Posts Tagged ‘independent coffee shops’
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Fred sauntered into Mink looking like a man who’d just had sixty minutes of Shiatsu and was too relaxed to shower afterwards. He called me out from behind the bar and tried to give me a complicated handshake that I’m either too old or too white to comprehend.
“You’ve lost your hipness”, he said, berating me in that playful tone one can when one’s been friends over three decades. “You’re slippery”, I shot back, “and I’m not referring to your methodology”.
“I’ve been walking all over downtown. You should try it sometime. Or maybe you’re just sympathetically pregnant”.
It’s now public fact that Mrs. Mink is expecting in the spring. Still, that jab hit above the belt, so to speak.
I offer him a cappuccino, which I suspect is the sole reason for his having hoofed it from Yaletown. We could have easily talked or texted to catch up.
“Remember Danny Kaide, from high school?” he asks me. “I saw him at an opening last night. He told me no one in his family has lived past 61. I said we should have dinner soon”.
As disturbing as it is to hear that from a man sweating profusely in a chocolate shop, I laugh. “Thanks for the update”, I say. “What else is going on?”
He tells me his daughter is turning eight, and he’s planning her birthday party. All she wants is an afternoon limo ride with a dozen of her closest friends. No bouncy castles, no Barbie impersonators, no magic tricks. Just some urban cruising. Because Fred walks everywhere, I sense she’s feeling auto-deprived, and like her Dad, she’s a go big or go home kind of kid.
He asks me for loot bags, figuring that’s the missing element to making this party a success and I’m happy to oblige. The logistics are simple. I’ll make twelve bags with black and white chocolate cow lollipops, ladybug and dinosaur truffles and milk chocolate cell phones, gender neutral because he doesn’t have a girl/boy headcount, and he’ll pick them up the day before.
Now any parent who’s ever thrown a modern day birthday party for their kids, or at least picked their kids up from a birthday party, knows the loot bags are given out at the end, to take home. Fred made the cardinal mistake of giving them out as they piled into the car. Lots of kids, lots of chocolate, confined space, and stop and go city traffic, equals motion sickness.
Twenty minutes into a two hour tour and the limo driver calls Fred and tells him he’s bringing the kids back, and is expecting help dealing with the barf fest. Fred’s out walking, so the car has to swing by and pick him up first.
I’m laughing, yet I’m disturbed, and it makes me want to take a shower just thinking about it.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: 38% milk chocolate, artisan chocolate, Barbie, birthday parties, café, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolates vancouver, coffee, fatherhood, Fred, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, limo rides, loot bags, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Shiatsu, truffles, Yaletown
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Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
This post first appeared on Annmarie Kostyk’s blog, Chocolate Goddess. Check it out for great recipes, and the largest resource of makers of 70% or higher dark chocolate bars.
Well into my vacation, I dream that instead of putting the nightly deposits in the safe, Ben puts five bags of cash in the milk chocolate ganache and all the deposit slips and till tapes in the dark chocolate ganache. All the while the machines are spinning and everyone is oblivious to the shredded bits of banknotes floating in their fondues.
He rationalizes it as the equivalent of putting the family heirlooms in the cereal box because the home invader would never think to look there. I wake up fretting about whether or not that tactic is food safe.
I tell the story over breakfast to my wife who is trying to feed our 2-1/2 year old. Levi gets to pour a glass of water onto his make believe rock garden every time he eats a big spoonful of Cheerios. Picking her battles, my wife is convinced she’s won this one. Between shoveling processed oats into his mouth, and trying to feed herself, I ask her if she thinks the dream is indicative of my constant state of worry that the chocolate shop will be in disarray when we get back to town.
She thinks it’s simple; there was too much MSG in the previous night’s Chinese takeout.
Convinced I’ve foretold a variation of some sort of calamity, I send Ben a text. “How’s it going?” I’m nothing if not succinct. He’s slow to reply, which is disconcerting because like all my staff, their iPhones are in their aprons, set to vibrate, and always at the ready. I assume the Café has either burnt down, or Ben’s leading a staff retreat at the Lions Pub.
Soon my BlackBerry plays the opening refrain to the James Bond Theme, the song I’ve set as Ben’s alert. I like to think of him as an operative and me as the mysterious benevolent chocolate dictator, and all our communiqués are top secret. “May I speak?” is his cryptic text that lets me know he can chat on the phone if I’m available. I call him up.
We exchange hi, how are you’s, then he’s all business.
