Snacking on Rocky Mountain Chocolate

the candy man can Let's find out? This is Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on the brink. Hey everybody, I'm Jonathan Stricklin and I'm Aerial Casting. So this is a pretty sweet subject we're covering today. Yeah, it's a candy store and one that has made some big strides and yet I never heard of it before. Yeah, it's actually one that has become one of the largest candy companies in

the world. And that's saying something when you consider that it's it's relatively young compared to something like good Iva Yeah and se Sees Candies. Yeah. So we're really going to explore the story behind this because it's it's one of those. That's sort of remarkable in the sense that a lot of these stories we try to do on the brink lead up to a single big moment that you can point out and say this was the maker break.

In this case, we're talking about a company that could have gone out of business for much of its early history, and only through perseverance and maybe some stubbornness, uh and perhaps not knowing any better, the company was able to succeed. So, oh, spoiler alert, this company succeeds. Yes, and you know just started off. I'll say they have an enormous fifty square foot factory now in Colorado where they started, and they started off with one tiny little candy shops. So let's

kind of get into that. As we said with the introduction, it all started with Frank Krill, and he was a tech guy. Yeah he uh. We came out of San Diego, California. His mom worked in retail, his dad was working in the aerospace industry. He would buy parts. He was like a in that supply chain section for aerospace. So Craile goes to college. After college, he ends up joining the army. And this is in an era where we have the Vietnam War, he gets deployed to Okinawa and there he

would work in an army intelligence unit. So for the second time, I think in the Brink storyline, we are covering a tech guy who has links with the c i A. The first time would be with Oracle And also, you know somebody who went and worked for the army and then did a complete turnaround afterwards. So he worked for the CIA when he came back from the Vietnam War.

And then he launched his own company called c n I Data Processing in nineteen seventy two, and they did billing for cable companies, cable television companies, which were just starting to really become a thing in those early seventies. So he was essentially saying, well, this is going to be a big business. So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to build a company that works in the background of that industry. So this was not, you know,

a consumer facing company. This was something that ran the back end system, the building system for these larger cable companies. And you know, he actually did pretty well. He was making a decent living, but he and his wife, they wanted to start a family and they wanted to raise their family in a small town. Yeah, they wanted to have sort of that idyllic Americana approach that we always think of. We associate that with like Walt Disney, who

had that same sort of fascination with small town America. Yes, and and you know, opening this candy store was a part of that idyllic picture. It would turn out that way. But when he when he made this decision, like first they settled on the community, and they went about this in a way that is totally backwards from how I would do it. They started off by finding a little town they liked. It was Durango, Colorado, and they had a population reports of area between twelve thousand and fifteen

thousand people at that time. So we're talking like thee at this point. Yes, So they moved there with they intend that this is where they're going to start their family, to really kind of start this new chapter of their lives. And then and only then, this crail thinking all right, well, I need to come up with some sort of business I can do while I'm here, because I'm going to end up divorcing myself, like to to leave the company

I found it. Yeah, and I want to start a business that will help me get to know the other people in this town. Part of the draw of a small town is knowing all your neighbors and having that community, having that that sort of Andy Griffith show kind of relationship with everybody. Yeah, and so he got to the town and he started asking around what sort of businesses do you need? And the one thing that everybody greed

on was that they needed a car walk car wash. Yeah, we're gonna have a little disco moment here in the office, but you guys just keep on going down. Yeah, we're doing our little chair dance. It's about as lane as you can imagine. So he's not exactly totally psyched about that idea. He's like, well, that might there might be a need for that, but I can't really get passionate

about a car wash. And then some other guy happens to mention that there's perhaps another opportunity besides scrubbing down cars, and that would be a candy store. Now, let me just say, no matter where I moved, I'd be like, we need another candy store. Yeah, I would be one of those people who, if I lived next to a candy store, would say we need a candy store. Well, he thought, that's something I could really get behind. I like candy. Keep in mind Mr Crale was not a

