What do you get when you mix one Kaua‘i girl with a NASA engineer; stir in two decades on the Mainland; toss with two keiki; two University of California, Berkeley degrees and a yen for the tropics? Kaua‘i’s only homemade,
What do you get when you mix one Kaua‘i girl with a NASA engineer; stir in two decades on the Mainland; toss with two keiki; two University of California, Berkeley degrees and a yen for the tropics?
Kaua‘i’s only homemade, hand-dipped chocolate shop, Kaua‘i Chocolate Company at Port Allen Marina.
Eight years ago Marlene and Don Greer decided it was high time to return to Kaua‘i. Don Greer had put in 20 years between NASA and Lockheed, and Marlene Greer had worked as a school counselor for at-risk youth. The two dreamed of claiming a simpler life.
“But we had to make a living,” said Marlene Greer. After running through a list of possibilities, the couple landed on a shared passion: “We both love chocolate and ice cream.”
“Our families thought we were crazy,” she confessed.
For two years prior to the move, they experimented with recipes in their California kitchen. “We tested our chocolates on friends,” she said.
Experimentation is still the nature of the business. Some of their experiments work and others don’t.
“Like the saffron chocolates,” Don Greer said with a grimace. “It tasted like spaghetti sauce.”
But then there are times when “a recipe that should have gone right, goes left,” said Marlene Greer, meaning the recipe failed to do what it was made for and yet the result was a divine surprise.
“Like the mango bars,” said Don Greer.
“I didn’t even skin them,” he said. “I was trying to make a mango chocolate and it turned into a chocolate covered bar.”
While neither Don or Marlene claim to be artists, the appearance and creative content of their chocolates take exception with candies like fire-rimmed volcanoes, six-layer bars called bricks and wildly inventive concoctions boasting of irreverent ingredients like tequila or Earl Gray tea.
“Artistry is innate,” said Marlene Greer. “We’re hard-wired for it.”
One creation that has gained in popularity is named for a tiny sea mollusk.
“Opihi are the No. 1 best seller,” Marlene Greer said.
Fortunately, Marlene didn’t yield to her husband’s whim to dip a real crustacean in chocolate.
“I would have removed the shell,” he defends. “And they would have been raw, not cooked.”
As if that made the suggestion any more tempting.
Ultimately, the crowd pleasing opihi that survived the debate is a layer of cookie and caramel embedded in — what else? — chocolate.
Another main-stay to the menu at Kaua‘i Chocolate Company is the brick. This invention was conceived of during the construction of their small shop at Port Allen Marina. It’s easy to assemble on a tray and simple to cut into chunks.
“Don wanted to do something for the carpenters working on our building,” said Marlene Greer.
The Greers were one of the first tenants to move into the center five years ago.
“Keep the builders happy by feeding them,” he said. “It’s an old engineering trick.”
The trick for the couple now is keeping the brick in stock. There are nine variations, but all have multiple layers of toffee, nuts, caramel, fruit and chocolate.
Open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Greers employ a small posse of Westside kids to help make their goods. Kaua‘i Chocolate Company doubles as a Waimea High School social club most days.
On any given afternoon, there’s a gaggle of girls behind the counter dipping, sprinkling or wrapping chocolates.
When the store opened, two Waimea High School students came in to apply.
“Now they do the hiring,” said Marlene Greer. “When one leaves for college I tell them they have to hire their replacement.”
Don Greer added, “We have the overachiever crowd here — they’re either on the President’s List at school or valedictorian.”
Even though Kaua‘i Chocolate Company is in a heavily tourist-traveled area, it’s the local support that makes this business thrive the owners say.
The couple attributes the Asian custom of omiagi to their local success.
“Omiagi is a gift you bring when you visit someone,” said Marlene Greer. “It’s a Japanese custom.”
When locals visit friends on other islands or the Mainland they bring a gift that is from the region they are from. “Things like Kaua‘i Coffee, Auntie Lilikoi products or our chocolates,” said Marlene Greer.
The Greers give their product a local appeal by using flavors indicative of the area. Both attest to the temperamental nature of fruit being mixed with chocolate, though.
“It’s really hard to make something taste like mango,” Don Greer said. “It’s such a subtle flavor and when you add other ingredients it changes.”
The two have learned a few tricks over the years and now have a long list of tropically flavored chocolates. In fact their growing popularity had them scrambling at Christmas.
“Costco usually sells 50 to 75 boxes a week,” Don Greer said. “In December they were selling that much in a day.”
The next holiday to prepare for is Valentine’s Day when Kaua‘i Chocolate Company orders giant strawberries from Maui for dipping.
“They arrive the day before so I’m at the airport by 6 a.m. waiting for them.” he said. “We only sell them on Valentine’s Day.”
One more specialty item locals can look for in February is a heart-shaped box made of chocolate.
