Meet Norman Love

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Norman Love. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Norman below.

Hi Norman , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I was driven to pursue the world of artistic cuisine when I was young. Though I had found an early love for art and baking, I didn’t foresee myself becoming the owner of a nationally recognized chocolate company with a vibrant ecommerce business, corporate gifting program and multiple retail locations. My passion for the art of desserts came as a young child when I visited my school’s book fair in the second grade and set my eyes on Betty Crocker’s New Boys and Girls Cookbook. From that moment on, I knew that I was set to become a pastry chef. I spent hours upon hours creating desserts with my mother and grandmother, and I knew that my heart was set on the world of food. I followed my passion and began studying the art of pastry making in France, and from there, I began my career in the corporate world. However, after 13 years on the corporate side of pastry making at The Ritz-Carlton, I decided that I wanted to devote more of my time to my family. Yes, world travel and immersion in the creation of pastries for one of the leading hoteliers in the world was valuable life experience, but being able to spend more time with my family was what was important to me then. After leaving The Ritz-Carlton, I moved into culinary events, specifically the first televised bakery competition which became the basis for the TV series Food Network Challenge. That’s when I began making ultra-premium artisan chocolates by hand inside of my friend’s medical supply business. At first, I was just doing it to make some extra money on the side and to sell to wholesalers. Eventually, though, word got out and USA Today ranked Norman Love Confections in its top 10 list of places to buy chocolates for Valentine’s Day, and that put us on the map.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In fairly short order, the Southwest Florida community embraced Norman Love Confections and afforded us the opportunity to grow our retail business. Ten years later, we opened a second Chocolate Salon in Naples followed by Artisan Gelato by Norman Love in 2012. We opened our third Chocolate Salon in Miromar Outlets in 2014. In 2017, we expanded again along the popular McGregor Boulevard corridor in Fort Myers, then entered into a strategic partnership with Whole Foods as a “Friends of Whole Foods” partner. We opened a Norman Love Confections café, chocolate salon and pastry shop in their Fort Myers location. Two years ago, we opened in Sarasota at University Town Center. In addition to retail growth, we have grown our business online, offering Norman Love Signature Collections and a variety of our specialty products, gift baskets and gift towers. We have also enhanced our offerings to the business community with corporate gift-giving services and bakery platters for events and special occasions. This year, we introduced new, elevated packaging to enhance our brand and gift offerings.

While the company’s greatest recognition is reflected in customer demand, Norman Love Confections is very proud of the honors we have achieved. Norman Love Confections has been lauded more than a dozen times by a leading consumer ratings magazine, including recognition six times for producing the best ultra-premium chocolates in the nation. Forbes.com included Norman Love Confections BLACK line on its list of the nation’s top 10 truffles; The Huffington Post listed it among the six best U.S. destinations in its Chocolate Lover’s Travel Guide; and USA Today named Love as one of its top 10 entrepreneurs for 2014. I was named the inaugural inductee of Dessert Professional Magazine’s Chocolatier Hall of Fame, partnered with local chefs to present a six-course meal at the James Beard House in New York and Norman Love Confections was ranked among the top 10 shops in the world for chocolate lovers by U.K. media outlet Daily Telegraph.

Norman Love Confections prides itself on empowering employees with extensive training to raise the bar for themselves, the business and their profession. The chocolate industry is quite competitive, and we recruit the top chocolatiers in the chocolate world, drawing very accomplished professionals from other companies, as well as from renowned schools, including Johnson & Wales University, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and Hyde Park. The company provides continuing education reimbursement for the culinary team, and also sponsors them to participate in national and international chocolate competitions that have earned Norman Love Confections the highest accolades including Pastry Chef of the Year for several years in a row, and Chocolatier of the Year.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
To me, the three areas of focus that have driven our company’s success were building a skilled and dedicated team of professionals, our continued pursuit of excellence without compromising quality, and our focus on community.

I am very proud of the company’s continued growth, and we now employ 125 people at Norman Love Confections, and that number is growing. I’m proud to say that our team shares my dedication to the relentless pursuit of innovation, excellence and quality, and we’ve been able to grow without compromising the caliber of our work. Our business strategy is simple and straightforward. We come to work to be the best every day, and to be better than we were yesterday. We strive to never get complacent and to not make any excuses, and our customers can look forward to many more exciting new developments to come.

Norman Love Confections has always shared our sweet success by giving back to the Southwest Florida community. Although the company has an extensive national reach, we focus our charitable giving efforts in Southwest Florida where our business was founded. As a family-owned company, we participate in a wide range of charitable giving efforts that touch the lives of people right here in Southwest Florida.

We have provided tens of thousands of dollars of in-kind products to more than 200 local nonprofit organizations.

For those early in their entrepreneurial journey, I advise you to make sure that your business aligns with your passion, and to pursue that passion with excellence. Surround yourself with professionals that don’t necessarily have the same exact experience and skills, but bring other perspectives and knowledge to the business so you can grow and learn from each other.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Norman Love Confections has made significant investments over the past couple of years in new manufacturing equipment to help us increase our efficiency and capacity to make chocolates. We produce over 7 million chocolates annually that are shipped nationwide. We have also continued to grow our e-commerce and have invested in sophisticated software for product ordering, inventory management and sales data as well as for shipment tracking. For example, wrong addresses or weather issues are identified so that we can make any necessary corrections proactively in order to exceed the customer’s expectation, even when errors occur. Additionally, we are looking to add distribution sites in other parts of the U.S., so we can lower our shipping costs and increase our online business. Most recently, Norman Love Confections is elevating the presentation and experience of its ultra-premium gourmet, artisan chocolates with the unveiling of its newly designed gift boxes that beautifully showcase the award-winning confections and best reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to quality. The new packaging features a modern, sleek design with a custom magnetic closure that offers a book-like opening, further enhancing the experience of giving or receiving a box of handcrafted, gourmet chocolates from Norman Love Confections. The gift box carries over our company’s distinctive green branding and logo and features newly designed bands that will be customized for Norman Love Confections’ seasonal collections for a variety of holidays as well as specialty collections. This is the first time in nearly 20 years that we are introducing new packaging, the next step in the evolution of our luxury brand. Not only does the new design enhance the visual presentation, but with the new bands and a magnetic closure sealed with our logo, it builds excitement for opening and experiencing our chocolates. We’re also extremely excited to also introduce these keepsake boxes to our corporate clients and bring them creative new ways to personalize their gift offerings with a variety of design options that create a powerful brand impression.

Norman Love Confections’ new gift boxes can also be customized for corporate clients through brand designs that feature an organization’s logo and brand colors printed on gift box bands. Corporate clients can select from ten design patterns and may choose to add their brand colors for further personalization. Inside the box, corporate clients may choose to have their logo custom-designed on an ultra-premium chocolate that will be included inside the gift box, along with a variety of ultra-premium white, dark and milk chocolates from Norman Love Confections’ Signature Collection. Customized corporate gift opportunities include client gifts, employee appreciation, special celebrations including milestones and anniversaries, customer reward programs, grand openings and more. Plans include expanding our retail locations through Florida and continuing to grow our online presence to meet continued demand for our award-winning confections and products.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Courtesy Norman Love Confections

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