candy maker and had never thought of being one before. Yeah, he had never even remotely studied anything about chocolate tearing or anything like that. He had had no experience there. But he thought, this is an opportunity and Durango, Colorado is a big tourist destination. Will talk a little bit more about that in a second. So he thought, well, there is the possibility that that tourism industry could help make a business like that flourish. And at first he

wasn't even thinking necessarily about making his own company. He was looking at the possibility of opening up a store that would be related to an existing candy company's chocolate season. Yes he's Candy Sez Candy, but they didn't franchise at that time. Yeah, so he couldn't just become a franchise operator because that was not an option. So instead he thought, well,

I guess I'll do this myself. And at the time he was drawing about six thousand dollars per month from his interests in the company he had co founded that N and I, which was enough for him to cover his costs of living and everything, but not exactly the startup capital you would use to launch a and new business. No, no, So he also roped into fronts or he got them to invest in the company, Jim Hilton and Mark Leapinski.

Hilton at least had made fudge in the past, yes, so he came with the deep expertise in gandy making. He was at least a hobbyist. And then kill also took out a second mortgage on his house. He borrowed fifty thousand dollars in capital to start his little candy store. And so he starts looking for a location. And like I said, Durango, Colorado is a big tourist destination, and part of that is because Durango is on a rail line,

the Durango and Silverton narrow Gauge Railroad. So he wanted a location close to that because that would be where all the tourists were. But that also was some of the more expensive real estate in the town. So it would cost him thirty dollars to secure that location. It's over half his capital right now. Just so that you guys know what this is all about. In case you're not familiar with narrow gauge railroad. The name kind of

tells you what it means. It means that the actual width of the railroad track is more narrow than what you would see as the standard. The standard, by the way, in case you're curious too, it's four ft eight and a half inches or one d thirty five millimeters, So this was more narrow than that. And you can get tickets to ride on a train on the Durango in Silverton narrow Gage Railroad. They use original equipment that dates to the late nineteenth century, so we're talking like eighteen

eighties era train and you can ride on it. They even have a presidential car where you can ride in luxury or you can ride in first class or you know steerage. Essentially, you're shoveling coal into the furnace to

make the train go. I exaggerate for a fact, but this is a big tourist attraction, and so we thought, well, locating my candy shop near that would mean that people who get off the train who are walking around to look at this pick shrested town are gonna see this little town candy shop and what could be more charming? And people who ride trains probably gone and want some. Yeah, I know I do. So he bought his location, but he's still in San Diego, and uh he starts looking

around for things to furnish his shop with. So they get some antique scales to decorate with. They get these giant, heavy marble slabs to make fudge on. They want to make their candy live at least their fudge in front of people, to entertain folks. This is not an uncommon thing in candy stores. I know down in Savannah, Georgia, you've got the Savannah Candy Company. Oh yeah, you've got

tons of little chocolate coming, like Helen, Georgia. Also, like all the little touristy towns in the area, you know, they dip their own apples and they pull their taffy, and some of them make fudge. It's very visually arresting, like you see it and you and you are fascinated. And also it just looks delicious. I mean you think about like Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory and those montages. It's that kind of thing. And also you get the smell of the cooking candy, which just makes you hungry.

And you learned the process too, which can be really cool, like the fact that they use marble to help with the temperature and and the moisture of the stuff they're working with. So it was a clever idea. It was one that other candy shops had used successfully, and so it showed that Crail had been paying attention. Yes, Now, one of the other things that he bought in San Diego to bring with him was chocolates to sell. Yes, not fudge, but actually pre made chocolates, because he didn't

know how to do that. Yeah, and neither did his buddy Jim, who had made fudge, he didn't know how to make chocolate. So they bought it from a guy named Everett Seeley who operated a candy store over in San Diego, and a few other suppliers like a division of Guitard Yard. I've never known how to pronounce that quick company, but I do like their chocolate. So they have moved to Durango and they're getting ready for the

