Interview with the Queen of Chocolopolis, Lauren Adler

Part I of an Interview with Chocolopolis’ Founder Lauren Adler...

When Howard Schultz set out to change the way people drink coffee, few could envision just how far his mission would take him.  From introducing American palates to the pleasure of a freshly-brewed dark roast to creating new business models and social spaces across the globe, the former appliance salesman’s visionary approach to the lowly cup of Joe revolutionized the global coffee market when he bought a chain of half a dozen coffee stores in Seattle by the name of Starbucks.  And now Seattle entrepreneur Lauren Adler hopes to do the same with chocolate. 

“I want to change people’s palates – not just in Seattle, but everywhere,” Ms. Adler, founder and owner of Chocolopolis, a Seattle-based retail store specializing in artisan chocolates, explains.  She is clear about her purpose and it isn’t just to run a store.  She wants people to enjoy the wonderfully nuanced and complex flavor profiles of a vintage bean to bar dark chocolate from a single estate, to be able to discern the difference between a fruity note and a smoky one, to savor a truffle through at least four bites rather than gobbling it down in one big delicious gulp.  In other words, she wants to sell her customers a relationship with chocolate, not just a one-bite stand. 

And she’s confident she’ll succeed. 
“The more people taste the good stuff, the more they are going to want.”  And she’s well prepared to meet those wants with her two retail stores – one in Seattle and another in nearby Bellevue.  Each store stocks over two hundred different chocolate bars, serves piping hot drinking chocolates that puts hot cocoa to shame, and has a busy kitchen producing single-origin truffles, fruit filled barks, and such unique delights as chocolate-covered figs filled with anise-flavored ganache.  

“It’s very important that we get the right ganache texture, that the flavor profile is just right, and that they’re beautifully tempered,” she explains of her own line of chocolates, pointing to the glossy deep brown enrobing an array of apricots and figs.  She is not going to settle for second rate, whether in her chocolates or in her business.  Indeed, walking into a Chocolopolis store feels like walking into an upscale boutique where only the finest designer selections are displayed – on clean and elegant shelves like treasured works of art.  

But unlike an upscale boutique, where most of us would be tossed out on our rears if we entered wearing the wrong pair of shoes or dared be so bold to reach for a peak with bare-naked hands in need of a manicure, Chocolopolis has something for everyone.  For the upscale-minded, Chocolopolis is a dream come true, where nearly anyone who enters can not only rest assured that they won’t be tossed out, but can leave with a signature bag in their hands – because splurging ten dollars on a good chocolate bar might seem outrageous, but it’s still only ten dollars which is far less than a good bottle of wine and surely not a lot to pay for all the hours of pleasure a single-origin bar can provide. 

Watching Lauren Adler at work is a lesson in grace under fire, even when the only fire is the one burning within her as she talks about her dream coming true and prepares for another busy day as America’s rising Queen of Premium Chocolate.  The shop hasn’t yet opened for the day, but already she’s simultaneously arranging shelves, steaming hot foamy milk to pour over lemon-lavender infused chocolate shavings, and taking customer calls.  As if on cue, just as she serves me the deliciously aromatic drinking chocolate she’s prepared, a customer calls to be sure there will be hot drinking chocolate available when he brings his date to the shop later in the afternoon.  She assures him that her cup runneth over and there will be no shortage of drinking chocolate on hand.  You can all but hear the imaginary shriek when the gentleman pops the question over a chocolatey-rich cup of what tastes like a liquid truffle. 

But then there’s the Christopher Elbow crisis – Chocolopolis may be the only store in Seattle that stocks the amazing chocolates from Kansas-based chocolatier Christopher Elbow, and now the stock is running staggeringly low and the Fed-Exed order might not arrive until late afternoon.  But when it does, it won’t be long before the chocolates fly out the door at over two dollars apiece, and what better use for a couple of bills than to swap them for a single perfect Christopher Elbow chocolate – or a Chocolopolis single-origin dark chocolate truffle perhaps? 

When Howard Schultz told investors he intended to sell coffee at three dollars a cup, most thought he was crazy.  But those who listened – and invested – became multimillionaires.  Thanks to Mr. Schultz, since we learned that coffee could be so much more than scalding brown liquid tasting like burnt sawdust, we’ve made coffee from fresh roasted beans a part of our daily diet.  Now the same thing seems to be happening with chocolate – and Lauren Adler is poised to lead the retail market for fine chocolates with the ambition and vision of those food entrepreneurs before her who have dared to dream big, and eat well. 

Growing up “popping Hershey’s chocolates in my mouth,” Lauren Adler never envisioned herself becoming a chocolate savant. She thought it couldn’t get much better than a Hershey’s kiss.  But her chocolate addiction transformed to a passion, the first time she bit into a Bonnat Madagascar dark chocolate bar.  As legend has it, the former junior investment banker was hooked the moment she tasted the fruity complexity of this, her first artisan chocolate.  I asked her about that first real good candy bar, and she quickly corrected me with the levity and patience of an expert long accustomed to such faux pas. 

“Chocolate bar,” she corrected, “It’s not a candy bar.”  Humbled, I repeated the more accurate phrase, “chocolate bar, can you tell me about what you’ve learned about chocolate since eating that chocolate bar?”  She smiled and rattled off a quick list of some of the things she’s learned. 

“I started reading lots of fascinating books about the history of chocolate and the more I learned, the more I realized that the quality of chocolate depends on the quality of the cacao bean.”  She pronounces the word artfully, almost lyrically: ca-COW, not CO-co.  But that’s not all there is to chocolate, it turns out, as she discusses how critical the fermentation process is to quality chocolate.  She continues, talking in a rapid-fire pace that seems to spring from her with all the enthusiasm and passion that have characterized her success as an entrepreneur.  “For one thing,” she says, her face fully alive, her eyes nearly dancing with excitement, “we’ve learned that the flavor profile of chocolate is more dependent on terroir (soil), climate, the surrounding community, than many people realize.  It’s not just the bean.” 

She’s clearly educated herself, not just in the head, but on the tongue.  And her educated palate has taught her that for all the rush to bean-to-bar chocolates, there’s more to a good chocolate than good politics. 
“A single origin bean to bar chocolate may not necessarily meet our standards.  If it doesn’t have the right flavor profile, we aren’t going to carry it.” 

Her use of the inclusive “we” to describe the business that she single-handedly launched when she opened her first store in the upscale Queen Anne neighborhood in 2008, reflects the team spirit she brings to her work.  Describing her employees as if they were well-loved family members, she says that putting a good team together is one of the highlights of her work.  “I’ve hired a lot of young people out of college.  They’re smart, enthusiastic and incredibly loyal.”  And she is particularly excited about the two new chocolatiers she recently hired, both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. 
“They’re free to experiment, to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and to be as creative as they want in coming up with new chocolates.  The sky’s the limit!”  It’s a phrase she repeats often, and with an engaging enthusiasm that conjures images of a Chocolopolis on every block, changing the way people eat, buy and talk about chocolate. 

Stay tuned for Part II . . .