Portland is well known for its craft coffee, beer and cocktails. But it’s also home to a number of craft chocolate makers. The city’s first Craft Chocolate Festival will take place Oct. 3-5 at the Olympic Mills Building in the Central Eastside neighborhood. Attendees can sample sweets from makers across the city, while makers can attend informational sessions on how to grow their businesses.
George Domurot is the founder and CEO of Ranger Chocolate Co. Andrea Marks is the owner of Bees and Beans. They join us to talk about the festival and the evolution of Portland’s craft chocolate scene.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. We end this week with a little bit of sweetness. The first ever Portland Craft Chocolate Festival starts tonight. It’ll bring a bunch of local small batch chocolate and candy makers together at the Olympic Mills Building in the city’s Central Eastside neighborhood. It goes through Sunday.
I’m joined now by two of the festival’s organizers. George Domurot is a founder and CEO of Ranger Chocolate Co. Andrea Marks is the owner of Bees and Beans. Welcome to both of you.
Andrea Marks: Thanks.
George Domurot: Thanks for having us.
Miller: Andrea, first – what drew you to chocolate?
Marks: I love making things that make people smile. It’s always fun to make things that make people happy. Chocolate’s one of those things that brings people together and makes people happy.
Miller: More so, do you think, than, I don’t know, bread or wine? And there’s a lot of foods and drinks people can make.
Marks: I think there’s many things, foods and drinks, that people can make, but I think you find your thing that makes you excited. And I’ve been making chocolate confections and things like that since I was very young. So when I decided to circle back in changing my career, this was the path I chose to take.
Miller: How young? When did you first make some kind of chocolate candy?
Marks: Probably 5 or 6. My neighbor, every year, would do Christmas things. And I would go over and make all sorts of candies and chocolates with her since I was really young.
Miller: I want to hear more of your story. But George, what about you? What drew you to chocolate making?
Domurot: My family has a long history with food. I grew up with a grandmother with a cooking school, a butcher for a grandfather, and it’s always about making things from scratch. And later in life, when I decided I was going to do something in food and beverage, chocolate was just the thing. I mean, I think we all have a love affair with chocolate, a lot of people do. I love it and then I need to know how to make it. So that was the chocolate making side.
Miller: What was Portland’s craft chocolate scene like when Ranger started? When was that?
Domurot: We started putting the company together in 2013 and launched it to the public in 2014. I think it was really exciting back then because it was still at the beginning stages of bringing a craft back to community. Worldwide has turned into an industrial complex, and now all of a sudden, we’re making it in our community and sharing it in our community. So I think back then, it definitely felt new and fresh and cutting edge. We had to learn everything. There wasn’t anybody to say, “hey, this is how you could do that.” So it was exciting.
Miller: What about something like sourcing? I mean, sourcing the beans?
Domurot: Sourcing’s changed a lot. Yeah, I think in our small segment of the industry – we’re very tiny, our level of community making – we are very lucky to have people that focus on import and export. So there’s this incredible network of folks that care so much about the planet, sourcing and the farmers, and how the raw cacao gets to us. So we’re very lucky to have this small network that works together.
Miller: Could you learn anything from coffee bean importers? Are there any similarities?
Domurot: There are. It’s the same region. Coffee and chocolate come from the same zone. I think, for me, I’m just used to what we know here. It’s like, “hey, we’re just gonna go down to the farm, meet people and explore.” So I think that’s how I took this approach. [I] flew to Peru and tried to meet people, and I used a friend that was a coffee resource to kind of start that conversation with farmers.
But the industry that we connect to has really evolved quite a bit and we do have this incredible source to help us really vet that the cacao is sustainable, super high quality, that the farmers are well taken care of, that when you buy something from us, you know that it’s some of the best.
Miller: Andrea, how have tariffs impacted the chocolate or candy making business?