grand opening of their store. They had decided that they were going to open on Memorial Day in nine and they're they're they're ready to set up. They've secured the location and their buddy Jim is literally on the road driving from California to Colorado hauling marble and chocolate. What could possibly go wrong? Well, we'll tell you right after this brief moment to thank our sponsors. Okay, so we've established the locations there, the chocolate and the marble are

on their way. Jim has got the secrets of fudge locked away in his head. Almost immediately, things don't quite go according to plan. No, so very first, Jim gets a flat like a flat tire, which doesn't keep him from getting to Colorado, but it does get him there late. Yes, so they were going to open Memorial Day weekend. He gets there at about nine pm local time Friday night. Yeah, and they really tough it through. They burned the midnight

oil and set up shop that night. Yep. They get everything ready to go and then they turn in late late late that night, and then they oversleep. Yeah, they don't wake up quite on time to get everything ready to go for opening. Now I'll say like oversleep. I know on the weekend, I like to sleep very very

late sometimes, but they overslept to walking nine am. So then they get to the store and uh, they encounter a second issue, which is that Jim, who had made fudge had never made a batch larger than six pounds in his life, and that was gonna be too little for it. For it, even for your first day, you gotta need more than six pounds of hudge. Also, he had never made fudge at an altitude of six thousand, five hundred twelve feet, which spoiler alert is the altitude

of Durango, Colorado. Yes, and you know, I like to bake personally, and I like to make candy, and that altitude and humidity in the air and all that really can men see you up if you don't plan for Oh yeah, no, I am reminded of the time my dad made an incredible homemade fudge. It's been years since he's done it. Dad, if you're listening to this, make me some fudge. But I remember once when he decided

to turn his fudge making skills to divinity. And if you don't know what divinity is, folks, you've got to come down to the southeast. Well, we'll treat you. But his divinity did not take into account the temperature and humidity, and we ended up with divinity flavored hockey pucks. They were like little frisbees. Now, to make fudge at a high altitude. This is something that Jim would learn through bitter experience, might be sweet experience, because it was fudge.

You have to decrease the amount of time you actually cook the fudge because liquid will evaporate off of your cooking mixture much more quickly at higher altitudes than they would at sea level. So general rule of thumb for all you prospective fudge makers out there is that you should deduct two degrees from your cooking temperature. We're talking

fahrenheit here for every one thousand feet of elevation. So since they were at more than six thousand feet, they should have deducted about twelve degrees from their cooking temperature. But Jim didn't know that at the beginning of it. However, he figured it out eventually, and he cooked up a batch of a twenty two pound batch of fudge. Yeah, and they made a lot of flavors to that first weekend, and you know, despite all these little hiccups, they had

a really good opening weekend. They sold out of fudge. They made eight hundred and fifty dollars the first day, and the second day was about as good, maybe a little bit better, because they remembered to bring the chocolate. Yeah, that was the other big problem. They had left the chocolate behind on opening day. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good thing. They had fudge and carmel apples and things like that.

They also got a request from some customers they said, hey, do you do mail orders and crails like yeah, they hadn't even thought about it yet, know, And it would actually take them a little bit of time to test a mail order catalog. Oh yeah, no, that the actual cattle log would take several years before they would launch one of those. But they rapidly followed a philosophy and this would stay true for much of the history of

the company of let's say yes and then yeah. And you know, there are a lot of companies that do this to varying success, but it really it really speaks to craal tenacity. Then they had this other problem where they didn't have good cold transportation to bring this chocolate over from California. They didn't have refrigerated trucks yet. No, and you know, I don't think Jim was going to

constantly make that trip back and forth. Yeah, So they realized they were going to need to start making chocolate on the premises, So they reached out to Everett Seeley, the same man that they had bought the chocolate from. Now he at this point was entering into retirement, and they said, could you teach us? Oh, why is chocolate tear? And he said, yes, grasshopper. So they set up shop and the most logical of places on top of a

