Working at Massachusetts chocolate shop is "like a Willy Wonka experience"
SALEM – Harbor Sweets in Salem is a chocolate shop that has been bringing smiles to families for decades. Now they're working hard to get ready for a very busy Easter season.
"When you walk into Harbor Sweets, you get the experience of going into a chocolate factory. You can smell the chocolate. When the buttercrunch is being made, it's just this delicious smell," said Erin Clarke, marketing manager of Harbor Sweets.
It was 50 years ago that founder Ben Strohecker made Harbor Sweets and the chocolate Easter bunny synonymous.
"His grandfather actually made this 5-foot tall Easter bunny to display in a department store and I think it gave Ben the bug," said Colleen Norve, president of Harbor Sweets.
Harbor Sweets is now known for all chocolates and candies, especially their sweet sloops.
Those are a sailboat-shaped piece of almond buttercrunch toffee that is covered in white chocolate. The candy looks like a sail. It's dipped in dark chocolate to look like the hull, which is coated in pecans.
Harbor Sweets is also known for putting smiles on the faces of everyone that walks through the door.
"Working with chocolate, again, it's remarkable. Someone said it's like a Willy Wonka. It is. It's like a Willy Wonka experience that you get, but you get that every day of the week basically," Norve said.
And if you're wondering how a bunny is made, that part is easy – chocolate. They have equipment that pours the chocolate into a mold shaped like the signature bunny. Then the creators tap the mold, add some nut pieces, let it cool and it's ready to go.
"So we took that 5-foot tall bunny and we made it into a 5-inch tall rabbit and we put little treats inside that rabbit so that there is a surprise in every bite," Norve said.