Just Good Chocolate to be reborn in Traverse City

Feb. 19, 2016

Moving day can’t come soon enough for Nichole Warner. To take full advantage of her business’s relocation from Leland to Traverse City, she’ll be rebranding her company, Just Good Chocolate, to the Fresh Coast Chocolate Company.

“We wanted to evoke a sense of place, where we’re from,” said Warner.

Where they will be from is the warehouse district in downtown Traverse City, in the space formerly occupied by Remedy Cafe. Warner is looking at a spring opening, hopefully by late May.

“We’d been looking in Traverse City for a long time,” said Warner.

She noted that the demand in the downtown area means that, when properties come on the market, they are typically not available for long.

She’s excited about the new location. “It couldn’t have worked out any more perfect. It’s close to downtown, to Hotel Indigo [scheduled to open later this year.] I love the vibe of the warehouse district. It’s funky and independent,” she said.

When Fresh Coast Chocolate Company does open, patrons will be able to watch chocolate being made from start to finish. She said the only other Michigan company making chocolate “bean to bar” is in Dexter.

“We feel what we do is unique. We want to connect customers with how it’s made and connect them to the farmers who grow the beans,” Warner said.

Along those lines, Warner is working with VASI (Amazonia Vision for an Integrated Sustainability), a project with a mission to provide legal and sustainable incomes for those in poor, rural areas of the Amazon. A major part of the VASI vision involves planting, harvesting and exporting organic, wild and heirloom varieties of cacao.

Warner and her husband Drew started Just Good Chocolate in 2011. He’s since stepped back and now it’s co-owned by Nichole and her brother Justin Manning, but she said she’s the one in the trenches — not that she minds.

“Chocolate-making is very much a craft and art form,” she said. “It’s labor- and timeintensive.”

Warner said she first became aware of the entirety of the chocolate-making process when she owned a retail store that specialized in fair trade goods. One of her suppliers was a chocolate company in Seattle.

“Like everyone else, I had no idea how chocolate was made,” she said.

It wasn’t long before she fell in love with the process. She took online courses, watched videos and learned how the flavor differs depending on the origin of the beans.

“Each bean is unique. If it’s from Belize or Madagascar, the taste is completely different.”

When she began making chocolate, she couldn’t afford the equipment needed to process the beans into cocoa, so she started with chocolate nibs, the center of the cacao bean. The outer shells of the beans are removed and the remainder — the nibs — are roasted and ground. By 2014, the business had grown to the point where she could afford the processing equipment.

While the wholesale end was going well, she missed the interaction with customers she’d had in her retail operation.

“I always wanted retail. The vision always was to have people come in and see chocolate being made,” Warner said.

That couldn’t happen at the location in Leland, due to zoning constraints, hence, the move to Traverse City. Warner said the new location will also enable her to expand her product line, which currently features three single origin bars, hot cocoa mix, brownie mix and cocoa powder.

She can now add inclusion bars (chocolate with nuts and/or fruit), milk chocolates, pastries and a complete coffee bar. She expects to hire as many as six additional staff for the summer.

Retailers like Tom’s carry some Just Good Chocolate items; the entire line is available only at Oryana. The new location will feature all the products, many of which will be exclusive to the cafe.

If present success is a predictor of the future, Fresh Coast Chocolate Company shouldn’t have any problems. The company was a finalist for the nationwide Good Food Awards in 2015 and won an award for its Madagascar 70% Dark bar.

Warner said the process starts with a blind tasting by independent judges. Those companies that perform well enough to meet a scoring threshold are vetted to ensure they adhere to environmentally sound agriculture practices, good animal husbandry, transparency and responsible relationships throughout the supply chain. The country is divided into regions and each region may not have winners in every category. Just Good Chocolate competed against chocolate makers not only from Michigan, but 10 other central U.S. states.

It’s a long and winding road from the cacao-producing regions of the world to a display case in Traverse City. Warner is enthusiastic and optimistic that customers will enjoy a glimpse into the journey — and the end result.