Lisa Heppner and JC Bourque, owners
Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: About 10 years ago, while on vacation, we witnessed a woman digging frantically through her purse at an overlook in Rocky Mountain National Park. When one of her companions asked what she was doing, she exclaimed that she was having a “chocolate crisis.” We were intrigued by the idea that people have such intense cravings for chocolate, and we started looking into it. We found hundreds of references on the internet in which people used that same phrase— “chocolate crisis”— to describe their cravings. The concept of the Chocolate Crisis Center was born, and we applied our experience in advertising and marketing to develop the idea into a brand.
Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
A: Once we decided to get into this business, we discovered that novelty brands typically don’t include high quality chocolate, instead relying on the “joke” to sell the product. In fact, some of it is truly dreadful— full of vegetable oil, with a waxy texture. We knew we could do much better. Because our brand would need to compete with novelty brands, we decided to offer our customers a “two-fer”— a humorous presentation and great chocolate. That is how we stand out within the category. To help connect with our customers, Chocolate Crisis Center hosts tasting events during First Friday Art Walks in the RiNo Arts District. At these events, we sample new flavors and customer favorites, and have customers participate in focus groups and themed events such as “choctails night,” when we feature only cocktails made with chocolate as an ingredient. We offer something new at every event to keep the experience fresh.
Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
A: Research! Product testing is one of the best parts of the job. We love the process of creating a product that is not only delicious, but also makes people laugh. Creating new concoctions and dreaming up clever new names and themes is fun for us and our customers. As marketers, this brand gives us an unmatched level of creative freedom. It’s a blast connecting with people through humor — and delicious chocolate.
Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
A: Chocolate is a very crowded category. Building a national brand from a local store takes a lot of hard work and patience. Competing against all the chocolate and candy in the market is not easy. Online, we need to translate as much of our storefront experience as possible, so those customers appreciate the value of the brand in a similar way. It can be daunting, but we are in it for the long haul, and have enough great ideas to keep the brand fresh for a long time.
Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
A: We have a secret program for dentists that allows them to purchase chocolate in bulk with complete anonymity.
Profile
Business: Chocolate Crisis Center
Address: 3370 Walnut St.
Hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Founded: 2004
Contact: 303-296-0628
Employees: 5
