cc  >> Jeanan Yasiri: A course  that is offered through the  University of Wisconsin  School of Human Ecology.  As we begin today, I'd like to  extend thanks to our partners in  supporting this course.  The UW Office of Corporate  Relations for their financial  support, the UW College of  Engineering for their technical  support and additional financial  support from the Ewing Marion  Kauffman Foundation which is  committed to advancing academic  education in entrepreneurialism.  Additionally, we thank our media  partners Wisconsin Public  Television and their University  Place crew for taping today's  lecture.  I'm very pleased to introduce  our special guest today, Gail  Ambrosius of Gail Ambrosius  Chocolates.  Gail grew up one of 10 children  in Seymour, Wisconsin, which is  very near Green Bay.  She discovered her love of  chocolates at 17 years old while  she was on a French club trip in  Paris.  Concerned that chocolate making  would not be a practical career  choice, she moved to Madison to  work in the retail area and then  she studied cartography here at  the UW, and eventually did  become a map maker for the state  of Wisconsin Department of  Natural Resources for about 10  years.  She was 44 years old when she  became reinvigorated with her  passion for making chocolate,  and she opened her first shop on  Madison's east side in 2004.  Today she has 10 employees, and  they produce several thousand  pieces of chocolate by hand  every day during their peak  seasons. 

 Two years ago in 2007 Ambrosius  was honored by Count Me In For  Wisconsin's Economic  Independence.  The group's Make Mine a Million  initiative aims to have one  million women-owned businesses  with one million dollars in  gross revenues by 2010.  Gail Ambrosius often speaks to  groups about her experiences,  encouraging women to live their  dreams.  She obviously has a passion for  chocolate, and it is matched by  her love for the environment  which I hope she'll tell us more  about as well.  Now I asked Gail to come and  speak with us and share how she  got established in what would be  a very specialty niche market,  if you will.  Some of the challenges as well  as some of the opportunities  that she has experienced.  So with that, please join me in  welcoming Gail Ambrosius.  (applause)  >> Gail Ambrosius: Thank you.  Yes, I started my chocolate  business about five years ago.  I'm celebrating five years this  Thanksgiving, and I'm really  excited about it. 

 I became passionate about  chocolate when I was 17 on this  Paris trip with my high school  French club.  I luckily got separated from my  group one day, which was kind of  terrifying at first.  I came out of the bank and the  bus was gone, and it was just  me, all my fellow students and  instructor were nowhere to be  found.  So then I thought, wow, I'm in  Paris all by myself, this is  great.  So one of the things I did was  visit patisseries  and chocolatiers, and I  realized there was something  really special here.  People were taking time out of  their busy day and really just  savoring something just for  them.  And they would enjoy these  beautiful pieces of chocolate  that looked like jewels and just  kind of be transported for a  little while somewhere else.  They were taking good care of  themselves and I thought, wow,  this is the coolest thing I've  ever seen.  If I could bring a little bit of  that back home to Wisconsin some  day, I would have the best job  ever.  So like Jeanan said, life took  several detours for me. 

 But when I was working for the  Department of Natural Resources  when I was 44, I got a pink  slip.  So I lost my job in a round of  budget cuts, and I saw the  environment around me and  everybody was gossiping and  wondering is it going to be me,  who's going to get cut next?  And I thought it just didn't  feel right.  And I thought I'm going to be  proactive about it.  If I am going to lose my job, I  want to have something in place  ready to go.  So I really thought long and  hard about it, and I remembered  that dream and that feeling I  had when I was much younger and  I said, why not, why not.  I'm going to try it.  This is really what I've always  wanted to do.  So I just got really serious  about it.  I started studying as much as I  could about chocolate.  I started looking for courses I  could take on chocolate making,  how to start a business. 

 So I took an online class  actually through Ecole Chocolat,  and they are based in Vancouver,  but I was really nervous about  it because I kept thinking how  can I learn online.  And I kept peppering this  instructor with questions and  finally she said Gail just take  the class.  And it really worked out well.  She had been a business  instructor at the University of  Vancouver.  And then she stopped that for a  bit, opened her own chocolate  shop and managed a chocolate  shop for 10 years, and then went  back to the business school and  she kind of merged her two  loves.  So she's teaching people not  only how to make chocolate but  how to open your own small  chocolate business.  So that was great, and then once  I finished that program, it was  a three month program, very  intense, tons and tons of  research.  I have two binders this thick  full of information, lots of  experiments.  But after that I was able to go  back to France with her and a  small group of people, and we  trained at Valrhona chocolate  maker, there in the Rhone River  Valley.  And Valrhona is kind of the gold  standards for pastry chefs. 