“Things are quite good”, he says, “people still want to eat chocolate even if you’re not here”.
I get the numbers, all the phone messages, and updates on various staff drama, and am temporarily reassured.
“Cohen’s taken it upon himself to make a merchandising statement in honor of Pride weekend, using only the Queen Cake chocolate bar”, Ben tells me, trying to contain his laughter. “You’ll definitely have to put it into production when you get back”.
Queen Cake is Mink’s 70% dark chocolate bar hand filled with marzipan. It’s my take on some versions of king cake eaten during the carnival season in the South. Didn’t think of it at the time, but I guess the cross promotion is self evident.
Ben and I hang up. I’m home in a couple of days. They’ve managed without me, and done quite well actually, so at my wife’s behest, I’m going to try and chill the rest of the trip.
I hit the pool. I’m trying to finish Candy Freak by Steve Almond, billed as a journey through the chocolate underbelly of America. I started the paperback just after Christmas, when the hysteria of the biggest chocolate season of the year slowly wound down, but put it aside as both the 2010 Winter Olympics and the start of construction on the new Mink A Chocolate Café retail outlet at Morgan Crossing was getting underway.
I pick it up at the bookmark. Two pages into this candy porn confessional, and I’m fast asleep. I dream that everyone in the Café is eating my chocolate bars like Big Walter Horton playing the harmonica, sliding them from side to side. Ben’s playing boogie woogie blues on an old upright piano. The keyboard not only makes music, it can send text messages. I learn the deposit is in the safe. It’s easier to sleep when there’s nothing to worry about.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: Annmarie Kostyk, artisan chocolate, Ben Best, Big Walter Horton, chocolate bars, Chocolate Goddess, chocolates vancouver, coffee, espresso, ganache, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Queen Cake
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Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
Tuesday I get a frantic call from the contractor building the new store at Morgan Crossing. “I’ve done all I can do”, Stephen says, excitedly. “They’re not with the program”.
With lifts in his shoes, he could pass for a young Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. “Who’s not with the program”, I ask, knowing full well I’m going to have to stick handle something minor that’s a hair trigger away from being something major.
“We don’t have a building permit. I’ve done all I can do. I’m framed and all roughed in, but I need to call for inspection. I need that permit”. He speaks with a soft slur, as if his mouth can’t quite keep up to the volume of information his brain is asking him to dispense.
Apparently the good folks at Surrey City Hall are on a program that broadcasts on a channel we’re not subscribed to. I call the Chief Building Inspector. I learn that our drawings were misplaced for two weeks. Someone else was on holiday. I’m left with a promise that a plan checker has it on her desk and a review is forthcoming.
I relay this information to Stephen. “That’s unbelievable”, he says. “This isn’t just fun and games for us. I look after my clients. They’re not with the program!”
I agree with him. Building a store is like going to Playland, eagerly anticipating the front seat on the roller coaster and finding the ride closed for repairs, and no rain checks being issued.
I look at my calendar. It’s completely arbitrary, but I try to imagine a revised opening date. What was originally contemplated as April 15th is now looking more like early to mid-June. I’ve got to delay the arrival of some equipment, reschedule the training program.
My phone rings. It’s Stephen. He’s agitated. I tell him not to panic, that Qantas has never crashed.
He doesn’t get the joke. That’s OK, I say, it’s someone else’s program.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: artisan chocolate, Artist Series bon bons, bon bons, café, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolates vancouver, coffee, Dustin Hoffman, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, Morgan Crossing, Rain Man
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Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
I try and instill in all the Mink staffers a sense of the Four Seasons standard of service excellence. The ubiquitous hotel chain does arguably the best job in the service industry of paying attention to details.
Details are those little intrinsic differences that subliminally affect your perception of something. It may not be immediately apparent, but it supports the overall message of the brand. It strengthens brand intention, and serves to set you apart from others in a very crowded marketplace.
The world is over retailed, and doesn’t need any more of anything. If you’re going to do something, you might as well be different, and do different so well that you set the standard by which all others have to compete.
This strategy can sometimes get lost in translation, and when it’s lost on a tenured employee we call Spicoli, it can have very humorous consequences. The washrooms in the Café have really nice chrome fixtures. The toilet paper dispensers in particular are hotel caliber, dual roll dispensers with hoods that cry out for a chambermaid’s touch of origami to the loose end.
We insist that each new roll of toilet paper be loaded into the dispenser so the paper unrolls over the top, rather than behind. It looks better, and it’s more convenient. The most important detail though, is starting the roll, so the guest doesn’t have to pick at the point where it’s glued to get it going.
