Champagne and Chocolate

written by Bill Kopp

Everybody loves chocolate. Many people love wine as well. Put them together and the result is something truly special. Cesar Fausto agrees. In a recent conversation with Reno, NV-based Champagne & Chocolate's owner-operator I learned about the Fausto family history in chocolate, the growth and development of their business, its expansion into a unique restaurant concept and Cesar's plans for the future.

What inspired your grandfather to get into the chocolate business nearly 90 years ago?

He lived in Columbus Ohio, and he wanted to make some extra income. So he got some chocolate recipes from a magazine. He started making chocolates, and eventually got better and better. He showed his son, who eventually showed his son how to do it. It's become the family tradition. And we still have those original recipe cards; they're almost falling apart! I've had to transfer them over many times to protect them.

When did the family business move out West?

They moved to Reno in the '80s. They started the Washoe Valley location, which was our very first store out here. When it opened, the Health Department didn't have very much faith in us. They said, "Yeah, we'll come service you and [conduct] your inspection. But we don't see you guys lasting a year." That was nearly 40 years ago! We have a total of about 60 employees now.

Our original factory is still there, and it hasn't changed much. It still has that old, nostalgic look. We paint it once in a while to keep it looking fresh, but the second you walk in, you get teleported back in time. People who came there as kids come back now and bring their kids. So it's tradition after tradition.

You have several candy product lines. What makes each one special?

We have chocolate boxes featuring our traditional recipes. Our luxury candy bars are something that I've made my own. We start with our traditional cocoa beans, the same recipe from 1936. And I've made an espresso martini favor and a bourbon flavor; they're very popular. They're made from scratch, like all of our candies. From the caramels to the marshmallow; we even roast our own nuts.

Our peanut brittle is one of the thinnest; it just melts in your moth. We've had companies trying to buy that recipe forever! But our most popular products are our truffles. They're hand-cut and hand-rolled. We make all of the fillings from scratch. The truffles sometimes don't all look exactly the same, because of the hand-rolling; we don't use molds. We don't put anything in plastic. And we don't use any dyes or preservatives, either.

We've also started making freeze-dried candies. We put your standard candy -- Skittles, Laffy Taffy -- into a machine and freeze dry it. The end result is crunchy instead of soft. It's great! There's nothing we can't do!

You've started to offer gift baskets, too. How are they different?

I'm not speaking for everybody, but when I've received gift baskets, they'd be filled with a lot of random... stuff. One time I got dried oysters or something! I wanted to create something fun instead. I've paired our chocolate with wine from amazing local wineries. It's fun and aesthetically pleasing. And people will say, "This isn't going to sit in my cupboard. I'm actually going to eat [and drink] this!"

What led to your recent expansion?

As we kept growing, I wanted to start something totally different in Reno, so I called it Champagne & Chocolate. It features our legendary and iconic chocolate that we've had since the '80s, but with a more modern theme, with new packaging. I love the elegance of the Jazz Era -- The Great Gatsby and all that -- so my packaging designs are inspired by that. And now Champagne & Chocolate has evolved into a restaurant concept. I've [built upon] what the family originally did: I wanted to amp it up, stay with the times and be relevant.

Tell me about the concept for your Champagne & Chocolate restaurant.

We started with Champagne & Chocolate retail in South Lake Tahoe; it's a 700-square foot store, selling chocolate and wine. But I wanted to take things a little farther, and the restaurant just opened last fall. It's got a speakeasy style. We have our chocolate, and we have an amazing wine menu. I like to pick winemakers who have really unique wines, and I'll pair chocolates with those. We have an eclectic food menu, too.

You're here to have a good time, whether it's with friends, family, date night, girls' night out, whatever. It's not about "This wine doesn't go with that." It's about the stories behind the wine. I love when people can't even pronounce the name on the label; we'll sit down, talk about it. At the end of the day, it should be fun.

What's your approach to events and live music?

We go with the flow, and we go with the times. I love newer artists who might not have built a big following yet. I'm all about supporting local artists; we introduce them and help get them out there. We really don't have a set rubric of, "You have to play this, you have to play that." We let the artists do their thing, and people love it. It's like a box of chocolates: You don't know what you're gonna get! But it's always creative, and it's always fun.

What has been the biggest challenge in getting Champagne & Chocolate up and running?

Well, we have a chocolate fountain that I custom designed, and it took three months to build. I'm very picky about details, from the way our drinks are garnished to what our forks look like. So for me, the biggest challenge was getting Champagne & Chocolate to look the way I want it to. And we're there!

Where do you see Champagne & Chocolate going in the future?

For right now, I really want to get the restaurant dialed in, and figure everything out. But I would love to take this concept other places. Candy brings so much joy; it brings people together. Same with wine, same with good food. And we have all three of those things!

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