 It's a very well-known chocolate  company in France.  And after that, I went back to  Paris on my own, visited as many  chocolatiers as I could just to  get inspiration, ideas on  packaging, what chocolate shops  looked like, and then I was also  invited to Normandy to take a  look at the -- chocolate  factory.  It's a small factory in Normandy  and it's a family run business.  They've been in business for  four generations, and I got to  work with their chocolatier for  only a day but it was very  worthwhile.  And Vincent, he was the  chocolatier, he didn't speak any  English.  My French was so-so because it  had been since high school.  But he had these beautiful green  eyes, and when you're doing  chocolate all you have to do is  watch and oui, oui.  So it was a lot of fun.  So then when I came back I took  classes at the UW small business  development center.  So I knew how to make chocolate. 

 I felt pretty confident with my  chocolate skills, but running  the business part of things,  that I wasn't so comfortable  with.  I had no idea how to read a  financial statement, how to  approach a bank for money, what  is a business plan.  So I took several classes  through SPDC, and I did spend  months and months writing my  business plan.  I think it took me four months  to write it.  I got hooked up with a mentor,  and my mentor was an ex-business  banker.  So he really would not only kind  of guide me through the tough  questions that I was facing but  he was also kind of a moral  support for me and really  encouraging me along the way and  always kind of checking in, is  this really what you want to be  doing because I think it does  take a special person to be an  entrepreneur.  You really have to believe in  yourself.  You have to believe in the  product and just really know  what your market is all about  and your product.  So after doing the classes, the  training, I started looking for  a space.  I rented the smallest space I  could afford which was in a  second story old walkup  warehouse building on a street  that wasn't very well known. 

 And it was plagued with road  construction for about two  years.  But people still kept finding  me.  So I thought well this is a good  sign and I kept getting press in  the newspapers, the local  newspapers and slowly but surely  my business grew.  After about six months I hired  my first employee.  Two years later I moved into a  larger space that I occupy now  on Atwood Avenue.  And I have 10 employees now.  So it's really grown kind of  organically.  I've kind of just grown as the  demand allows and as I feel  comfortable.  But it's been really a great  experience.  I'm just thrilled to have the  job I have. 

 I think it's one of the greatest  in the world.  And as I keep moving forward new  opportunities open up for me.  I did participate in this Make  Mine a Million program.  Which was really invigorating.  It's a group of women and we get  together several times a year at  different seminars around the  country and we're sharing  information.  There are a lot of people in  business and you don't have to  feel like you're all alone.  We all have similar problems so  it's really nice to share ideas  with each other.  Kind of inspire each other and  kind of keep the momentum going.  I have not made my million  dollars in revenue yet but I'm  working on it.  Another thing that's really  opened up for me is being able  to go to the places that grow  cacao. 

 I am very passionate about  chocolate so it's not only  making it, eating it, but  learning how it's grown, where  it's coming from, who's growing  it.  I'm the kind of person that I  like to know things all the way  back to the beginning.  I have to figure out how did it  get from here to there.  And growing up on a farm,  finding out how chocolate is  grown was really important to  me.  So part of being in business for  me it's really I've learn that  networking is very important.  And networking, at first it kind  of pushes you out of your  comfort zone a little bit, at  least for me it did, but once  you're in your field that you're  really passionate about it  becomes very easy.  So I go to fancy food shows,  different networking events  several times a year for the  chocolate industry.  So I've developed friends all  around the country in the  business and different people  are traveling here and there and  I'll always ask can I go along?  And luckily people say yes.  So one of the first trips I went  to Ecuador and that was about a  year and a half ago.  And I learned for the first time  how cacao is really grown. 

 I got to see it, touch it, feel  it, taste it and really  experience the whole process.  And for me that was really,  really exciting.  So with that, I think I might  just go into the slides and kind  of talk a little bit about how  cacao is grown.  First of all, the term cacao,  that's just what the tree is  called.  The Latin name is Theobroma  cacao.  And the pods, these are some  dried pods and you can see they  come in all different shapes.  They come in all colors.  And they grow not only from the  branches but right from the  trunk of the tree.  And so the pods, once they're  opened, contain the beans that  become chocolate.  But you can see they're all  different shapes, sizes, colors. 

