BATTLE GROUND — Chocolate is a lot of things to Pamela Wanous.
It’s an art form. It’s a science. It’s moody.
“Dark chocolate is this grumpy old man, and milk chocolate is a little princess,” said Wanous, 37. “We spend the whole day working with all milk or dark chocolate. You have to make friends to start, or you’re going to have a long day.”
Wanous and her mother-in-law, Ann Wanous, 61, have spent the last six years making friends with chocolate in Ann Wanous’ basement in Battle Ground. The result is Whimsy Chocolates, their company that has continued to grow each year with products that can be found in stores around Portland and Clark County and online at www.whimsychocolates.com.
“It feels like it has flown by, but it feels like it has taken forever,” Pamela Wanous said.
The company started thanks to a crash course about chocolate from Vicki Mattson, Ann Wanous’ sister, who used to own a chocolate shop.
“I can bake traditional things, like cookies,” Ann Wanous said. “My sister would always send chocolates at Christmas times and for holidays.”
Mattson was retired and living in Seattle, so the two traveled up for a visit to learn about chocolate. Pamela Wanous’s husband, Chris Wanous, works for the Vancouver Fire Department. They took orders from his colleagues for Valentine’s Day, drove back to Seattle to make the chocolate using Mattson’s equipment and made enough money to buy some equipment of their own.
They soon moved into Ann Wanous’ basement, which was Chris Wanous’ bedroom was while growing up. They’ve taken over the basement and recently brought on four employees to help with production. That has freed the two of them to help grow the business instead of spending all their time in the basement making chocolate. Pamela Wanous handles marketing and traveling to shows and Ann Wanous makes sure things in the kitchen are on track.
“We had to let go of things to take on other roles,” Pamela Wanous said.
The results have been positive. They brought on their four employees last year, and this year their sales doubled, Pamela Wanous said.
“Getting employees on board allowed us to grow this year,” she said. “We can sign up for more events to go to. We used to be up until 3 a.m. making chocolates.”
Now, they can make thousands of chocolates a day. Whimsy sells a variety of chocolate-covered salted caramels, truffles, peanut butter balls and meltaways. They have partnered with a variety of local companies. On a recent visit, the two showed how they make their salted caramels using five different flavored salts from Portland-based Jacobsen Salt Co.: cherrywood smoked, Stumptown Coffee, original flake, pinot noir and lemon zest.
Whimsy also partnered with Vancouver’s Koi Pond Cellars on a wine truffle, Portland Soda Works on a root beer truffle and Portland’s Jasmine Pearl Tea Co. on tea-infused caramels.
While the chocolate coating the caramels and truffles in Whimsy’s kitchen is smooth, the road to get where they are now wasn’t. Pamela Wanous said people ask them all the time if they’ve ever had a “Lucy moment,” referencing the episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy and Ethel can’t keep up wrapping chocolates on a conveyer belt at a candy factory.
“It used to happen all the time,” she said. “Chocolate would get everywhere.”
For Pamela Wanous, she also had to learn to love chocolate, who didn’t like sweet things. She went on a tour of chocolate around the world at the Meadow in Portland, and learned that she does like chocolate, but had only ever tried the more mainstream chocolate found in most stores.
They said that Mattson is thrilled by their success and that they’ve continued to develop her recipes. Even though they have outside help, Whimsy is still a family operation. Chris Wanous handles packaging the chocolates. Pamela Wanous said they can sit him in front of a TV and he can put together around 350 packages while watching one movie. He gets paid in cookies, and the Vancouver Fire Department receives any leftover chocolates.
Their daughter, Jaden Wanous, 7, has started playing with chocolate. She created an item she called a “Pooh pot” after Winnie the Pooh. It was dark chocolate with honey drizzled on top and sea salt. She tells people she has a chocolate factory at home.
Pamela Wanous said she had to learn how to manage a business. She learned watching shows like “Shark Tank” and “The Profit.” She’s not sure if she’d ever want to go on one of them.
“I learned what sort of things to look at and keep track of by watching those,” she said. “Doing it this way, we can control as a family when and how we want to grow.”
