Award-winning Chocolate Café enlivens downtown

You’re on the phone discussing complex issues with a client, and the two of you soon realize a face-to-face meeting is in order. You need a location that is centrally located, has ample parking space, and — oh yes — happens to have a dizzying display of freshly made chocolates on hand.

You know, just in case your client has a hankering for something sinfully sweet, locally made and distinctive to the city of South Bend.

No question about it, you’ll hold your meeting at the South Bend Chocolate Co. Chocolate Café.

A popular spot for doing business

South Bend Chocolate Co. and the Chocolate Café

According to Mark Tarner, founder and president of the South Bend Chocolate Co., the 10,000-square-foot downtown Chocolate Café is a popular spot for doing business, serving thousands of customers every year.

Whether it’s a brief meeting over coffee or a lengthier discussion over lunch, the relaxed atmosphere inside the café is perfectly suited to the local way of doing business. It’s warm and friendly, with plenty of table space scattered throughout to allow for some privacy while you discuss delicate business matters.

This is not to say that the chocolates that made the company famous have in any way taken on an incidental role these days. Quite the contrary. The famous blue-and-gold boxes and gift baskets increasingly are cropping up in such far-flung locations as hotel and airport gift shops, travel oases and mall kiosks in major cities all over the country.

“My vision was always to bring a Godiva-grade chocolate at a Fannie May price into the market,” Tarner says.

Founded in 1991, currently there are 10 company-owned stores in Northern Indiana and 10 franchised locations throughout Indiana and Michigan.

‘A great run’

Although Tarner is reluctant to discuss the many awards his company has garnered over the years, there is, nonetheless, an impressive list of the company’s recent successes.

• State of Indiana Tourism Partnership Award, 2009
• One of the top 50 second-stage companies recognized as part of the first Indiana Companies to Watch awards in 2008
• Three-time honoree on Inc. magazine’s Inner City 100, a list of the fastest-growing companies that had started within their respective cities.
• Indiana Small Business Person of the Year, Great Lakes Region, 2005
• Ernst & Young Retail Entrepreneur of the Year, 2002
• Corporate award from the South Bend Alumni Association for community investment, 2003
• One of the top 30 franchises in Entrepreneur Magazine, 2002
• Saint Joseph County Small Business Person of the Year, 1999
• Sam Walton Business Leader Award, 1999

Tarner, for his part, likes to keep his observations about the company’s success straightforward and low-key.

“We’ve had a great run,” he says simply.

Staying power

Downtown South Bend Chocolate Café

The company and its products have real staying power, as evidenced by the fact that — despite the public perception they are largely a “luxury” item — sales have still been brisk.

“We’ve done surprisingly well during the economic downturn,” Tarner says. “We continued to add jobs — probably between 10 and 15 at our factory on the West Side — throughout the recession. At any given time, our factory employs between 60 to 90 people, most of them residents of the West Side neighborhood.

“I love South Bend,” he adds. “Our roots are firmly planted in manufacturing and in the industrial past, and we’d like to continue that tradition.”

Tarner’s friend and business associate Marco Mariani, the outgoing executive director of Downtown South Bend who will become executive director of the South Bend Heritage Foundation in January 2011, says the downtown revitalization owes much to the presence of the café.

“Having the Chocolate Café downtown enlivens our downtown,” Mariani says. “It’s a great place for the workday population. People visiting from out of town make it a point to come to the café. The indoor play area makes it a great place for kids and families. And people forget that he is the ultimate local manufacturer. He takes vast amounts of raw materials and turns them into product, day after day. I don’t know anyone else who does that on such a large scale.”

Mariani appreciates Tarner’s unflagging support of community initiatives.

“He’s been an urban pioneer both downtown and on the West Side [where the original factory is located],” Mariani says. “By attracting high visibility and high volumes of traffic, he creates the leverage for other opportunities. He’s a great partner with our initiatives.”