 And when they are young they  really need the shade of other  trees.  So typically they're grown with  bananas.  I don't know if you can see it,  it's hard to see, but in the  middle those smaller trees are  the cacao trees.  The young trees.  It takes about three to five  years for the trees to start  bearing fruit.  So when they start bearing fruit  they'll cut the banana trees  down.  They're very fast growing, and  then they'll allow the shade of  larger trees to shade the plants  so they don't burn in the sun.  They're very sensitive to  sunlight.  You have to have just the right  mix.  So as they grow taller you can  see you've got the higher trees  to give it more filtered  sunlight. 

 And then after three to five  years the pods are ready to  harvest.  And there are two main harvests  each year.  Usually kind of December and  June.  But the pods grow on the trees  all year-round.  You can see there are the  blossoms, the flowers.  A teeny little baby pod to full  grown pods, and they can all be  on the same tree.  And this is harvesting.  When you harvest you have this  very long pole with a very sharp  blade on it, and you have to cut  it just right so you don't scar  the tree.  The tree can be very sensitive  to pests.  So if you would pull the pod off  you can kind of rip the bark and  that could introduce disease. 

 And then you collect all the  pods, and the pods are opened  with a machete and it's pretty  amazing how fast they whack  these pods open.  And they all have their fingers.  And then inside the pod are the  beans.  They don't look really  appealing, but the first thing  you want to do when you cut open  a pod is you take a bean and you  pop it in your mouth because  it's covered with this wonderful  sweet sugary pulp.  And the pulp can range in flavor  from peaches to apricots,  watermelon, honeydew.  It's just delicious.  And part of the difference in  flavor is cacao comes in a lot  of different varieties.  It's kind of an analogy I like  to make of apples.  We have Fuji apples and  Macintosh and Honeycrisps.  Same thing with cacao. 

 And depending on what variety  you have the beans can kind of  take on a little different  flavor.  Similarly, depending on where  the cacao is grown, each country  can have a different terroir or  a different flavor for their  cacao.  And it's based on climate,  rainfall, slope, soil type, how  it's grown, how it's fermented.  So the chocolate can take on a  different flavor depending on  where you get it.  And that's one thing that I  specialize in my business.  I really specialize in mostly  all dark chocolate.  And I do that because I think  dark chocolate has a lot more  flavor.  It's a lot more interesting.  If you were to talk about  percentages in chocolate, I  don't know if, I'll just explain  what they are.  So you're seeing it more and  more on chocolate these days,  especially on the dark  chocolate. 

 So if you see a 70% on a bar,  that means 70% of the total mass  is pure chocolate.  The other 30% is sugar.  By comparison your average candy  bar that you'd get in the  grocery store it maybe 8% to 12%  chocolate and that's it.  The rest is either sugar, milk  products, other additives.  So you're really not tasting the  chocolate in a candy bar, you're  tasting the sugar, the candy  part.  So real chocolate has real  flavor to it.  And the reason I love that dark  chocolate is because it has so  much flavor and it's so much  more interesting than say a  whatever kind of candy bar you  want to compare it to.  The other thing then with the  single origin is the terroir  lends the flavor.  So like the said the soil, the  rainfall, and each country can  have a very unique flavor.  We were passing around some  chocolates. 

 The round disks are from  Columbia and the longer stick is  from Ecuador.  And if you taste them you'll  notice a very different flavor  in each one.  >> Yasiri: Would you like me  to go ahead and pass those Gail?  >> Ambrosius: Sure, why not.  So the beans, the shell is cut  open, the beans are pulled out.  There's about 30 to 40 beans in  each pod.  And then the beans need to be  separated from the central stem  which is called a placenta.  So on smaller farms they  separate them by hand and on  larger farms they can have on  the right it's a drum that  tumbles the beans, and the beans  pull away and fall through the  screens.  So those are the wet, slimy  beans all separated.  They don't look great but this  is really a key step.  The first thing you have to do  is ferment the beans. 

 So they're separated and on  these farms they have wooden  boxes and it's a big square  wooden box and it has just  little gaps in between the wood.  And that's to allow some of the  juice to escape as they're  fermenting.  The sugars start creating heat  once all these beans are piled  up on top of each other, and the  heat starts creating lactic and  acidic acids and it starts  acting as a fermenter and helps  develop the flavor inside of the  bean.  So it's really developing kind  of that chocolaty potential.  When you eat a bean fresh from  the tree, it's very spongy and  soft and just super bitter,  you just want to spit it out.  So these are some of the  fermentation boxes.  They're covered to keep the heat  in, and every few days they're  turned.  You want to make sure they're  evenly fermented all the way  through.  And depending on the variety of  bean, once again, they can be  fermented anywhere from two to  seven days, but seven days is  about average.  The bin on the right was really  interesting. 

