The Chocolate Life: Jeffray Gardner and Marsatta Chocolates finally find a home
Jeffray Gardner of Marsatta Chocolates. Photos
You probably wouldn’t think of running a small gourmet chocolate company as a subject for high drama, but the experience of Jeffray Gardner of Marsatta Chocolates suggests otherwise. In the past three years he has gone through some extraordinary experiences while moving his business from Redondo Beach to Torrance. The business was only able to survive because of dedicated chocolate lovers who cheered him on and tracked him down to farmer’s markets to buy the fresh chocolate they loved.
It all seemed much easier three years ago, when Gardner spotted an empty flower store by the corner of Anza and Del Amo. Gardner had been considering a move for a while because of a problem with his previous location.
“When I had a factory in a little industrial area in Redondo I had people knocking on my door all the time trying to buy chocolate, but I was just set up for wholesale operations and couldn’t sell to them,” he said. “I knew that I needed a retail component, and the challenge was how big I could do it.”
Gardner had to move faster than expected after a bizarre argument with his landlord, who objected to his children practicing hockey in the business’s parking lot. The location on Anza beckoned and he signed a lease, ordered new chocolate processing machinery, and started making chocolate in a rented kitchen during what was expected to be a brief remodel of the new space. It didn’t work out that way because the moist environment of the flower shop had encouraged mold to grow behind the walls, and when that was discovered the whole building needed to be gutted and rebuilt. Other complications developed, and at one point some critical chocolate processing equipment was stuck in a customs warehouse in Moscow. It took three years to open instead of six months, and the uncertainty took a toll on the enterprise.
“During that long time when this place was under construction I had to pull back quite a bit,” Gardner said. “I was trying to keep the business running and fill orders while dealing with permits and all kinds of crazy things, and there are only 24 hours in a day. You can only do so much production when you’re renting out kitchen space and transporting everything you make somewhere else, to a farmer’s market or a facility where we package it. We were very fortunate to have great customers who stayed with us.”
Those customers stayed loyal because Marsatta’s wares were unique: most chocolatiers, even ones with fancy names and the prices to match, start with a product already refined from cacao beans and then add their own flavorings. Gardner imports the beans himself and puts them through a process called conching. The beans are crushed into bits that are called nibs and the shells and chaff are removed, and then the nibs are pulverized and pressure treated for up to three days to create what is called chocolate liquor. (There’s no alcohol, it‘s just the name for crushed and liquefied chocolate.) Gardner uses that fresh product as the start for his chocolates, and he is very picky about the beans that go into it.
“I used to use beans from Ecuador, Peru, and Madagascar, but I found these Belizean beans to be the best in the world,” he said. “The perfect pod to me has a fruity taste and isn’t heavily earthy. For instance, the Belizean beans are different from the cacao from places like Samoa which is musky. You can make chocolate using those beans, and some people like it but it’s not for me. When I was using the other beans I had to put in a little vanilla pod for flavor, but I don’t have to put anything in it now. My bars have two ingredients: cacao and organic sugar. The 100 percent bar is just organic cacao, nothing else. You have to have exceptional flavor in your raw materials to make 100 percent cacao bars.”
Gardner doesn’t make liquor from all of his beans, since some people like to buy them just as they are.
“We sell the whole beans, and some people buy them so they know they have them totally fresh. They’re a superfood, and people put them in their shakes, on cereal, in coffee, and in brownies,” he said. “I’ve even heard of people grinding them and putting them on chicken and steak. We also sell the fresh nibs. I have found cacao nibs in supermarket bulk bins, but unfortunately that’s not a good place for them because they’re not sealed. Oxidation does terrible things to the taste, and if nibs aren’t fresh they’re not good.”
At his store Gardner uses the whole beans, nibs, and chocolate liquor along with organic sugar and other flavorings to create bars, filled chocolates, truffles, and other delights. He has what he refers to as a mad scientist attitude – as he puts it, “I’m always experimenting, trying to come up with the next great thing that I can share with everyone.” He tests his creations on his regular customers in the most casual of environments — the stall he still mans at local farmers markets.
Some Marsatta Chocolate delights. Photo by Brad Jacobs0n.
“A lot of people have said, you’ve opened up a store now, forget about the farmer’s markets, but I don’t want to forget those people,” Gardner said. “I have a relationship with them, and when I have a new product I give them some and say, try this and tell me what you think. There are people at those markets that I’ve been talking with for five years, and I value their opinions.”
He also hosts small groups at his shop, and is particularly proud of a program for people who enjoy both chocolate and tea.
“I have a tea and chocolate tasting program on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where we serve infusions that we don’t sell at the farmers markets,” he said. “One is a Hawaiian wild berry with cacao, there’s a Darjeeling black tea from India with chili and cinnamon infused into the chocolate, and the third is a cacao pomegranate chocolate. My wife chose these amazing teas, and people taste them both cold brewed and in the chocolate. It’s fifteen dollars per person, and people love it.
Gardner’s unusual skill set and ideas about flavor have won him respect from a surprising quarter.
“I have a relationship with a school in Paris, and they have students who want to come here and have me teach them how to make chocolate,” he said. “I had an extern named Floreane who has been here twice. I’m a chocolate maker as well as a chocolatier, and most chocolate makers just make bars or raw product for chocolatiers. I love having students, educating people.”
Jeffray Gardner’s other passion is hockey, and the management and members of the LA Kings have been core supporters. Gardner himself plays on an adult amateur team, and they recently gave him a surprising honor.
“The hockey team I’m on used to be called the Chiefs, but when we moved up a division there was already a team by that name. We had to change our name, and the other guys on the team said they were going to rename our team the Marsatta Chocolates,” he said. “I thought it was a joke, but they said no, we’re dead serious. I said no, something else, but they insisted. A bunch of grown men in a physical sport called the Chocolates! I bring them chocolate at each game.”
When asked if they might have changed the name with that outcome in mind, Gardner laughed and said, “Yeah, maybe, but I love it. It’s surreal when you walk into the rink and see your business name on all the jerseys.”
The little store just south of the corner of Anza and Del Amo doesn’t have a high level of visibility, but business has been improving as commuters see the sign that says chocolate factory and stop in. They can do that at some odd times, as the nature of hand-making chocolate requires long hours.
“I’m in here rolling chocolate as early as 7 a.m., and if I’m here, I’ll sell chocolate. I tell people that if the blinds are up and the sign is lit, we’re open.”
Marsatta Chocolates is at 4604 Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance. Website at marsatta.com, phone 310-318-0489.