ping pong table. Yeah, that's weird. I mean if you make if you make a ruffle and it bounces, doesn't that mean it's fresh? I guess. So this was also when Kraill would have another mistake that would help define the company. This is also another interesting thing about this particular company is that it's a company that was defined by mistakes, but not in a bad way, like it was stuff that would end up kind of differentiating the

company from other companies. I mean, it did have some negative impacts financially, but yeah, from a consumers standpoint, people loved it. And the thing we're talking about here is where Kraill had decided he's going to make some well we would call him turtles, but they call him bears in the Rocky Mountains speak. And it is a mixture of caramel and pecans, or caramel and pecans. If you

prefer that's then dipped in chocolate. But the problem was the caramel and pecan clusters that Kraill had made were about five times bigger than what they needed to be. Yes, way way too big. But they did not trash them. No, they dipped them in chocolate and sold them and people loved them. Yeah. I mean, come on, you're you're like, oh, candy, that's five times the size of normal candy. I would

also love that, you know. And people loved watching them mess up and figure out how to fix their mistakes. So they'd be in store making their candies and they make the core too big, and then they dip it and wouldn't look right again, so they dip it again, and there these candies became massive. And they had one peanut butter cup they made that was big enough that it got nicknamed the bucket. Yeah, so I want to

eat that. This actually reminds me of of experiences I've had where I've gone into like locally run businesses where the people running the business are very sincere. Sometimes things are not going exactly as planned, but it does come across as more charming because they don't let that derail them.

They don't deny that there's an issue. They just they either embrace the failure and incorporated in some way or otherwise make you feel like you can kind of trust these people because they're they're not hiding away things right, And I find that very endearing, and it sounds like the people of Durango, Colorado and the tourists who are

visiting also did so. Their first year they made a hundred and eighty thousand dollars, which sounds like a lot, but you've got to remember that they had spent a good deal of money, in fact, more than their starting investment capital, just getting things running that first year, the third k on the on the lease, and then all of their supplies, all of their equipments and all of their resupplies as well, So the company spent quite a

few years just trying to make up that loss. Also, in nine two, just after they had launched, it became clear that while this was a true passion project for Frank Crayle, the same could not be said for Jim and Mark, his co investors, who helped launch the company back in the end of one so they both wanted out and Frank bought their shares of the company. Yes. Now, Frank also would open up some additional stores. After the success of his first one, he expanded out so that

he owned four stores. It was an owned and operated business. And then he made another big decision that ultimately would affect the success of his company. He decided he was going to franchise. He wasn't going to be like Sees Candy. And so the problem was, like many of the other incidents we've talked about before, he didn't have any experience in this. He didn't have any working knowledge of how this would work, or even an infrastructure to support it. But he said, this is what I want to do,

so he plunged into it. Now he had a hope that by opening up more stores, if he can make them as successful as his first stores primary store, he would make enough money to overcome the costs of operating the business. Yeah, because then you can buy in bulk a little bit more um and split that supply cost between multiple locations that are all bringing in hopefully the

same amount of revenue. Yeah. So this was this was a big gamble because could have just as easily been that each of those stores would have just added to the cost of operation. Yeah, or that they if they were too close, they just split their customers. Right, Yeah, you end up not getting as much revenue because people just are choosing one store or the other. But you're not. You're not you're not effectively doubling or tripling your revenue

anymore because you've you've diluted it. Yeah, this was a pretty big risk, and it was one that did not immediately pay off either, so that also made it even scarier. Right, Like, it could have been a situation where because it was taking a long time to kind of get on solid financial ground, you could have seen this candy empire melt away. Clever Jonathan, I was gonna say cookie crumbles, but that doesn't really work well. Kraale was, you know, thinking of

the bruttalness of all of this situation. Okay, okay, I see where you're going. Because he spent nights up wondering if he could pay his employees for the week, he had to contact their suppliers saying, hey, we can't pay this invoice. Thankfully, a lot of people were really understanding and worked with him, which is I wouldn't say the

