| In spring 2005 West Sound Academy freshman Peter Crabtree took a culinary arts class with some of his friends. One of the things that they learned to make was truffles. Crabtree and his friends enjoyed truffle making so much that they formed their own limited liability company, CBC Chocolates, to market what they made. They spent much of the summer selling their confections to friends and at local farmers markets.
“It was a real money-making opportunity,” said Crabtree.
The novelty of running a business quickly waned for Crabtree’s two partners, and he bought them out in August 2005. But Crabtree has been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. With the help of his mother, he worked with the state and county to obtain the correct licensing and in January 2006 CBC Chocolates became an officially licensed wholesale food producer in the state of Washington.
“Ever since I was little I always wanted to have my own bakery, or that type of thing,” said Crabtree.
CBC Chocolates’ currently offers truffles in five flavors, Amaretto, raspberry, Irish Cream, vanilla and Kahlua, although Crabtree is experimenting with other items, such as caramels and fondants, and expects to expand the company’s product line in the near future.
The chocolates must be produced in a certified commercial kitchen to comply with state wholesaler regulations, so Crabtree works after hours at Chung’s Teriyaki in Silverdale.
“It keeps me pretty busy,” he said, noting that he works in some capacity on CBC Chocolates almost every day, and usually dedicates at least a full Saturday and Sunday night a month creating truffles to meet the demand of his retail clients.
CBC Chocolates truffles are currently carried at Central Market in Poulsbo and Town and Country Market on Bainbridge Island, and Crabtree is actively working to add more stores to this list. His truffles are available in three-ounce and nine-ounce packages, containing 5 and 15 pieces, respectively. Crabtree estimated that he’s moving somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 truffles each month, all made by hand, by him.
“I’m going to have to get help soon,” he said, noting that he expects demand to increase as he broadens both his offerings and his clients.
Although he got his start at the local farmers markets, Crabtree hopes that he’ll be busy enough this year that he won’t have to work the markets again this summer. CBC Chocolates is not an exclusively wholesale operation, however. Although the business lacks a storefront, Crabtree does have a Web site in the development phase, and customers who wish to purchase truffles directly from CBC Chocolates can call (360) 536-5352 or email cbcchocolates@gmail.com to place orders.
Now 16, and a sophomore, Crabtree hopes that CBC Chocolates will make enough money for him to be able to put himself through college — where he plans to study culinary arts and business. Ideally, he said, the business will be successful enough that he’ll have to hire someone to run it when he does leave for college. But with two years to go before that happens, he’s not spending too much time dwelling on it.
“I’ll have to take it as it goes,” he said. | 