University Daily Kansan / Thursday, March 30, 1989
Food
9
Finished truffles are ready to be boxed by Nellie Habegger, Lawrence resident, and Gwinn Appleby, Belle Plaine senior. The two work at Phillips Confections, 512 E. Ninth St.
CHOCOLATE! Lawrence firm tempts gourmet palates
Story by Laurie Whitten Photos by E. Joseph Zurga
Razor blades are used to cut the excess from candy roses.
G good news for gourmet chocolate adicts still recovering from Easter binges: You don't have to go outside Lawrence to get your next fix
Phillips Confections, 512 E. Ninth St., specializes in making everything from truffles to Easter bunnies out of white, milk and dark chocolates. Marcus Phillips, who started the company in September 1866, said his handmade cakes were irresistible to lovers of the sweet candy.
"You can't compare us to the big companies like hersey's or Nestle's." Philips said. "We use all natural flavorings, good sugars and pure ingredients so our product is substantially higher in quality."
"Good chocolate should have a superior bite quality, stay in the mouth longer and have a more intense flavor. People who truly appreciate chocolate can taste the difference."
"Chocolate is a very interesting substance, one that's hard to prepare properly." Phillips said. "We aimed at the upper 5 percent of the population, and our products are carefully detailed."
Catering to the gourmet segment of the chocolate market, Phillips Confections offers 22 flavors of truffles, ranging from French Vanilla to Japanese Green Tea, and seven flavors of pastilles, which are the about the size of half-dollars. The company also molds chocolate on request into shapes such as roses, hearts and Kansas Jayhawks.
"In my head, I have an idea of a composite consumer, and it's a 35-year-old woman I know."
notice them in three to five seconds, or wouldn't she? I also show them to my representatives and do tests in individual stores to see how the inventory is going."
Less than 10 percent of the company's products are distributed in Lawrence, he said. Orders are delivered to gift shops and gourmet stores as far away as Florida and California.
Expansion
"We have private representatives that sell our products," Phillips said. "We're concentrating on regions, and Chicago, Atlanta and Kansas City are our merchandise marts. Right now our products are sold in 12 states, but we plan on expanding."
In addition to purchasing the products in candy and gift shops, Phillips Confections can be ordered by the case, with a minimum $100 order value. The business is dedicated to local businesses three times a year.
A 5-pound case of pastilles costs $25; a pound of truffles costs $20.
"For Christmas, Valentine's Day and Secretary's Day, we send mailers to businesses, and customers can place their orders that way." Phillips said.
Though he is proud of his decorated truffles and hand-wrapped pastilles, the 27-year-old entrepreneur has his favorite creations were three types of hollow chocolate bunnies filled with chocolate Easter eggs, products that no other candy factory made.
"Their names are Floppy, Leeny and Eugene.
"I named them myself," he said. He said that
Decorated truffles await packaging.
Todd Jost, director of operations at Phillips Confections, gently wraps and boxes truffles for a customer
Phillips said the company planned to expand in April into fruit and cream饼生产 for the year.
Easter was one of the busiest seasons for candy makers.
Earl's Cafe
rullips, who graduated from the University of Kansas in 1985 with a journalism degree, said the idea of manufacturing chocolates came to him too. He and his mate ate in Gallup, Iowa, and drank a cup of coffee.
"I was on a bike trip across the United States, and I had stopped in this place called Earl's Cafe," he said. "That's when I got the idea to put chocolate confections together. I had always wanted to do some sort of wholesale manufacture. The chocolate was something that intrigued me.
Phala said that he returned home and made a mocha praline truffle, which was the company's first product. However, he said he soon realized that product because it had a very short shelf life.
"When I first started this business, there was a lot of stuff I didn't know," he said. "The mocha praline truffle tasted good, but it was unstable; there was a problem with the moisture content of the praline in relationship with the truffle. It didn't keep well on the shelves."
Todd Phillips, production supervisor who oversees the company's 10 employees, said creating a piece of gourmet chocolate was more difficult than bargained for. He is not related to Marcus Philips.
No scratches
"Chocolate is a quirk substance." Todd Phillips "A said can go wrong with it during production. Good chocolate must have a high gloss, nice sheen and no scratches or discoloration."
Problems often occur at the first stage of the process, when 10-pound blocks of chocolate are melted at 90 degrees and then poured into molds. he said.
"The hottest you'd ever melt down chocolate is 125 degrees," he said. "Otherwise, you let it set, and the fats in the cocoa butter don't line up and crystallize properly.
After the molds are poured, the chocolate sits in a 38 degree room from 20 to 60 minutes or until it is firm. Then the candy is wrapped by hand and stored at 70 degrees.
Marvel Maring, hostess at Paradise Cafe, 728 Massachusetts St., said the restaurant sold large quantities of the brightly-packed pastilles each week.
"They do really well here," Maring said. "We have them up at the register, so customers buy them."
"I've tried hundreds of them, and I like the dark chocolate in the gold wrapper and the ones on my toes."