norm no to me. It is pretty remarkable that he would talk to these suppliers, and they seemed very understanding and would offer him extensions on paying back his debts. He was also having trouble even though he was expanding his business, he was having trouble with that as well because he didn't have a whole lot of money, so it was difficult to attract people to run the businesses who had experience both in the candy industry and just

running a business in general. He was having trouble getting the talent he needed, so he faced a lot of different challenges at that moment. Even so, while he's facing all these challenges, he's still maybe by force of will alone, making this company grow to the point in six he's ready to bring it public and to have an I p O on the Nasdaq. Yeah, and it took sixteen

years from that point for them to be financially sound. Yeah, you're talking about two decades of being in business before they were able to say, oh, we've paid off our debt the first time. And you see this all the time with like restaurants where people love this restaurant, but they just don't make enough money to stay afloat and

they close and then you're really sad. The cost of operation is just too high sometimes, Yeah, and thankfully this was not the case for the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. But when they went public that same year, they had a revenue around four point one million dollars that year, but they also had a net loss of a hundred and forty six thousand, seven hundred and six dollars. Yeah, that was not not great. And the next year they were seeing a rise in revenue, but the losses were

increasing even more. So this is where you start really getting into that feeling that you're in quicksand it was up to one point million, and the company had fifty five stores in thirteen states. Yeah, he had expanded quite a bit, but again the cost of operations were outpacing the revenues, so in he didn't have much choice but to close some of those stores, right, like ten of them. And that was also the year that they would first test out a male order catalog for the Christmas season,

so about nine years after they opened. And then that helped a bit, right, so they were able to get things to turn around. They were able to get a positive revenue source coming in where they're starting to make profit, and part of that was helped by the fact that

by franchising, they could charge franchise fees. So people who wanted to run a Rocky Mountain chocolate company out of their town would pay this franchise fee and in return they would be allowed to use the name and the recipes, and which is of course, that's how franchising just tends

to work in general. And it was only at this point that the franchising structure was starting to really pay off, where those franchise fees were helping make up some of the ground of operating a business that has a very high cost. They're making revenues of about a hundred and eighty seven million dollars a year. They had a hundred and sixty two stores, and Frank was buying less for stores to franchise faster than he could franchise them out.

He ended up running a lot of them himself. They were I think forty five company owned at that time, and he was trying to launch a chain of hard candy stores at the time too, called Fuzzy Wigs, which I think I've heard of. Fuzzy Wigs. Well, I keep on thinking I've heard of that, except for the fact that that's very similar to the name fezzy Wig, which is from Yeah, you've been in multiple productions of Christiness Carol, multiple have you ever been business Fezi Wig? Well, there

you go. Yeah, So again, Frank did not have the infrastructure to support a hard candy business, so much like Mr Cratchett, but very much, very much in keeping with his m O up to that point. In seven, the company had to undergo a total restructure, and Frank did something very smart. He reached out and he managed to get someone who had experienced as a chief financial officer

to help really get this company under control. Yes, they closed more stores that weren't turning a profit, They sold some of their company owned stores as franchises to franchise Ease, and he sold off his Fuzzy Weig chain. So it wasn't very long lasting. He was like, I don't have the support structure for this hard candy store. This might have been fighting off more than you can choose. Yeah, it was not an everlasting gob stopper, that's for sure.

So then in another company came up and offered the possibility of an acquisition. Yeah, Whitman's tried to buy Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for sixteen million dollars, which is pretty good. Yeah. I mean that's especially when you sit there and think this all started with launching a tiny little candy shop in a relatively small town, and I could have seen being like, you know, I wanted to open this candy store. I wanted it to be easy and fun, and it's

just been trial and tribulation after trial and tribulation. I've been I've been chasing making enough money to cover the costs of operating for so long. But that restruct ring had been really effective, and Kraille was thinking, I should really see where this is going. I should really because I think we're on a new path now. And so ultimately he decided to turn down the offer and we'll learn about what happened next after we come back from

