It Happens Here: Chocolate Therapy A 'Feel Good Place' In Framingham
FRAMINGHAM (CBS) – Pam and David Griffin of Framingham each needed a career change and it was fine artisan chocolate that helped the couple find their true passion.
The husband-and-wife team left their corporate jobs of more than 20 years to try something new. And that's how Chocolate Therapy was born. They've now been in business for 10 years.
"Chocolate Therapy is a feel good place. Not only do we want our product to look good, it needs to taste good. Chocolate should be a good experience if you are going to eat it," Pam told WBZ-TV.
"Not once, for a nanosecond, have I not wanted to come into work," said David.
As the only black-owned chocolate shop in Framingham, the Griffins have found their calling. And the secret was making their chocolate even better, after tasting samples from their competitors.
"When you ate a piece of their chocolate you had to fight it. You had to chew and chew and chew to get any kind of flavor release, to me and to us, that was not a good experience," David said.
So, if the experience was the focus, then the ingredients were the keys. Fine fruit purees from Paris, unique additions like olive oil, cayenne and bay leaves, lemon and basil and local sea salt right from Duxbury waters.
The operation is surprisingly small and extremely hands on, from assembling the dark raspberry heart truffles to the "to die for" ganache center created by top chocolatier Rick.
But more than selling, the Griffins are now teaching. During the pandemic they expanded into virtual tasting classes, where they show how to experience a truffle from the bean to the cocoa butter. It's a new chapter in an already sweet success story.
"I tell people this is not work to me. It's just not. I enjoy doing it. It's activity it keeps me busy and its fun, I enjoy it," David told WBZ.
Their store is on Route 9 in Framingham, but you can also order online and in some other specialty stores.