Meet The Maker: Esta Chocolates

One of the best parts about our work at Chocolate Soup is finding unique products from small, locally-owned businesses and makers to include in your gift boxes. We’ve been lucky to meet Brian from Gift-a-Green in Vancouver and Charlene from gourmet popcorn maker Eatable in Toronto — but it’s great to connect with local makers even closer to home. 

Thankfully we didn’t have to go far for this Meet the Maker interview. Located right across the parking lot from our office, Esta Chocolates is a family-run chocolate maker in Waterloo, Ontario. Founded in 2006 by Abraham (Abe) and Ebru Hacıoğlu, Esta Chocolates is known for its delicious, decadent truffles. Abe is a third-generation member of a chocolatier family. We sat down with his son John Hacioglu to learn more about their chocolates and his lessons growing up in the family business.

Tell us about how you got started with your business, Esta Chocolates.

We opened in 2006, and I was a little young, so I’ve been involved since its inception. We started with three primary flavors - milk, chocolate, and caramel, which are still our most popular flavours. We’ve introduced more and more flavors, more products, like our square chocolates throughout the years. And now this year, we’ve introduced bars and new packaging.

We also opened up our outlet store two years after starting the business. People from the community enjoy it. We started with the idea of just being a manufacturer for the bigger guys but transitioned to making more products tailored to end customers.

What’s a typical day like for you in the business?

We come in here at about 7:30 — depending on the season as Christmas time is hectic! We have to start tempering up the chocolate, which takes about an hour to get it to the right temperature so that the chocolate crystallizes the way it should. That makes it appear as shiny as it does when we’re finished with it. After that, we use our depositing machine to deposit the products into the molds, and then we put them in a chiller and set.

What’s your role now in the business?

For me, it’s a jack of all trades type of thing. I do everything from sales to even help with packing. Any decisions that get made, we make as a family. Everyone’s always involved in everything we do. Everyone’s notified on orders, projects — sometimes we have such crazy orders at Christmas time. It’s all hands on deck, and everyone’s at the back of the shop working together.

What have you learned working in a family business?

Family businesses can sometimes be demanding. Not all your viewpoints are aligned with each other. But at the end of the day, we all realize that we’re working towards the same end goal. Everyone has a stake in this business because they’re our family, and they own it. We’re all going towards the same purpose. It’s a big reason that everything gets resolved because all of us are doing the same thing, and we want all the same outcomes.

What is the future like for Esta Chocolates?

We’re working on some projects to expand our retail fronts. We’re also working on more handmade and custom products for our customers. That’s where we see it going. We started our online store last year, and it’s been pretty successful. We’re focusing on direct customers or direct to smaller companies.

What do you love most about the business?

I love to interact with people! I love creating projects and seeing them through too. We get to do quite a bit of everything. It’s a very, very hands-on business. So that’s what I really like.

What’s your favourite product that you make?

My favourite product by far is our peanut butter truffle. (Editor’s note: we tried a few and can confirm they are incredibly delicious.)

How is it working with Chocolate Soup?

We love working with Chocolate Soup! They’re the type of customers that we want to work with — a local, small business like us. It’s gratifying to work with flexible companies. They’ll say, “can I get X amount of chocolate on this day?” and sure, we can package and bring it over to your door. Sometimes working with bigger companies means there’s a lot of red tape. They don’t understand the family’s way of doing things. That’s why we’re shifting our focus to smaller businesses and direct to consumers.

Our new Winter boxes come with an assortment of delicious chocolates from Esta - learn more today!