this quick break to thank our sponsor. All right, So now things start to turn around and get a little bit better. It's still going to take a few years to really get rolling. But in two thousand one they got themselves a new logo and they started really pushing the sale of their product for gifts. Hey, you want to buy our chocolate for Valentine's Day, for Easter, Christmas, for Birthday, for anniversaries. Yeah, they also added sugar free

candies to the retinue. They modernize their stores. They like to sell a lot of chocolates that were old fashioned in an old fashioned packaging, because there's a nostalgia that people like with that, right, and it's associated with that whole mystique of being that small town and and and classic Americana. But now they're trying to appeal to a broader market, and so as part of that, they also start selling their chocolates in other stores like Feo Schwartz

and Costco Costco as well. Right, And they also began to design a way where they could have a presence in shopping malls without having to pay a huge amount to have a storefront there. Yes, they came up with a tiny little kiosk that was a quarter of the square footage of their normal footprint. Right. And obviously that meant that you were limiting things that made the store is so charming, like you know, watching people hand dip

candy apples and that kind of stuff. But at the same time, it allowed them to get a an entry point in like high end shopping malls that otherwise would have been prohibitively expensive. To have a space there, and by this time their revenues are up to nineteen point four million in January of two thou three. It's kind of when they really took off. The stocks started steadily growing and did for two years. They hit their highest

mark in July of two thousand five. They also were able to finally pay off their debt, at least up to that point. Yeah, it'll happen again, don't worry. But but in two thousand and five, I mean, like considering that this was a company that had been sort of chasing that goal since it was started, essentially because the startup costs were so high and Crail had to borrow so much money on his own account in order to

be able to launch it. To finally get to the point where the debt was paid must have been a huge moment within the company. Yeah, and their stock prices have dropped a little bit since then. It's not as strong as it was in two thousand five, but it is doubly as strong as it was before then, back when they first some public. So two thousand seven, they became the largest chocolate retailer in the United States based on locations, beating out companies like Season Geniva. Fun fact,

they also beat out Season Godiva in a blind taste test. Yes, it was one of those things that the company touted forever, was that when people were looking for a chocolate that tasted rich and natural, There's was the brand that got the highest marks in a blind taste test. So they

were very happy about that. Also in two thousand seven, they made number eighty on the four Small Business List, which doesn't seem that high of a number, but there are so many small businesses out there, like, yeah, when you think about just a sheer number of small businesses,

it actually is pretty pretty impressive. And they were able to pay out annual dividends of forty cents to share their stocks, and they began to really find people who were serious about making the candy store business a primary business, right, not not just oh I think it would be charming to have a chocolate shop, yeah, which you know a lot of people still do. There are a lot of

hobbyists in the baking and candy and food industry. When you have to buy in for a quarter million, it's going to be more than the hobby unless you're just like super duper rich. And they grew internationally successful. So they had franchises in Canada, the Philippines, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. They still do, and they entered an agreement in two thousand twelve to open stores in

Japan as well. Yes, and that agreement was it's pretty intense because Japan had to open ten stores a year for ten years the agreement. That's a lot. They today produce more than three different types of candies based off their own recipes, so it's not like it's you know, some like generic thing. Yeah, they're all very specific to the company, and they still make in their individual stores. They still make candy live. Now it's time to talk

about some decisions that also lead to more debt. Yes, and this is one that really gets my head scratching, and a little bit less transparency too. So so let's say I remember the initial frozen yogurt boom that happened in like the late eighties early nineties CEPU, and there was another one that happened not too long ago, to the point where so there's a there's a place near