Marks: Yeah, tariffs impact us on multiple levels. It’s not just the import of the cacao beans, but all of our equipment basically comes from Europe. So the equipment to make any kind of actual chocolate or the confections, and then all the parts and pieces that go with it, to keep running it, that all has definitely impacted us for a small business. We are seeing anywhere from 20% to 40% of an increase on those parts and pieces, and things of that nature.
Miller: How much can you pass on to your customers?
Marks: It’s a delicate balance because we want our customers to get the best product for the best quality and the prices, but it’s also really hard as a small business to take those hits personally. So it’s a balance of trying to make things that are still quality and still worth the price that we’re charging, but also not make it so people can’t afford it,
Miller: Right, because it seems like … I can’t decide if you’re making craft versions and hyperlocal, tiny versions, say, of a mass-produced candy bar. In your case, it’s already a kind of, in its own way, a luxury edible good. So you’re not competing with Snickers, but I still wonder how much you think your customers are willing to absorb for what they might see as an expensive treat?
Marks: And that is a debate we have almost every day. We talk about, where is the max that we can absorb it and not necessarily pass that on to the customer, but also make it so that we’re not losing money every time that we make candy? So it’s definitely a balance right now. And as things change every month or every week, we have to figure out because we can’t change prices every week and every month. So figuring out how to balance those things, but make it so people can still enjoy that luxury – which we know our items are going to be very much considered luxury.
Miller: George, what about you? I mean, how do you think about these questions broadly?
Domurot: I think what we used to have was commodity of scale. All of a sudden, you’re not buying a sack of sugar, you’re buying a pallet of sugar. Wow, I’m improving my cost of goods. I’m doing better. I think what has happened over the past decade and has really condensed even further – like what’s happening really fast right now with the tariffs on top of everything – is, as you scale, you’re lucky if you can maintain your cost of goods. Instead of improving, can you maintain? So that’s the trick, you try to get to that altitude of production where, like, “wow, I’ve made it.” But then the costs are going up, but now you’re trying to keep a lid on it and then you get something like the tariff come in. And a lot of people don’t even understand tariffs still today. They still think it’s paid by somebody else. But how we see it, it’s paid by us – the small business folk is really who gets hit.
Miller: If you want to get a shipment of cacao beans from, you said Peru, Costa Rica or wherever, in order to actually take ownership of that, you have to pay how much more now?
Domurot: Well, it varies by country. So some folks are lucky that they’re importing from countries that only are 10%. But then, there are folks that get a lot of stuff from Madagascar, for example. And I’ve heard that tariffs for that location are just astronomical. So the impact is really severe.
Miller: Have you yourself thought about, all right, I wanted to get this particular vanilla or cacao from this particular country, but it’s so expensive I’ll actually just switch my recipes, switch my sourcing, because this month, the tariff is lower in this other place?
Domurot: Well, that’s an interesting question. The thing about cacao is, it’s only really harvested once a year. So a lot of folks have locked in what they’re committing to and their recipes and their formulas they spent years developing that are really tied to origin. So, all of a sudden, you can’t just swap out a bean. The fat content’s different, the taste is different. I always described it as the iceberg. The iceberg is in motion, you can’t just stop it and take a left turn. It’s going. So I think it’s a real challenge.
Miller: Andrea, what can folks expect this weekend at this first ever festival?
Marks: We’re going to have over 35 different vendors and be able to actually meet the makers, which was really important to us, that people get to actually see who is behind these companies. You might see us out there at New Seasons, Whole Foods, Market of Choice or other local places, but actually meeting the people that are making it so that they can talk about their craft and whatnot. The first 100 people each day will receive some swag bags, and get some free goodies and free stuff. We’ll be doing a tasting. Each person will have things out to taste and we’ll have a “Best Of” show, so people get to choose and put a little token in the jar of which they think is the best to show. And yeah, just really a fun time getting to meet everyone and try a bunch of different things.
Miller: George, what are you hoping, in addition to visibility, that the makers themselves will get out of this?
