter candy. In our shop, we have created a milk chocolate hollow egg and filled it with assorted Easter candies.

With the arrival of chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs of many varieties, know that Easter and spring are not far behind!

Celebrating Five Years of Spreading Chocolate Happiness…Despite the Odds

Based on statistics from the Small Business Administration, The Happy Chocolatier is in the 50 percent of businesses that make it this far. Yes, half of all small start-up businesses don’t make it to year five. We are proud that our simple idea has matured into an established business in our community. It hasn’t been easy. There have been many challenges – some we should have anticipated and some we couldn’t have

Nagog Park Location

imagined. We’ve reached the five year milestone thanks to the hard work and commitment of our team, continued support from family and friends, learning from all of our challenges and successes, and persistence.

It seems like we were just writing a business plan, thinking through the chocolate line and deciding on packaging. It all started with a conversation about making a cubed truffle and sharing some “chocolate happiness.”

Acton Woods Plaza Location

Launching and managing a small
business has been the toughest professional challenge we’ve experienced. No longer were we focused on performance reviews and promotions to measure success. Now, continuing to pay our bills and the mortgage, while investing in a new business defined success.

We are very pleased with what our dedicated team has accomplished in five years:

  • Created a new brand and built solid consumer awareness in our market area
  • Opened and then moved a local retail store, and developed a local following
  • Expanded our corporate gift business by providing “chocolate solutions” for business needs
  • Increased the number of gift, specialty food and fine wine shops that sell our signature truffle Cubze
  • Broadened our product line (and had fun doing it)
  • Employed members of our area communities including over a dozen high school and college students
  • Hosted fun, educational chocolate making events for moms’ nights, scouts, school groups, clubs and birthday parties
  • Supported our local community through donations to: Household Goods Recycling, The Miracle League of MA, Acton Food Pantry, Beacon Santa, United Way, Girls Inc., area elementary, junior high and high schools, local houses of worship, The Discovery Museum and too many more to name.
  • Created a fun video with our truffle Cubze dancing to Pharrell Williams – take a look, it’s fun!

Our competition is fierce. People can purchase chocolates at the grocery store, drug store, specialty food shop and the mall. People can also choose to buy mass produced chocolates simply because the products cost less. Yet, we are still pushing ahead. We remain focused on our mission: “To offer consumers an indulgent and affordable chocolate experience that makes them happy and enables them to pass the happiness along by sharing.”

We deeply appreciate all of our customers. We thank you for shopping locally, because it enables us to continue supporting the local community and economy. And, that makes us happy.

Chocolate and Easter…a Tradition

This time of year chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs arrive in shops announcing the coming of Easter and (hopefully) spring. But why?

Chocolate Easter Bunnies

In pre-Christian pagan times, spring was celebrated by giving thanks to the ancient goddess of fertility Eostre—from which “Easter” derived its name. Since the rabbit was recognized as a symbol of fertility and new life, it became associated with the rituals of Easter and spring.

According to the National Confectioner’s Association, Whitman’s Chocolates was one of the first American manufacturers to produce chocolate bunnies in 1842, but the popularity of the bunny mold didn’t pick up speed until the turn of the 20th century. In 1916, Bortz chocolate factory began mass-producing the creamy confection, and over the decades many chocolate makers began making their own version of the chocolate bunny. Today, ninety million chocolate bunnies are produced each year.

Many small chocolate shops like The Happy Chocolatier still make bunnies by hand. With the evolution of the chocolate bunny one will find many varieties to choose from – chocolate bunnies filled with everything from cookie pieces and rice crispies to peanut butter and caramel. However, the plain milk chocolate bunny remains the most popular version.

The method of biting into a chocolate bunny has become a tradition in itself. More than 75 percent of Americans go for the ears first. Regardless of how you plan your first bite, one thing is for certain: Easter bunnies have become one of the sweetest parts of the springtime season.

Chocolate Easter Eggs

Eggs have been associated with the Christian festival of Easter, which celebrates the death and resurrection of Christ, since the early days of the church. However, Christian customs connected with Easter eggs are to some extent adaptations of ancient pagan practices related to spring rites.

