We were lucky to catch up with Nicole Patel recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nicole, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
People often ask where my inspiration comes from. For me, inspiration is everywhere. A new recipe I’m trying out, a stroll through the farmers market or grocery story, even conversation with folks in the store will get me thinking about new ingredients and how they play with chocolate.
What motivates me and fuels that inspiration is the ability to tell a story with chocolate. At Delysia, we aim to make every day, any moment extraordinary with the flavors of our handcrafted chocolate creations.
Take our Taste of the South collection, which pays homage to the classic Southern comfort food culture. With Cajun fried chicken, collard greens & bacon, green chili queso, and banana pudding, it’s the classic Southern meal all reimagined in handcrafted truffles. Or our Wine Pairing Collection that allows you to relax with your favorite vintage while indulging in flavors such as those in our Spiced wine berry truffle studded with vine ripened berries and infused with baking spices. Or our Candied Butterscotch Truffle infused with candied ginger, freshly grated orange peel and homemade caramel. All designed to complement the wine and create a tasting experience.
But those are just a few examples. Creativity and inspiration are always evolving and kept alive by staying curious, paying attention, and finding joy in the everyday. Chocolate just happens to be my medium.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Engineering degree from Texas A&M University. I started my career at Motorola in Austin, Texas, working in the semiconductor fab and yield improvement team. I earned a Master Black Belt certification from Motorola and oversaw the Six Sigma continuous improvement program at Freescale Semiconductor, focusing on quality and customer satisfaction and ended my engineering career as a Director of Quality. All of these experiences built the foundation for Delysia Chocolatier.
One might ask how manufacturing semiconductors teaches one to make chocolate. It doesn’t directly, but indirectly, it established a foundation for the importance of quality products and exceptional customer service, as well as provided the discipline and drive needed to be a small business owner. I have never worked so hard in my life!
I made my first batch of chocolate truffles when I was pregnant with our oldest son. My husband came home from work and asked for help finding holiday gifts for his employees. I didn’t have the energy to go shopping and decided to make something instead. I had been watching a lot of cooking shows and one about making chocolate truffles was especially intriguing to me. Unfortunately, the recipe for chocolate truffles from the television didn’t work! So I started playing with the ratio of ingredients, changing this and altering that. I sent very ugly hand-rolled truffles (we actually teach a virtual class on how to make these) to the office in hideous tin packaging. Much to our surprise, everyone loved them – and kept asking for them every time there was a potluck, get-together, or simply visiting our house.
I found myself more and more often in the kitchen making chocolates. It actually became a fun outlet from my stressful engineering job. (I always loved to be in the kitchen and in college I would procrastinate from studying by making 20+ dozen cookies). After 18 months of making more chocolates than we could consume, we decided to launch Delysia Chocolatier. The goal when we first started was to book one wedding or event per month, creating unique party favors for the celebration. And, from there, we grew!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Have a plan. You must have a plan when launching a small business. When I started Delysia Chocolatier in 2008, my plan lived in my head and on dozens of post-it notes scattered across a very unorganized desk. Eventually, I moved it into a spreadsheet, and to this day, I still reference that original document, tweaking and adjusting it to fit the current market. A plan isn’t just a launchpad. It’s a living framework with measurable targets and goals. You’ll pivot, but you need a north star.
Ignorance (yes, really). It may be an unconventional answer, but the phrase “ignorance is bliss” really does apply when you’re starting a business. When I launched Delysia Chocolatier 17 years ago, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And, actually, that was beautiful! If I knew every setback I would encounter, how much I would need to learn along the way, all the paperwork I would have to complete, and the sweat (and sometimes tears) I would shed, I don’t know if I would have pursued it. But it’s exciting and exhilarating going through it (and it still is – the business is a living entity, constantly evolving in ways I would never have imagined!). And in the middle of it, you don’t realize there is an option to walk away or give up – you just keep pushing, fixing, and learning. It’s when you “stop and look back” that you realize everything you have accomplished, all the risks you were ok taking, and how much you have ultimately grown. (I can expand by discussing building our facility or current struggle of sourcing ingredients or dealing with tariffs.)
Flexibility. Don’t be afraid to let the universe guide you. Have a plan, know where you want to end up, but the path you take to get there doesn’t need to necessarily be predefined. Often going with the flow allows for amazing things to happen – organically, and often it’s easier and you have more fun doing it. If you feel like you are always hitting a roadblock or things just are too hard, you probably aren’t listening to what the universe is telling you. It often has a strange way of guiding you.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents taught me the love of cooking. Being of Italian and Ukrainian descent, family life revolved around the kitchen table. We were always cooking and baking together as a family. Food wasn’t just a meal, it was (and still is!) a symbol of love and appreciation. It’s our unspoken way of showing our loved ones just how much they mean to us. And it’s this passion and sentiment that I bring to my creations at Delysia Chocolatier.
Today, Delysia Chocolatier is a family run operation. While I single handedly launched it in 2008, I wouldn’t have been able to do so without the support of my young children and husband. Their support has grown over the years to help me regularly with the business, whether it be deliveries, events, or R&D (taste testers). More importantly, my parents work with me daily to run the business and assist with production of our chocolates. You can often see my dad helping customers with their selections in the shop, my mom packaging the finished product, all while I am busy developing new flavors and handmaking our chocolates.
Family is at the center of everything we do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.delysia.com
Image Credits
Delysia Chocolatier
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