Minkchocolates

Timing is Everything

Wednesday. Dave Newson, man at large, joins me at Holt Renfrew to meet the visual display people and discuss the props available for our Valentines pop-up store. I envision chandeliers, mannequins, black velvet curtains swagged from the ceiling. They offer up a six foot table and a power bar. Dave senses my profound disappointment and assures me he’ll make it work. I skulk back to Mink and take an Advil.

Thursday. Dave pulls the two primary colors from the Mink Valentines poster, and arranges to have wide vinyl striping applied alternately on the table. He coerces them into giving up a couple of plinths with glass cubes that he’ll use to showcase my Artist Series bonbon boxes and anchor either side of the table. He pulls a graphic detail from the poster and instructs the vinyl guy to produce a band with that image in repetition that will finish off the bottom of the cubes. He confirms there is more to come.

Friday. I have one week to produce all the chocolate I’ll need for the pop-up shop, as well as the Mink store downtown and the one at Morgan Crossing. Sales volume from last year isn’t much of a predictor, as Valentines coincided with the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics, and the organizing committee, Vanoc, scared the bejeezus out of everyone and implored them not to come downtown unless absolutely necessary. We still had a great holiday, albeit not entirely an accurate reflection of our potential.

What’s the mood this year? In retail, unless there are significant indicators of pending calamity, you have to be an optimist and plan for a 10% increase. But the pop-up store? It’s entirely unknown. Holts is the pinnacle of fashion retailing in Canada. I should kill, but what if I don’t? Hand filled hearts don’t have the same value the day after. I take the rest of the afternoon off to work from home.

Saturday. Mrs. Mink is planning Jr. Minks 3^rd birthday at the Sunset Community Center. The list of planned activities is long, and the guest list longer. She runs a few perfunctory details past me, knowing I’m only half paying attention. I perk up slightly when she references something about paying for it all from our joint account, but I’ll clarify that at the end of the month when the statement comes.

Sunday. I get an electronic e-vite to my son’s soiree. I open it, admire the choice of template, and click on my name. I have the option of attending for sure, attending maybe, or not attending. I choose the latter. For the benefit of all the parents of his pre-school buddies and their nannies, I feel compelled to decline with an explanation. Levi originally had a due date of February 15. Had he adhered to the schedule, I’d be having cupcakes after finger-painting. He chose to take an earlier flight, and arrived on the 13^th.

The day before Valentines, and the day of Valentines, are the two single biggest days in the chocolate business. By the time my business will allow me to party with the pre-schoolers, he’ll be in University. I go into his room and interrupt him playing with his trains. I tell him I love him and I’m sorry I won’t be at his birthday party. I try and explain that had he stayed in his womb until it was time to leave, I’d be there. He gave me one of those innocent quizzical looks he so often does, then asked if Toopy and Binoo would be there instead.

Monday. I’m stressed. Shecky texts me to say stressed backwards is dessert, and that I should have some rice pudding. Instead, I walk up to the Bentall Center and get my shoes shined. Sitting in the chair, watching my Blundstones get a new lease on life, I think back to when I’d go with my Dad on Saturday’s to get haircuts, him a shoeshine, then off to Mikes Cigar Store, where he got a stogey and I got a Dinky Toy. I couldn’t tell you anything about my birthday parties from those years, but I’ll never forget Saturdays. I call my wife and propose that going forward we celebrate the kids birthday on his due date, not his actual arrival date. Valentines will be in the books, and I won’t have to make excuses.

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

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In Person: 863 Hastings Street West, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N9

February 14

Blink and it’s Done

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 24^th, 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

Merry Christmas 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 25^th, 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