Most commercial toilet paper is two ply. Starting the roll means paying attention to ensure the two plys line up. Not paying attention to how one starts the roll could mean the plys have separated, and at the perforation point of the individual squares, they don’t line up.
The simple fix is taking the first errant ply, and folding it over the roll to catch up to its proper position, and tearing it equal to its natural second ply. We’ve actually referenced this in the staff communication book and teach it as basic bathroom maintenance to all new hires. Spicoli had other ideas. His acute sense of logic dictated that if the roll is wound down far enough, the two plys will eventually meet.
The mystery of why there was always so much unused toilet paper in the garbage can was finally answered when Spicoli confessed to Ben that he thought our service standard for toilet paper was untenable.
Hearing this from Ben the other day, we were killing ourselves laughing, but not as hard as when we wrote the memo that effective immediately, we’re switching to a three ply toilet paper, and everyone changing rolls had to ensure that all the plys, again, lined up at the start.
So the next time you’re in the washroom, if all you see is toilet paper almost at the end of the roll, either we’ve been busy, or Spicoli’s been on bathroom maintenance.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: artisan chocolate, café, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolate making video, chocolate vancouver, chocolates vancouver, Four Seasons, Four Seasons Hotels, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, Isadore Sharpe, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, organic chocolate, truffles
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Monday, March 8th, 2010
7AM to 7PM, 7 days a week, for 17 days.
Those were the hours we chose to run with for the 2010 Winter Olympics. There was no magic hospitality industry formula for determining when we opened or when we closed, the staffing level or the schedule.
As a slogan, it had a nice ring to it. We were going to take the ball and run with, and change on the fly if necessary.
Excitement really started to build as the torch relay got closer to Vancouver. We were serving more and more people with Vanoc (Vancouver Olympic Committee) or IBC (international Broadcast Center) credentials, and the ubiquitous red mittens. More and more of our customers had accents, credit cards issued by foreign banks, and logo apparel of different nationalities.
The opening ceremonies were Friday, February 12th. We decided we’d start wearing our Olympic souvenir hockey jerseys on Monday the 8th. Mink bought every staff member either a Canadian jersey (their choice of home or away colors) or that of their country of origin or family ancestry.
Ben Best is from Dallas, Texas. Vancouver’s a hockey town. Poor guy took more than his share of abuse for those three weeks. How prescient was his Team USA jersey in a sea of Maple Leafs?
The Games got underway and we got slammed. Throw Valentine’s Day into the chocolate mix, and that first weekend was nuts. The volumes we did were staggering. All of a sudden, twice weekly deliveries of dairy became daily deliveries. Suppliers who couldn’t get downtown because of parking restrictions took to loading my unlocked car in the middle of the night in front of my house. Five hours sleep a night became a luxury.
By the 16th we found our rhythm. We could handle the hordes. We got our breaks back. No one missed lunch. Everyone got to pee when they needed to.
We were missing a lot of our regulars, but meeting people from all over the world. They found us because the Cafe fronts the pedestrian greenway that got them from Robson Square to the Olympic cauldron. That was a huge draw.
It was Olympics on the TV from open to close, but unless a gathering crowd was hooting and hollering for someone or some country specifically, we were oblivious to what was going on. Except for hockey.
To live through the preliminary round loss to the US, and make it to the gold medal game against that very team, our neighbors to the south, our largest trading partner, the country that causes us to get a cold when it sneezes, made for levels of pandemonium hitherto unknown. And on that final Sunday of the Games, after busting our chops so furiously getting it done, the only sensible thing to do was close the Café and let the staff watch the game, and take to the streets afterwards.
I scraped the auxiliary hours off the window, but left the Go Canada Go tagline and the small Canadian flag. I taped a piece of company letterhead below, saying “Closed Early for Hockey”.
I went home and watched the drama unfold from the comfort of my living room. My staff stayed downtown, watching with 250,000 of their closest friends. And in true Canadian fashion, Ben and his jersey came through the celebration unscathed.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: www.minkchocolates.com
Tweet: www.twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: www.facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: www.youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Tags: chocolate bars, chocolates vancouver, gold medal hockey, handmade chocolate, IBC, independent coffee shops, Men's hockey, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Team Canada, Team USA, Vancouver 2010, Vanoc, Winter Olympics
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Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Courtesy of @meljo45
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: 38% milk chocolate, artisan chocolate, Artist Series bon bons, bon bons, café, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolate making video, chocolates vancouver, coffee, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, latte, Mascots, melting chocolate, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Olympics, organic chocolate, truffles, Vancouver 2010, Vancouver2010.com, Winter Games, Wintger Olympics
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Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
from left to right: Ben, Spicoli, Taylor, Me, Staci and Alesia.
