It’s one of the busiest shopping times of the year, and for the chocolatiers at The Sweet Factory and Mount Vernon Confections, that business is going to be bustling well into March.
“Between the Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day holidays, that is really some of our busiest weeks of the year,” said Niki Krob, owner of The Sweet Factory.
Part of that business is just having truffle sets ready for pickup for a holiday get together with friends and family in the area that you need a quick gift for. Others, it’s for the person with a sweet tooth that is looking for something unique.
Part of what Krob and fellow chocolatier Brittany Aldrich know is listening to their customers.
“One of the biggest requests we’ve received from people in this community is that they would like us to have some fudge on our store shelves,” Krob said. “We really try to bring what people ask for.”
Another big favorite at holiday times for a lot of people – chocolate covered cherries.
The chocolatier also notes there are a lot of seasonal flavors for items like cotton candy and hot chocolate sets.
Of course, like many other businesses this year, the unexpected items prove to be not available due to the pandemic shortfalls.
“It’s usually on items we’ve not had an issue keeping in stock before,” Krob said. “One of them we encountered this Christmas was Pop Rocks. It’s something we’ve never encountered supply issues with before, but we haven’t been able to find them in stock this holiday.”
Krob said when they encounter a product like that, they try to pivot to something that’s similar or fills that same type of niche or bring in new products to make sure the candy store has inventory.
It’s one of the key lessons that being a candy store owner has taught Krob over the past three years – Always be willing to change and adapt.
“I could have had a plan coming in here for what I thought was going to be my big sellers, but if customers proved not to be interested, I’ve got to adapt and find what they want in the market,” Krob said.
Krob and Aldrich are the two chocolatiers on staff who know how to properly temper chocolate, so there are times they just have fun and try different flavors of truffles they think will work.
“There are some we’ve made that sounded like a good idea and then we try them, and realize it wasn’t,” Krob said.
Still, that sampling has generated a few of the flavors on their lineup of truffles that have proved very popular – a malted milk ball truffle, a birthday cake truffle and key lime truffle.
When it comes to fudge, for Krob, it’s one of the simplest recipes to make, but is definitely popular at the holidays.
“A lot of what people are looking for when they’re shopping for candy and other items are things that their families have made in the past,” Krob said. “They’re looking for something similar to what their mom made, or the candies their grandpa always used to carry around with him. There’s so many memories that we have associated with food that the holiday brings up.”
Still, even with the fudge, Krob said they’ve found recipes that have been popular.
“Britt makes this dark chocolate, dried cherries and pistachio fudge that when you hear it listed on paper makes you really question if it would be good, but it is one of my favorite fudges we’ve ever made,” Krob said.
Like all businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic and derecho proved their own challenges. For much of 2020, The Sweet Factory was closed or saw limited business due to the pandemic restrictions. In August 2020, at the peak of summer, the shop was stocked with thousands of dollars worth of ice cream.
“We didn’t have a generator on site, so that became a loss,” Krob said. “Compared to the damages others saw or were impacted, it’s small and we’re thankful for that, but it’s another way we’ve had to roll with the unexpected.”
The other thing Krob has found is that having consistent hours is helpful for your repeat customers, as well as people passing through town who stop.
“A lot of our business at the shop are people who may stop in one visit, be that a visit to Mount Vernon to shop in uptown or visiting Cornell College,” Krob said. “By keeping consistent hours, or someone in the store at any time, it helps with our business. We found in the first year we were open what days worked best for the business and adjusted.”
The best thing Krob witnesses numerous times – kids who walk into the shop for the first time and think they’ve gone to heaven.
“You can just see it on their faces, that sense of wonder and excitement,” Krob said.
It goes to another point Krob has learned in the business. If you encounter someone who is angry in a candy store, there’s not much you can do to win them over.
“A candy store is someplace you want people to come in happy and leave happy if they can,” Krob said.
And while November through March may be the busiest times in the shop, Krob notes that festivals in uptown Mount Vernon also make the store a very bustling place.
The one festival that’s hardest on the shop is Magical Night.
“We’ve just come off of Shop Small Saturday, one of our busiest shopping days of the year, where our chocolates are depleted, and then have roughly four days to try and restock,” Krob said.
The other seasonal favorite chocolate that the duo make is chocolate covered strawberries.
“When you’re working with those strawberries, it’s all about timing and time management,” Krob said. “You have to wash them and then air dry them, but if you leave them too long, they can develop issues. It really requires preparation and checking with them.”
The other point is finding the sweet spot of how many to order.
“Order too many, and we got to find ways to repurpose strawberries into something else,” Krob said. “Too few and you sell out of them too early. We’ve always been able to find that right number.”
And the store will be open for a few hours on Christmas Eve, one of the days Krob said they’ve found has been a boon for the shop.
“We sell a lot of chocolate in those few hours, whether it’s from people who just need a quick gift for a last minute get together, or families looking for those last minute stocking stuffers.”
Niki Krob of the Sweet Factory collects eight truffles for a customer Friday, Dec. 17, at the Sweet Factory.