The earliest Easter eggs were hen or duck eggs decorated at home in bright colors with vegetable dye and charcoal. Orthodox Christians and many cultures continue to dye Easter eggs, often decorating them with flowers. The Victorians had cardboard, ‘plush’ and satin covered eggs filled with Easter gifts and chocolates.

Chocolate Easter eggs were first made in Europe in the early 19th century, with France and Germany taking the lead in this new confection. Some early eggs were solid, as the technique for mass producing molded chocolate had not been devised. The production of the first hollow chocolate eggs was painstaking, as the molds were lined with paste chocolate one at a time. Well this handmade tradition still exists in smaller chocolate shops like The Happy Chocolatier.

Chocolate eggs are produced in milk, white and dark chocolate and available in solid and hollow versions. Many times the hollow versions are filled with assorted Easter candy. At The Happy Chocolatier, we have created a milk chocolate hollow egg and filled it with assorted Easter candies. Eggs also come filled with caramel, peanut butter and chocolate truffle.

With the arrival of chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs of many varieties, know that Easter and spring are not far behind!

The True Meaning of the Easter & Passover Season

With the help of my wonderful team at The Happy Chocolatier, we are heading into the busy Easter chocolate rush. I would be remiss if I didn’t publicly thank my entire team for their hard work and willingness to learn many new things as we prepared for the Easter season. Without them there wouldn’t be a Happy Chocolatier.

While we are busy helping customers find chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and build Easter baskets, I pause to think about the importance of the Easter season. Though the chocolates and candies pay the bills, Easter is about so much more. Passover is, as well. Whether one is religious or not, Easter and Passover herald the coming of spring. For those who celebrate Easter and Passover their significance is great: hope, re-birth and deliverance. It is a time of celebration, thanksgiving and prayer for many. The chocolates and candy are merely a small contribution to the celebration.

I’ll leave you with one fun factoid – pretzels were originally associated with Easter because the twists of the pretzel were thought to resemble arms crossed in prayer. So as we finish up our Easter chocolate season, I keep my eye on the chocolate-coated pretzels as a reminder of what the season is really about.

Fun Facts About Easter Treats!

A variety of Easter baskets are available at The Happy Chocolatier

As we finalize our preparations for Easter at The Happy Chocolatier – creating many different types of Easter baskets, dipping chocolate Easter treats, bagging jelly beans and stocking the shelves with a variety of chocolate bunnies – I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite Easter candy factoids:

– About 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced every year
– Milk chocolate Easter bunnies are clearly the preference over dark…65% and 27%, respectively
– Americans consume about 16 million jelly beans at Easter
– Jelly beans were first made here in Boston by William Schrafft
– 70% of kids prefer to eat jelly beans one at a time
– Kids prefer cherry, strawberry and grape fruit flavors of jelly beans

Facts courtesy of the National Confectioners Association

The Need for Nut-Free: What’s Going On?

When I was a kid, I didn’t know anyone with nut allergies. As an adult I hadn’t thought too much about it other than occasionally hearing that a friend’s child had an issue with nuts. Since I have opened The Happy Chocolatier I must admit that I am amazed by the number of customers who have come in looking for nut-free chocolates and candies. My own son was recently diagnosed with tree nut allergies – just about 6 weeks after The Happy Chocolatier opened (there is some irony there). As a result, I now think a lot about nut allergies and consequently, The Happy Chocolatier has nut-free offerings.

My wife and I have done quite a bit of research into nut allergies. And frankly, I am at a loss as to why this dramatic increase. Were our parents just ignorant of nut allergies when we were kids? Doubtful as many of us would have been going into anaphylactic shock. Has something changed the environment? I know there are many theories. I am inviting readers to chime in with thoughts and opinions as to why the spike in nut allergies.

An ongoing debate: Buy an Easter basket or buy the contents and re-use the same basket every year?

As I started to plan for Easter for The Happy Chocolatier, my wife and I had an interesting conversation. Do most people buy a pre-made basket or do they have a special basket that is re-used every Easter and simply filled with new chocolate and candy treats? I grew up in a household where a new basket showed up each year. My wife, on the other hand, had the same basket that was used throughout her childhood. So I began to ask customers as they came into our store. It appears that like many things in life, there is no clear-cut answer. Some folks have an Easter tradition where there is a basket that the Easter bunny comes to fill. For others, the Easter bunny brings a new basket each year.  I’d love to know what you think!