Missing from photo: Nicole, Estrella and the Twins
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: artisan chocolate, Artist Series bon bons, bon bons, café, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolate making video, chocolates vancouver, coffee, espresso, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, latte, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Olympics, organic chocolate, Team Canada, Team GErmany, Team Russia, Team USA, transfer sheets, truffles, Vancouver 2010, Winter Olympics
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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Many years ago, before my wife’s gaggle of girlfriends started getting married and raising families, one of the “ladies”, a communications hotshot in the Prime Minister’s Office, was raising a little hell on the campaign trail. I grew very fond of her spirited opinions, forever on message, and relished those times when she was not in the Nation’s Capitol, but here on the west coast, spinning circumstance along party lines.
She always carried herself with the air of one destined to garner the popular vote, riding the middle-of-the-road sentiment of the electorate, wanting to effect change, but nonetheless happy with the balance afforded the centrist.
When the PMO lost the election and his staff was sent packing, I was tickled when she called me up and made me this offer: “I’ve got the balance of the afternoon to pilfer as many things as I can from the stockroom. What do you want?”
I wasn’t so much shocked as excited about securing Government of Canada branded merchandise. In true Canadian fashion, the lowest she would stoop before power changed hands, was to load up on post-it notes and whiteout.
“I’ll take any stationary with the seal of the Government of Canada on it”, I asked hesitantly. “Failing that, any type of form, blank proclamation, or other such document that I could use as a gag to impress my friends”.
After an obligatory reprimand that touched on everything from fraudulent misrepresentation to the penalties for treason she signed off with a firm “I’ll see what I can do”.
A month later a large manila envelope with no return address appeared in my mailbox. Inside was a one inch thick sheaf of letterhead, resplendent with the embossed seal of the Government, and a note from her disavowing any knowledge of my ever having existed.
I thought it hilarious that I could send a fictitious letter to my friend Skelly, offering advice, as his representative in Parliament, about a nasty “tax situation” that was sure to befall him. Or to Fred, offering an opportunity for him to relinquish his unofficial title as Mayor of Yaletown for a crack at, say, Speaker of the House of Commons.
I never did do anything with that paper, and it’s still in a drawer in my office, under a package of page protectors and colored blank file folders, but it serves to remind me of the possibilities that come with power. The closest I have to that is titular head of a household that defers any decision of importance to my wife, or being the Captain of a small business ship known as Mink Chocolates. So how surprised was I to learn that someone else is the Mayor?
There’s a phone app called foursquare, and there’s a guy named James who, because of a well coordinated campaign, became the Mayor of Mink. I guess until the seat becomes vacant I won’t be able to run for that office, even though technically I own it. I’m more hoping that when he loses the next election, he calls me, and offers to raid the stockroom. Maybe I wind up with some great Mink branded merchandise I haven’t already thought of.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: 38% milk chocolate, artisan chocolate, Artist Series bon bons, bigtime, bon bons, café, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolate making video, chocolate vancouver, chocolates vancouver, coffee, drinking chocolate, espresso, foursquare, Fred, Government of Canada, handmade chocolate, independent coffee shops, latte, Mayor of Mink Chocolates, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Mink Original, Mink Signature, organic chocolate, Parliament, PMO, Prime Minister's Office, skelly, truffles, Yaletown
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Monday, January 4th, 2010
Months of planning and preparation to get ready for Christmas, and it’s over as fast as you can drink an eggnog latte. Four hours to unwrap and hang ornaments at precisely the right height over the espresso bar, and ten minutes to snip the wires, throw them in a box, and stow for next year.
Almost an entire day to tweak the recipe for the rum-based ganache in the Traditional Christmas chocolate bar, and nary a moment for people to stack a pile of them at the till, sign the Visa slip and be bid a Seasons Greetings.
The Holiday is over, but the respite is short lived. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Where Christmas business in chocolate is spread over the three weeks leading up to the 24th, Valentine’s is all done in the three days leading up to February 14.