 They would start by putting the  beans on the very top box and  then after a few days they would  just pull one of the pieces of  wood out like a little door and  they would tumble down into the  next bin.  So that way they're making sure  that they're totally aerated,  they're turned at an even rate.  And then when they get to the  very bottom box they can be  dumped into a wheel barrow for  the next step, which is drying.  So the beans have to dry  completely before they're sent  off to processing.  So the ideal way is to dry them  in the sun.  And on most farms they have  these retractable roofs that  they can push over the beans at  night to keep any night moisture  off, and then in the morning  they'll push it back to allow  the sun to try them.  And all throughout the day the  beans are being raked because  you want them really evenly  dried.  So this was kind of a bigger  farm.  You can see there are two  people, it's a really big drying  platform.  Over here, this is a farm in  Costa Rica, and it's right along  the Nicaraguan border and the  people are very poor, very  modest means so they just have a  black piece of canvas to help  attract the sunlight and they're  just drying them like that. 

 And you can see his drying  platform is much more rustic  I'll say.  The other thing I'd like to  mention while I'm on this slide  is most of the world's chocolate  is really grown by small family  farmers.  It's not big plantations for the  most part.  The farms are pretty small,  between maybe eight to 12 acres.  And it is something that the  knowledge is handed down  generation after generation.  And what happens is because the  farms are so small the people  tend to form cooperatives in an  area, and when the harvest  comes they'll kind of pool their  beans together and that way they  can get a better market price  for them.  So after they're dried in the  sun, you can either dry them a  little further with drying  machines or chocolate, I forget  to mention this is one of the  most important things, chocolate  grows 20-degrees north or south  of the equator.  So it's a very tropical plant,  it really likes hot, humid  weather.  So it's a band all around the  equator.  So being that, those are very  wet areas, it rains a lot. 

 So if it's raining a lot you  need to have another method of  drying, otherwise your beans are  going to mold and they're not  going to be worth anything.  So this is a methane dryer and  on this farm they also had cows.  So they used the manure from the  cows to generate the methane for  the heaters to dry.  And on the right, it's a  wood-fired heater.  And the beans are just in a very  thin layer, and it's really  important to get them super dry  because the next step, there are  the dry beans and at this point  they're starting to smell like  chocolate.  Now when they're in that dryer  the chocolate aroma is just  really heady, it's very  wonderful.  So then they sack up the beans  after they're completely dry,  and if there were any moisture  at all in the beans, many times  the beans are shipped to Europe  to be processed.  You know you hear about Belgian  chocolate, German, Swiss  chocolate.  It's shipped in the hold of a  ship across the ocean, if  there's any moisture at all the  beans will mold, and at that  point the people can't really  send them back, they're stuck  with the beans.  And if you taste a lot of  chocolate you'd be surprised. 

 I've tasted a lot of moldy  chocolate in a really fine high  quality bar.  So what some producers will do  is after they get the beans, so  here are the beans, okay,  I'll get to this in a second.  But they get the beans and they  have to roast the beans.  So what they can do is they'll  over roast the beans to try to  mask that moldy odor, but mold  is mold and if you taste a lot  of chocolate you can detect it.  So that's all I'll say.  So when you start the  processing, the first thing they  do is sort the beans and it's  amazing what they can find in  the beans, metal, stones, rocks.  The beans are paid for by  weight.  So some farmers will throw in  metal and rocks to get a better  price because their beans weigh  more.  It's not that common on some of  the really small farms.  But this was a pretty large  factory in Columbia that I  visited so they always check. 

 They told me one time they found  a gun, but it was Columbia.  So this is a small factory in  Costa Rica.  I've really been fortunate to go  to some of these countries.  Costa Rica is kind of my pet  project.  In Costa Rica, like many of the  countries, they had a disease  called monilia that killed a lot  of the cacao.  And it was a fungus and a lot of  the farmers just clear cut their  crops and it really destroyed a  way of life.  That was about 20 years ago.  Now there's a huge effort to  kind of revitalize the cacao  industry because worldwide  chocolate sales are really  soaring so people are figuring  well maybe we can get back into  this again and really have a  good way of life.  So there's a lot of planting  happening.  And the area that I'm involved  in is called Upala, Costa Rica,  and it's right on the Nicaraguan  border. 

