White, Milk or Dark?

After being in business in my chocolate store for 5 years now, I still prefer white chocolate or milk chocolate over dark, despite the widely proclaimed health benefits of dark chocolate. I eat about one piece of chocolate a day, sometimes two, but not 6 or more like my skinny husband. My husband likes dark chocolate. Personally I find dark chocolate drier and more bitter than milk chocolate. I like the smoothness of white and milk chocolate and the creaminess ... and how it melts in my mouth. I don't know if there is more sugar in white and milk chocolate. I would have look at the ingredients or ask someone at the Leonidas office.
Because I lost 50Lbs with Weight Watchers last year and because someone asked, one day I calculated the Point value of our chocolates. Our chocolates range from 1 to 3 Points per chocolate. Why do people proclaim that dark chocolate is healthier? I believe it is mainly because 1) it is higher in fiber, 2) it doesn't contain any milk and 3) it has more cocoa butter, which has all the anti-oxidants. You may think that chocolates without added sugar have less calories than regular chocolates. This is not the case. The sugar content makes very little difference in the caloric value.
Anti-oxidants help prevent cancer, heart disease and others. They are found in foods such as blueberries, red wine, green tea, chocolate and others.
Chocolate helps lower LDL cholesterol and therefor chocolate is helpful in the prevention of high blood pressure and hart disease.
Since chocolate is high in Magnesium it increases one's mood. You probably will notice having a better mood after eating a piece of chocolate. I used to work in a health food store until I started my chocolate store 5 years ago. Not until I had my own store did I notice that I had far less colds symptoms than before and also that most people that would enter my store had a good mood. While working in the health food store, I was constantly fighting off colds and people were generally feeling pretty louzy. I don't think it was because they didn''t get to their morning chocolate yet. Most people that enter my store comment on how good it smells. The atmosphere filled with the smell of fresh chocolate alone may give people a better mood when they enter my store. Just like when baking the smell fills the house and gives us a sense of cozyness, warmth and togetherness.
Speaking of morning chocolate - my ex-sister-in-law always put a block of Cote d'Or Double Lait chocolate on the breakfast table. I also have clients who have their daily dark Leonidas Napolitain chocolate with their breakfast. It's like taking your daily vitamins every morning - have a Napolitain or have 3 dark Leonidas Perles Pure with breakfast - your anti-oxydant pills - my prescription to you. (This makes me feel good because it reminds me of my training as a pharmacist) . So should you switch to dark only chocolate? I guess you should. But if you really cannot get yourself there, have a piece of milk chocolate. All the benefits of dark chocolate are still there and the few extra calories really won't make a big difference, as long as you're not going to double your dose of daily anti-oxidant pills to make up for the missing anti-oxidants of the dark chocolate! The key is control - one can enjoy every food or drink available in the world as long as it is consumed in a controled and sensible way.
One day I will write an extensive blog on the benefits of chocolates, but today I have to limit myself to the above.
You can fill your prescription for anti-oxidant pills at www.leonidas.ca!

A little dream cafe - some thought s on the challenges of retailing

I have been dreaming of having a cafe even before I opened my Leonidas chocolate store five years ago. When I opened it, I thought I would eventually be able to serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate, little snacks and my collection of healthy salad ideas with it. But the landlord decided to give an exclusivity to Starbucks and so, I am unable to have a chocolate cafe at my current location. I have been reflecting on this exclusivity thing for a while now. My question is: would companies that require exclusivity, actually be able to survive in the market if they wouldn't have an exclusivity deal? I have my doubts. It would be interesting to see a study done on this. I guess exclusivity is needed in some areas of business, but for a small cafe I cannot really see much benefit other than stiffling the competition. The other thing it creates is uniformity - the same coffee shops everywhere in every mall, on every street corner. This summer I was several evenings in my university city Leuven (Belgium). One narrow street behind the City Hall is lined with restaurants side by side -a few italian, french, greek, etc. All of them with terraces. Each of these restaurants is unique and offers menu items that are available at the other restaurants as well as their own selections. And even tough they are located side by side and across the street from each other, they are succesful and the little terraces are full of people eating with their friends and families. Choice - just being able to walk along the street, reading the menus posted at the entrances to the restaurants, the daily specials and being able to chose the one where the atmosphere seems to be perfect, the food just right for mood you are in that day. That priviliege of choice is not as readily available here in North America. The uniformity of the same stores in all the malls of North America, the same coffeeshops on every street corner, the same fast food restaurants with the same food choices day after day, eventually will only create boredom and a general ill-defined dissatisfaction in the general population, I think. Uniformity of course has its advantages - you can employ cheap labour and you can duplicate your business idea many times over so the world gets inundated with the same idea many times over an you get to be in a position to negotiate exclusivities. And so other people with dreams of having their own business may not have the opportunity to realize them. Like me.
But I can dream of my cafe. I can imagine it - a place where people meet and start talking about current topics, about the things that are going on in their lives and about their pet topics and hobbies. It could be a place where you can people watch or read a good book - a mystery or a romance novel. A place where you could have a cup of coffee or tea or hot chocolate and your favorite pastry without having to worry about the calories. A place where small business owners could get together and exchange ideas for the success of their business over a cup of tea. A place where people love to come and love to be, because the food is good, the atmosphere is great and where quality is strived for in every action, every product.
Well, we're half way there, because we can serve hot chocolate and teas. We now have 12 different kinds of Hot Chocolate and we make all of them with real chocolate, not from powder like most places do. Our hot chocolate is famous world wide, but Calgarians don't know about it yet. It has been written about in magazines and newspapers. It has been mentioned on blogs and in press releases. But Calgarians don't know about it yet.
There are people who come regularly to my store. We have a chat over a cup of Leonidas Original or Leonidas Manon Cafe. Some come from as far away as Nova Scotia and make a point of stopping in for a cup and a chat. I like that. It gives me life. It gives me something to think about. It gives me energy.
If you come to my store before the end of the week because you read this blog, please ask for a hot chocolate in the special BLOG cup. You'll receive a free Leonidas chocolate and I'll try to spend some time chatting with you. It's close to Christmas, so I may have to give you a rain check for the chat part. To find us, go to www.leonidas.ca