Nick Frappier hopes to see a day where people will finish off their meal with the perfect chocolate dessert. That day, he feels, will come but not just yet says Deseret News.
“I believe it will happen in my lifetime, but I expect I’ll be ordering the fruit tart for a long time,” Frappier said last week as he planned a presentation to a group of 25 Harmons food store department heads who are about to allocate shelf space for at least three lines of his imported, ultra-premium chocolate bars.
They gave him an hour Monday morning – Frappier could easily do 10 – to describe the pedigree and iterations of chocolate. Despite a history dating back 38 generations, the makers who do chocolate as good as chocolate gets, instead of doing it good enough to get by, make up 1/10,000 of the market, he said.
Marketing and money and a seven-digit bottom line aren’t of primary concern to Frappier and his group of listeners. He has a master of fine arts degree from the University of Utah and is a painter by training who just got to thinking two years ago how he might find a way to import the kind of gourmet chocolate, Italian sausage and other products he loves but could rarely find here.
Frappier doesn’t know how bright his idea is, but he is a full-on geek about chocolate. His line can’t be called cheap – one bar the size of a Hershey bar goes for $9. He describes chocolate using words like “floral,” “finish” and “varietal” that if you’re not listening closely make him sound like a bit of a snob.
“Oh, I’m a total snob,” he said, “but I’m not trying to keep it a secret. I’m trying to let everybody in on it.”
He’s selling in four states, including Utah, and everything is in limited supply. That’s not intentional to jack the price up; quality always takes time to get right, in chocolate or anything else, he said.
Photo by jamescronin