 And there's a farmer there who  not only has one of the, it's  probably the model farm in Costa  Rica.  It's all organic.  It's way beyond fair trade.  He provides housing.  The amount that he pays his  workers is really admirable.  So anyway, he not only has this  farm but he has this small  factory that he has acquired  which purchasing old used  equipment.  So this is a great example of  the factory.  First step is you have to roast  the beans.  So this is a big drum roaster,  and it warms the beans and it  really pulls out the flavor.  The smell in this factory right  now is just incredible. 

 So the beans have a thin papery  shell on them, and when they're  roasted that will help the bean  kind of contract from the shell  to make the next step,  winnowing, a little easier.  So the beans go from the roaster  into this machine.  They're gently cracked and then  they're shaken through different  fans and belts and the shell  comes off and then it's sorted.  It comes out the shoots on the  back end in different sizes.  So they sell the bigger pieces  for garden mulch, and the  smaller, finer particles are  sold to cosmetic companies for  body scrubs and other products.  Then the beans are crushed, and  the bean is kind of like a nut.  A nut has nut oil and nut meat,  the same thing with the cocoa  bean, and the oil is the cocoa  butter.  And it's almost about a 50/50  ratio.  So under heat and pressure of  the crushing, the oil is  released and now the beans  become what you think of as  beautiful drippy chocolate.  At this stage it's called cocoa  liquor, but there is no alcohol  in it really. 

 I don't know why it's called  liquor, it's just, that's the  name.  And then there are several more  steps where it's ground finer  and finer, but then is goes into  this machine called a conche and  that's when you decide what kind  of blend you're making.  If you're making a 70% blend,  then you add 30% sugar.  And it's ground finer and finer  to get the particle size down  because you really want it to be  nice and smooth and creamy in  your mouth and have that really  smooth, velvety feel.  This is another picture of the  conche.  These are big granite rollers  that just keep crushing it finer  and finer.  Then the next step would be  depositing.  So you bring the chocolate  through this temperature curve  to align the crystals so it's  beautiful, shiny, snaps when you  bite it.  And then it's deposited to  either bar molds or little disks  like we've passed out.  And this is a factory in  Columbia, and these women were  very nice. 

 They were very good to me.  And they wrapped the bars in the  foil by machine, but everything  is boxed by hand, it was quite  amazing.  And then this is the final step.  These are some of my partners in  Upala.  They are with the Upala Cacao  Growers Association.  And this is the group that's  trying to revitalize the cacao  in this particular area.  Every time I go there, I've been  there about four times now in  the past two years.  The first time I went it was  kind of understanding how the  cacao is grown in their area and  what their efforts are, their  replanting efforts.  I stay with a family of three  women.  Marina is the grandmother, Eva  is her daughter and Eva Marina  is her daughter. 

 So these lovely three women and  the grandmother has diabetes.  And one night she was eating  this horrible chocolate bar,  this really sweet candy bar and  I said, "Oh, my God,  Marina what are you doing?"  "Well, it's all I have."  I said, "What are you talking  about, you've got cacao trees in  your back yard," which they do.  And she said, "We don't know  how to make chocolate."  So that was all it took.  The next time I came down about  five months later I brought a  small tempering machine with me,  an extra piece of equipment that  I had, and I was going to teach  this family how to make  chocolate.  And I thought in an afternoon we  could cover this.  I got there and there were 18  people waiting for me, and we  ended up doing a two and a half  day session, workshop.  But it was really interesting  because they're so hungry for  knowledge, and for me it was  just great that I could share  something with them because I  felt that I was learning so much  from these people.  So they were really excited  about it.  The next trip I did another  workshop.  When they hear I'm coming they  try to plan something. 

 What can we have Gail do now?  But I brought chocolate bar  molds and some wrappers, and I  taught them how to make  chocolate bars.  And the idea is they are living  very modestly.  They're trying to get the cacao  going again.  When people visit Costa Rica,  there's so much to offer,  rain forests, volcanoes, ocean,  you name it, it's there.  And the tourists are always  looking for something to take  home.  And if they could start making  really some nice high quality  chocolate bars it could really  give them a nice additional  income.  So that's kind of what I've been  doing with these folks, and the  last time I was there they made  me an honorary member of their  cooperative.  So that was really an honor.  I was really pleased.  So that's kind of how you make  cacao in a nutshell. 