Atlanta called Decatur, Georgia. Decatur, Georgia, it's sort of has a small town feeling even though it's still within the perimeter of two eight five, which a lot of people say anything inside two eighty five is essentially Atlanta. I mean, i'd say Decatur is pretty bustling, but it's still, you know, it still has sort of a small town feel. And yet that's a place where at one point I think

they had three or maybe four frozen yogurt places. So in ten they launched an Aspen Leaf Yogurt LLC As a subsidiary company, and then that would end up being supplemented when they acquired the assets of a company called Yogurt teeny International in and then they used the combined assets of both of those to get a majority share in a company called you Swirl. They got a six share of the equity of Use World through leveraging these assets,

making them the majority owners. And again this was an attempt to kind of diversify grow the business, kind of like the hard candies fuzzy wig thing was a few years before. Because Krall really thought that the frozen yogurt markets it's very fragmented, all these independent little owners and franchises and things like that, and he thought by combining those you could strengthen their business, and you could cut costs because now you're buying products and bulk and things

like that. They kept on going by acquiring a couple of other companies like Yogli, Mowgli, and cherry Berry. There's cherry Berry litigation as well. I read about that in a recent shareholder call that happened with the Rocky Mountain. But all of these decisions ended up making kind of

a draining effect on the overall company. The hope at one point was that they would create a new corporate structure where all the frozen yogurt stuff would be lumped in along with their chalk glit business, so that the weaknesses of the frozen yogurt would somewhat be kind of masked by the success of the chocolate. Yes, and that was not a very popular idea. It got voted down

by the shareholders. People like transparency. Yeah, they didn't want to see a company where they see the profits dropping. And the reason the profits are dropping are not because the sales are doing more poorly, but that the losses from the frozen yogurt side of the business, we're being offset by the success of the chocolate side. I mean. But that being said, Kraill pushed his way through to success with his chocolate stores, so maybe he's on the

right path for frozen yogurt as well. Yeah, by seen that were able to pay off a lot of that debt that wasn't incurred as a result of making these acquisitions, right, So that was looking good. Has been a little bit more of a rough year. They've seen a bit of a slide. Nothing can of stropha. Now. They're still looking like they'll be profitable this year. It's just that it's it's a lower profit than the previous year. And generally speaking, obviously we like to see growth year over year, but

that is the general story. Yes, However, we have some fun facts. One that I definitely want to mention, so we talked about bears. That is not the biggest monster this company has ever made. In for the San Francisco Zoo, they made a special commission which was a seven foot long chocolate alligator that weighed four hundred thirty pounds. It was estimated to be more than a million calories, so cast it was worth six thousand dollars. A six thousand

dollars seven foot long chocolate alligator. It's such a waste. It is such a waste. Now you could you could buy your own chocolate alligator, but it was a fraction of the size. Yeah, well you wouldn't be able to eat through an alligator that big before the chocolate went all spotty and bads. Than like like that ste kind of chocolate that that was sort of like chocolate dust

that appears until it turned into chalk. Yeah, so that would be the largest chocolate that I could find, Like, you know, for a company that was famous for making oversized chocolates, I think even that is saying something. Also, another fun fact is that they made a cereal with Kellogg's. Yes, that is very similar to the chocolate e special Case cereal you can get now. I didn't know there was a chocolate special case cereal. There is sorry spelling my doom.

But yeah, they partnered up in two thirteen. I think they had this cereal that actually people liked pretty well. Now I tried to see if I could buy it online and bring them into the studio with me. Oh my gosh, we should be thankful because all you would be hearing in this podcast is just crunching mouth sounds. It would be like the worst a s MR ever made. Talking about my mouthful. Anyhow, I couldn't find it. That's not to say it's not still out there somewhere, I

just couldn't find it. Yeah. Well, well, so we were located pretty far from the home base of this company. So I think it's time for us to sign off and perhaps go downstairs in Pont City Market where we can go to the candy store that we have a candy store in here. I'm awful hungry now because I am craving chocolate like nobody's business. So we hope you enjoyed this episode and we look forward to talking to you again soon. Until next time, I'm Jonathan Strickland and

I'm Ariel Casting. Goodbye. If you would like to learn more about what we've talked about, as well as keep track of all of our episodes, make sure you visit our website at the Brink Podcast dot show, or you can email us at Feedback at the Brink Podcast dot show.