Domurot: Yeah, so I think for us and for me, I wanted this festival to be by makers and for makers. And each day, we have a private session for the makers with a lot of the decision makers around town, in terms of folks from New Seasons, Elephant’s Deli, The Meadow – those that really tie the makers to the community, where folks come to get our products. So we’re gonna have private sessions, allow the makers to have one-on-ones with them and ask questions. And then on Sunday, we also have a follow up with how to fund your business. A lot of questions that we all have around the resources that we can access that a lot of us don’t even know exists, especially in Oregon. We have amazing resources in Portland and our state, and the city and state will be there to help connect with the makers and help us kind of create more community.
Miller: The community has always struck me as … it’s a word that I think anytime I talk to makers in various, especially in Portland, of basically any world of making that I can think of, people emphasize that they’re in this together. And Ranger, and I think Bees and Beans, both of your companies, part of your business model is about partnerships with other restaurants, other providers, other makers of edible stuff. I wonder, is it harder to keep doing that at a time of scarcity? Is it harder to collaborate and partner if people are spending less money overall?
Domurot: I mean, I think it’s time to double down on it.
Marks: That’s what I was just about to say.
Miller: What do you mean by that?
Domurot: Well, I think about our town. I think about Portland. I think about how much I know the city has given me personally and professionally. I think that we have one of the most amazing food and beverage scenes. We have incredible people who live here, work here. I don’t know, I just feel like that’s part of our DNA. It’s part of our city. And local, I feel like, is a big part of Portland.
Marks: And with all the tariffs and all the other costs, for me, [I want] to make sure that I’m supporting our hazelnut farmer who’s worked with us for over 10 years and that we’re getting our honey from the Willamette Valley, that we’re doing things locally to try to help all of our local partners. I think working together really supports each other and in this time of uncertainty, it really helps to know that George is there making our chocolate and that we’re going to get those hazelnuts from the farmers. So I think working with our community is more important now than ever.
Domurot: If we can buy it local, we buy it local. And then we go out from there and that’s kind of the core of how we operate.
Miller: What does it mean to you – Andrea, first – to be putting on this festival at a time when Portland is being. labeled a “war zone?”
Marks: It’s disheartening after living here for so many years to hear such things, because obviously that’s not the way we see things. But I think it’s really important for, one, our community to come together and then to offer something for Portland people to come out with their families that’s fun and is exciting. And they get to just try chocolate and not think about all of the other stuff that’s going on. I think it’ll be a good place to come, just have a really fun time and not think about all of the other stuff.
Miller: George, what about you?
Domurot: It’s bizarre. I mean, I don’t get it. I feel like it’s a reality distortion field, but it’s not Steve Jobs, so it’s not that cool. It’s Portland, and people are looking in and they’re seeing one thing, but we live here and we know it’s something else. So I think it would be great for people to just realize that reality is different on the ground here. It is still one of the most amazing towns in the country, if not the world, to visit, to live. So, I’m excited to be here. I don’t know, that stuff just seems a little bit crazy to me.
Miller: We’ll change the subject and go back to chocolate. How much chocolate do you eat in a day?
Domurot: Well, I eat it every day, that’s for sure, all sorts of chocolate. So part of my job at Ranger, which I love to do is all the recipe development and the R&D. So we’re always looking for something new, whether it’s new ingredients or new methods of making chocolate. I would say each day, a couple of ounces, no less.
Miller: Andrea, what about you?
Marks: I eat a lot more candy than chocolate, chocolate being our most expensive ingredient. We often try everything before we put it in chocolate. So, yeah, there’s a lot of caramel, nougat and candy in my life every day.
Miller: George Domurot and Andrea Marks, thanks so much.
Domurot: Thanks for having me.
Marks: Thank you.
Miller: George Domurot is a founder and CEO of Ranger Chocolate Co. Andrea Marks is the owner of Bees and Beans. They are two of the organizers of the first ever Portland Craft Chocolate Festival. It starts tonight and it goes through the weekend in Southeast Portland.
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