The planning and preparation for the two holidays start pretty much concurrent with each other. This year we’ll have heart-shaped boxes of bonbons, lots of Love Potion and Romeo & Juliet chocolate bars, and of course the ubiquitous Oh, Baby! romance gift box. What’s unique about Valentine’s Day in the first year of this new decade, is that two days prior is also the start of a seventeen day international event showcasing seasonal amateur athletics, the heavily trademarked and copyrighted Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
By sheer virtue of our location a block from the 24 hour broadcast facility which is playing host to thousands and thousands of media from around the world, we will be busy. The International Olympic Committee is sequestering themselves in the Vancouver Club, opposite us across the courtyard. The host provincial Liberal government is staying in the hotel tower at Terminal City, directly above us.
The magnitude of this event, and our proximity to it, behooves us to extend our hours by opening earlier and closing later than normal. We will hire and train more people. We will take a bigger position in chocolate inventory. We will get into the spirit and cheer on our athletes.
For all the scheduling details, delivery logistics, and chocolate production that consumes these weeks leading up to the Olympics, one thing is certain, it will be over before we know it.
We expect ourselves to turn in a gold medal performance. Stay tuned. Highlights at eleven.
Marc Lieberman
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: artisan chocolate, Artist Series bon bons, Baby, bon bons, café, chocolate gifts, chocolate making video, chocolate vancouver, chocolates vancouver, coffee, drinking chocolate, espresso, handmade chocolate, heart shaped bonbons, I.O.C., independent coffee shops, latte, Love Potion, Mermaid's Choice, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Mink Original, Mink Signature, Oh, Olympics, organic chocolate, Romeo & Juliet, truffles, Valentine's Day, Vancouver 2010, Wintger Olympics Vancouver
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Monday, December 14th, 2009
I’ve been a frequent customer at the post office this Christmas, sending off packages of chocolate to people I’ve never met. With each order comes a story of my own manufacture. What do I surmise is behind the large box of bars to the northernmost postal code in the country? More a cure for cabin fever than stocking stuffers, I figure.
That gift box of bon bons to an editor at a prestigious publishing house in the States? Of course it’s a hopeful author of science fiction novels looking for a nod on a recently submitted manuscript. And the selection of Mink chocolate bars in a wooden keepsake gift box with the Oh, Baby romance box wrap sent to a real estate agent in Edmonton? Looking for a little loving’ under the mistletoe, I suspect.
The stories we get in the Café leave little to the imagination, but are no less unique. Like the woman who asks Ben the price on a bon bon gift box, and wants to know if that includes chocolate. She’s buying for someone special, don’t you know, and it would be a shame if the box were empty.
Or the customer who asks if we’ll be open on December 25th, because he’s sure he’s going to forget someone on his list. “It might make sense to stock up now, seeing as you’re here, don’t you think?”
Christmas is the undisputed king of the four major chocolate holidays, and this year is proving to be no exception. The Café is decorated, the fireplace is on the TV, the top-secret staff Christmas present is on its way, and everyone is optimistic. Barring a major weather event like last year, everything should be fine. If Canada Post lives up to their end of the bargain, where the price of postage is actually shipping and not just a storage fee, then all those folks in far-off places will have Mink for Christmas, and all will be right in the world.
To all our customers, friends and family, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Ben B.
Staci
Alesia
Nicole
Ben A.
Taylor
Estrella
Parris
Arielle
Shea
Gustav von Mink
Mink Chocolates Inc.,
Mink A Chocolate Cafe Ltd.
Call the store: 604.633.2451
Call my mobile: 604.376.3464
Call toll free: 1.866.283.5181
Shop: minkchocolates.com
Tweet: twitter.com/minkchocolates
Join: facebook.com/mink.chocolates
Read: blog.minkchocolates.com
Watch: youtube.com search mink chocolates
In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9
Nine out of every ten persons say they love chocolate. The tenth lies.
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Tags: 2009, 38% milk chocolate, artisan chocolate, Artist Series bon bons, Baby, Ben Best, bon bons, café, Canada Post, chocolate bars, chocolate gifts, chocolate vancouver, chocolates vancouver, coffee, Cup of Excellence, drinking chocolate, espresso, handmade chocolate, Happy New Year, independent coffee shops, latte, Merry Christmas, mink, Mink A Chocolate Cafe, mink chocolates, Mink on Facebook, Mink on Twitter, Mink Original, Mink Signature, Oh, organic chocolate, Romance Gift Box, shopping online, The Girls' Favourite, The Sporting Life, truffles, United States Postal Service
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