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1 5 August 2018 SNACKING NEWS Sweet Heat Peppers Brings the Jalapeños when he couldn't find them on the market anywhere, he decided to try making his own. Many experiments later, he'd created the product to the satisfaction of himself and his friends. "After making them and storing them, we would occasionally bring the Can- died Jalapeños out for parties or bring them to people's houses," he says. "Once people started commenting on the peppers, I real- ized how well received it was." At the suggestion of some of those friends, he started selling them at local farmers markets, where they found an en- thusiastic market. "That's where we get people started on them, and they do get hooked pretty easily," Josh says. On their first weekend, they sold everything they had, and then the market asked them to come back. "We would work our regular jobs and then make the peppers to sell for that weekend," Josh says. "When it got too much for us, we went and searched for a co-packer. It took a couple of tries to find the right one." Sweet Heat Peppers is still sold in Omaha farmers markets, but its products are also now found in regional retailers as well as local restaurants around Omaha and have distribution in a total of about 150 stores in 15 states. The line includes Candied Jalapeños, HOTTER Candied Jalapeños and Sweet & Spicy Pickles, all sold in 12-ounce jars that retail for $5.99 each. Sweet Heat Peppers Seasoning is sold in a 3-ounce bottle that retails for $4.99. n BY LORRIE BAUMANN Sweet Heat Peppers, LLC is developing a cult following around its brand of Candied Jalapeños. This summer, the company is coming out with a Sweet & Spicy Relish as a brand extension of its Sweet & Spicy Pickles. Sweet Heat Peppers was started in 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Josh and Brenda Merchant after Josh tasted something simi- lar brought by a friend to a gathering. After he'd had the taste, he wanted more, but Swiss-Trained Chocolatier Seeks Partners in Passion daughter and René's aunt, Brigitte Gravino, and her husband Kevin. René's wife, Nancy, manages the business' whole- sale operation as well as its marketing, and overall, the business employs a total of 57 people, of whom 52 are full-time, and ad- ditional seasonal employees during peak production season prior to the winter hol- idays. The business was started when André Bollier and his wife Elsbeth, who's still ac- tive in the busi- ness as an unofficial but highly respected quality control authority, emi- grated to the U.S. from Switzerland along with their five-year-old son, Marcel, at the urging of Andre's brother, who was working as a Swiss watchmaker in Kansas City and who'd passed the message to Andre that if he came to Kansas City he'd face no compe- tition, since no one else there was already m a k i n g S w i s s c h o c o - l a t e s . R e n é opened his first pastry shop six m o n t h s later. It didn't take him long to realize that the r e a s o n there was no competition for fine Swiss chocolates was that the Kansas City market had no in- terest in fine Swiss chocolates, René says. "My grandparents spent their first 10 years educat- ing the Kansas City public about European candies and pastries," he says. "Luckily for me, it went well." As part of that process, the cou- ple opened a cafe in their store that became a popular luncheon spot where people could stop in for lunch and then buy pas- tries and chocolates to take home with them. It's an approach that still works for Andre's today, and the main store has a wine and coffee bar in addition to an as- sortment of pastries and tortes. "They saw a tremendous amount of growth over the years," René says. Andre's fame in Switzerland as well as the success of his American business proved a draw for other Swiss pastry chefs who make Kansas City and jobs at Andre's Confiserie Suisse their landing zone in the U.S. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, Andre was offering the most exceptional of these emigrant pastry chefs the chance to open their own Andre's Confiserie Suisse shops as franchise op- erations in various cities around the U.S. Eventually, two were opened in Houston, Texas; one in Menlo Park, California; an- other in St. Louis, Mis- souri; and another in Denver, Colorado. None of those shops are still open today – as the founding pastry chefs retired, it proved im- possible to replace them with others who had both the skills and the passion for the business to make worthy successors, René says. "Andre's is a labor of love, and if you don't have a true passion, it's not easily passed on." In 1974, Andre's son, Marcel, and his wife, Connie, joined the business. The Overland Park satellite store, Andre's Rivaz, opened by Brigitte and Kevin Gravino in 2002, and René and Nancy joined the family business that same year. René apprenticed with his grandfather and father and trained in Switzerland, and he is now intent on taking André's ability to produce for multiple locations to retailer partners who can get excited about the André's brand. "We are a luxury product. The majority of the work is still hand- done," he says. "We pride ourselves in making everything ourselves, to only sourcing ingredients from highest quality sources." He's planning for incremental and thoughtful growth that will maintain the same quality André's has always repre- sented. "We personally would love to visit and train their staff and teach their cus- tomers," he says. For further information, visit www .andreschocolates.com or call 816.561.3440. n BY LORRIE BAUMANN André's Confiserie Suisse operates two re- tail stores in the metropolitan area of Kansas City, Missouri, where customers come to buy exquisite chocolates and pas- tries made in the Swiss tradition by the third-generation of Swiss-trained choco- latiers at the head of the business. René Bollier, the grandson of Master Konditor-Con- fiseur André Bollier, the André behind the name on the two shops, says that it's his passion for fine chocolate and a family tradition of ex- cellence that make André's what it is today. The company is cur- rently seeking partner- ships with other retailers who can leverage the quality of André's prod- ucts along with the insights it has earned through its Kansas City retail stores to cre- ate new profit centers for themselves as well as an expanded market for André's it- self. "We don't want to be a brand on the shelf. We know what it takes to get people excited about our brand," Bollier said. "We have an exceptional prod- uct, and conveying that to cus- tomers takes that personal touch." André's' flagship location is its 25,000 square-foot facility in Kansas City, which includes a 5,000 square-foot restaurant and retail space. The rest of the facility is devoted to production of the Swiss-style chocolates and pastries that made René's grandfather famous among Swiss chocolatiers. A second store is located in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. It's a 2,000 square-foot retail and restaurant space managed by André's

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