 Now how about I answer some  questions.  >> Yasiri: As I told you, Gail,  I walk around and watch for the  students to put their hands up  as they have questions, and so  I'll be watching for your hands  or just handing off the mic  because I know they all have  them, although this gentleman  down here has got one so I'm  going to walk down, and if you  could introduce yourself to Gail  too.  >> Sure, my name is Brian.  I was just curious, after your  first six months what was it  that you hired your first  employee to do?  >> Ambroisius: Help me  make chocolate.  >> It wasn't like accounting or  something that you hated doing?  >> Ambrosius: No, no.  I did hire an accountant.  I'm a human being and I realized  that really early on in your  life.  I know that I'm good at making  chocolate but I'm not good at  accounting.  So I hired an accountant.  And it was through a networking  event actually at the Small  Business Development Center  there was some seminar on  bookkeeping. 

 And I thought, wow, I really  need help with this.  And the person sitting next to  me just happened to be an  accountant.  So he's my accountant to this  day.  After five years.  >> Hi, my name is Kaylee.  I was looking at your website  last night and I noticed  you had a line of t-shirts.  >> Ambrosius: Yes.  >> I was wondering how you kind  of made a profit off that if you  even did or if it's more you're  just trying to get your name out  there so people can see.  >> Ambroisus: Well, being in  business, the idea  is always to make a profit.  So yes, I'm making a profit on  my t-shirts. 

 And I'm a very creative person  so I'm always thinking of new  things to add.  And for me, I love clothing so I  thought a t-shirt will be really  cool.  And the whole peace, love,  chocolate, that's what the  t-shirts say, I just thought  that's a great message.  It would make a cute t-shirt and  it would help spread the word.  And not only for my business but  just peace, love and chocolate,  I think that's a pretty good  message.  >> Hi, my name is Maggie.  And I was just wondering if you  had any advise for us for those  who wanted to start our own  business or something like that.  >> Ambroisus: Yeah,  that's a great question.  I would say do your homework.  Lots and lots of it. 

 From the time I was laid off,  the time I got my pink slip to  the time I opened my door was a  whole year, it was a full year.  And every day I did at least one  thing to work on opening the  business.  Every day for a whole year.  And I kind of set that goal for  myself because I thought okay I  really need to keep the momentum  going.  I know there's a lot of work in  opening a business and if I just  set a goal of at least one thing  every day that will make the  whole process much easier.  Some days it may have just been  a phone call to a possible  packager.  But some days it was traveling  and meeting with six people, six  different meetings.  But every day at least  something.  And really, really do your  homework.  Do a solid business plan. 

 It's so important.  >> (inaudible)  >> Ambrosius: Okay.  >> Hello my name is Sarah  Phillips and I was just  wondering what made you stay in  Madison and begin your business  here?  And also if you would consider  like expanding and opening  another location in Madison?  >> Ambrosius: Yeah, yeah.  Well, I've lived in Madison for  almost 32 years now so this is  really my home, I feel.  I have a son.  He's a junior at the UW right  now so I wanted to stay here for  that reason.  His dad is also in town so that  was another compelling reason.  And Madison's a great place.  I thought there was opportunity.  Doing my business plan, I  realized that the market, there  were a few people in the field  already but I thought that it  could bear more. 

 The thing that I'm doing, nobody  else was doing.  So I thought that was a good  idea.  And what was the last part of  your question?  >> If you ever...  >> Ambrosius: Oh, consider  another shop.  I would consider it, but I do  wholesale my product at other  places around Madison so I have  several outlets on the west side  so I feel like they can bear my  overhead and sell it on that  side of town.  It works out well.  >> Yasiri: We've got about three  different questions coming up  from different students I see,  but I'm going to ask one  quickly.  When you mentioned earlier  that you prepared a business  plan and how important it was to  you and then you just mentioned  it again and I was thinking  about a conversation that we had  with an entrepreneur a few weeks  ago who said, oh, you don't need  a business plan.  Could you comment on that?  Why you felt the business plan  was so important and then I'm  going to hand the mic off to the  students.  >> Ambrosius: Well, the business  plan is really your road map,  and being a cartographer  I thought that was a great idea. 

 But aside from that in your  business plan you spell out who  your target audience is, what it  is you're going to sell, why you  think your product is going to  sell, how much you anticipate  making each month, what are your  plans for growth.  You really, I think it's  critical, I think it's really  critical so have a solid  business plan.  And I would wonder what the  numbers are on people whose  businesses succeed with a  business plan and the numbers  for those that don't have a  business plan and are they still  around.  I would challenge that.  But I think it's a good gauge.  For me it's a guide.  And if you ever kind of start  wondering who is my audience,  you've already done that  homework.  And it really forces you to do a  lot of research up front.  >> Hi, Gail, my name is Jessica  and one of my favorite movies is  Chocolat with Juliette Binoche.  There's this scene in the movie  where chocolate is used as an  aphrodisiac and I was wondering  is this kind of a myth or is  there actually a true chemical  reaction that occurs when you  eat chocolate?  >> Ambrosius: Yeah, there really  is a chemical reaction. 

 Chocolate stimulates that part  of your brain that's kind of  your pleasure center.  So it really does give you that  kind of in love feeling or that  feel good feeling.  There's been so many studies  done on chocolate.  It's been said that it's a  natural antidepressant.  It's good for your heart.  It can lower your cholesterol.  There are a lot of studies out  there.  But I think that it can  definitely make you feel good.  So I'd go with that.  >> Hi, Gail. 

 My name's Walker.  >> Ambrosius: Hi, Walker.  >> So where do you see your  brand now or where do you want  your brand to be in relation to  other brands?  Do you want it to be like the  premium luxury or where are you  trying to target that?  >> Ambrosius: Well, for me all  of our chocolates are handmade.  And I think for me it's more  about comfort, it's about giving  yourself that feel-good feeling,  giving yourself a treat, doing  yourself a favor.  It's also about sharing it with  people you love.  A big part of our business,  people come in and buy gifts for  weddings, anniversaries,  holidays.  It's a great gift.  Especially in an economy right  now people are cutting back on  consumable goods, larger items,  but anybody can afford one piece  of chocolate or the large box of  chocolate.  They are all different price  ranges.  It's something that, who doesn't  like to get a box of chocolate. 

 It's a really special treat.  >> Hi, my name is Martin and I'd  like to point out I'm from  Switzerland, it's the country  that consumes the most chocolate  in the world.  I got a question about what's  your intention to grow.  You want to keep it like local,  family business?  Or do you want to expand your  business?  Is there actually a market  potential?  As I see like big Swiss  companies like Lindt Chocolate,  they're not even trying  the American market anymore.  >> Ambrosius: The chocolate  industry in the US  has really taken off in the  last five years.  And it's a lot of people like  me, small artisan chocolatiers  that are really opening up in  almost every major city across  the country.  And you didn't see that 10 years  ago.  So for me being in business five  years, it's a great question to  ask where am I going.  I just met with some students  from the Business School  yesterday that are helping me  look at different ideas I have  and helping me really  evaluate where my financials are  right now, what is my potential  for growth.  I've got ideas spinning around  in my head. 

 But just how big I want to be?  I don't think I want to be the  next Hershey's or Nestle's.  But I wouldn't mind getting a  little bigger and I'm not going  to say anymore.  Stay tuned.  >> Hi, my name is Carrie.  How are your chocolates made,  and what kind of training do  your employees go through?  >> Ambrosius: Our chocolates  are all made by hand,  and I'll just mention  that we only get our chocolate  from Central and South America.  And one of the reasons, several  reasons, one it's kind of where  chocolate originated.  Two, I think the flavors are  very interesting.  Three, it's not shipped back and  forth to Europe to be processed  and then used again.  So the chocolate I buy is made  in Central and South America,  it's generally processed in that  country.  That means the grinding, the  refining, the depositing. 

 So more money stays in those  economies.  It's got a shorter carbon  footprint that way.  And it tends to come from  smaller growers like this.  We make everything by hand.  So I get the chocolate from  these different countries, and I  get it in bulk like those little  pieces we passed out and then I  just re-melt it and I make my  bonbons or chocolate bars or  whatever it is I'm making.  So the training for my  employees, some have had kitchen  experience before, some have  worked in restaurants but most  have had no experience.  And I train them myself.  And I've almost found that that  works easier.  If someone comes in with a  culinary degree from the CIA we  have conflict because they  think, they have ways that  they've been taught to do things  but yet it's such a specialized  product and it's so personal to  me I want it done my way and  that's part of being an  entrepreneur.  I think entrepreneurs do kind of  have a strong spirit. 

 We're probably really stubborn  and I want things done my way.  And that's one of the reasons  I'm in business, I get to say  what happens.  So the training, we train and  that kind of works out the best.  In fact, I just hired someone  that came from Epic, and she's  working out great.  She used to be a copywriter  making technical manuals, no  kitchen experience.  But knitters I've found are  really good employees, good hand  skills.  >> I'm just curious if you found  that most of your sales are  online or from your shop?  >> Ambrosius: Most of the sales  are from walk in,  right in my shop.  It's interesting because when I  started my business most of my  business was wholesale orders  and that's kind of how I got  started.  In my business plan I really  spelled out I need to market to  10 businesses and if I sell X  number of chocolates to them  each month I know I'll make my  rent and I can cover my  overhead.  And that's really how I started,  and by doing so they kind of  helped me get my name out there  and people got familiar with my  product. 

 When I moved into my new  location I had a much better  opportunity to have a retail  space, and now most of my  business is retail, people  coming into my shop.  I have spikes at the holidays.  Christmas is my biggest holiday  followed by Valentine's, Easter,  Mother's Day.  And the mail orders really kind  of go through the roof at those  times of the year.  >> Yasiri: I feel compelled  to share,  and I think I did earlier Gail  when you and I talked about you  coming and talk with the class,  that Markus Candinas actually  came and spoke with last  semester's class, and so the  students had an opportunity to  hear him on web.  I've always thought of Madison  as not a big city, it's a  smaller town.  And I'm delighted, although  still a little surprised, that  we would have two remarkable  chocolatiers, such specialized  area, in this small market.  Can you explain how that works?  Or if it does?  >> Ambrosius: Well, I think  it does work, we're here.  There's also David Bacco who  opened a shop in Hilldale Mall.  He had been working with, well  it's now --, I forget what it  was before that. 

 But the thing is we all have  different styles, and people ask  all the time oh, you're  competition and I say we're not  really competing against each  other.  We all have a different style of  making chocolate, and I think  there's room for everyone.  I always suggest to people eat a  lot of chocolate, taste a lot  and really eat what you like.  There's not a right or wrong  answer with chocolate, just  enjoy it and be good to  yourself.  >> Yasiri: I'm going to just  look out and see if there is  a final question from students.  I see one here.  And before I hand it off, I'm  curious, when I introduced you I  introduced the fact that you, of  course, are very committed to  the environment,  environmentalism, and it did  certainly come through in your  presentation, but how does it  impact you as an entrepreneur?  Your commitment to the  environment?  >> Ambrosius: Well, I'm working  with MG&E, I'm investing  in solar and wind power.  So I offset 100% of my local  usage, my local utility usage  with MG&E.  I'm also working with another  organization called Big Tree  Climate Fund and they offset,  we've estimated what my carbon  footprint is, the driving, the  shipping the my chocolates, my  deliveries of chocolates, and I  pay them a certain amount every  month, and they take that money  to plant trees in Brazil to  offset the carbon emissions.  I'm actually almost, it's hard  to say you're 100% neutral  because it's an estimate, but  I'm pretty neutral in my energy  consumption. 

 >> (inaudible)  >> Ambrosius: It's a strategic  part of my business.  Yes, I grew up on a farm under  the ideas of Aldo Leopold.  I worked for the Department of  Natural Resources.  The environment is really  important to me, and so I want  to do everything I can to make  sure that I'm running a  sustainable business, kind of a  green business if you want to  call it that.  But I want to do things the  right way.  I was able to offer my employees  health insurance just over a  year ago.  We do CSA meals almost everyday.  We're just doing what we can.  >> Hi, Gail, this is --.  My question to you is one of  the speakers who came to our  class mentioned that  entrepreneurs are largely born,  teaching helped them find a way. 

 What's your view on that?  >> Ambrosius: I think it's,  maybe they're born but I think  it's a lot of nurture too.  I grew up on a farm family.  My father was the ultimate  entrepreneur.  He had his own dairy farm.  He raised 10 children.  He was always right there.  It was definitely his business.  Farming is not easy but he grew  a very successful farm over the  years.  He started the year I was born  on this farm, and he became a  model in our community for  farming.  I remember tour buses pulling up  to the farm and people that  couldn't speak English getting  out and looking at my dad's cows  and I thought what is going on. 

 As I kid I didn't quite  understand it.  He was very well known in the  community, and I think he taught  me and a lot.  He taught me how to be sure of  myself, how to really have  confidence in what you're doing,  do something you love.  I think that's really a key  point in being an entrepreneur.  If you don't love what you're  doing, it's going to be hard to  go to work every day.  You've really got to be  passionate about it, committed  to it and ready for the next  thing, whatever it might be.  And there's a surprise every  day.  People say what's your typical  day, and I go what are you  talking about, typical?  There is no typical day.  Yes, you're making chocolate but  there's always something that's  going to come up.  >> Yasiri: Well, Gail,  the students and I recognize  that you're a Badger  having gone to the UW. 

 And so we wanted to thank you  by giving you a Wisconsin mug.  >> Ambrosius: Thank you.  >> Yasiri: And just many,  many warm thoughts.  Thanks so much.  >> Ambrosius: Thank you.  (applause)