Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Matthias Mueller should know all about chocolate. But he didn’t start out as a chocolatier. For years, he was a tool and dye maker – and an avid swimmer in his early years.
Says Mueller: “I went to a college in Bakersfield, California for one-and-a-half years, just to swim. The college had an excellent swimming coach, and my coach in Zurich urged me to go.”
Back in Switzerland, he participated in his last Swiss Nationals in 1991, then quit his swimming career and ventured off to Guadalajara to work as a tool and dye maker, “purely for the adventure.” (“While in Bakersfield, I met many Mexicans who urged me to visit Mexico,” he says.)
In Guadalajara, Mueller worked with milling machines and taught Mexicans how to run the them. “I planned on being there for one year, but one year turned into two, then into four.” Afterwards, he traveled to the beach town of Careyes to help a friend open a hotel, where he met his wife, Coral.
A few months later, the two took off to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then to Switzerland for eight years, where Mueller managed a family business in industrial labeling. “Once my father retired, I no longer wanted to continue in the business, so we sold it.”
They returned to Mexico in 2003, landing in Playa del Carmen, where Mueller worked for six years as a realtor. The 2008 housing crisis caused him to change direction once again. “A friend offered me a job with a Dutch company selling thermal insulation in Guadalajara, so I took it.” He is still doing that work on the side, and also works for a client in Switzerland – the biggest distributor of organic food – exporting dried mango. Says Mueller, “We are exporting about 40 tons of dried organic mango every year from Mexico to Switzerland.”
Since the mango business is seasonal, Mueller wanted something to do during the off season. He came up with the idea of chocolate.
“I haven’t seen great chocolate here in Mexico. Last year I went back to Switzerland and took courses with Lindt Sprungli, the biggest chocolate company in Switzerland.”
Mueller returned to Mexico with plenty of ideas and presented them to Peter Brinkedy, the owner of Panaderia Scandinavia in Ajijic’s Centro Laguna. Brinkeby agreed to sell the chocolates in his bakery, but first Mueller needed time to come up with a good concept. He spent five months cooking, tasting, creating packaging, and figuring out what kinds of fillings people wanted. Chocolac, his company name, is French for “Chocolate Lake.”
Mueller made his first delivery to the Panaderia Scandinavia four weeks ago, and his chocolates were an immediate hit.
“Of course,” he adds, “it helps that it’s the holiday season. I imagine that sales will slow down come summertime.”
Mueller has experimented with various fillings such as Kahlua, champagne, caramel and even mescal, which he describes as “a very soft cream filling with a not-too-strong mescal flavor. I figured it was a good idea for Mexicans.” So far, the response has been positive.
When searching for new and interesting molds for his chocolate creations, Mueller found a unique Buddha face, which he coats in a gold, sugar-
based powder. “I’ve heard people comment that It looks so nice, they don’t want to eat it!”
Mueller’s chocolates have found their way into Guadalajara. “I have a Swedish friend who sells sauces and creams in Guadalajara. He took a liking to my chocolates and now orders them on a weekly basis. He had told me
about a chocolate exposition in Guadalajara, which took place a few weeks ago. I got a booth and sold out within a couple of hours.” His newest orders from Guadalajara are keeping his business hopping. “Luckily”, he adds, “I have my wife and another worker to help with the orders.”
Thinking ahead, Mueller says, “ I’d like to grow my business slowly but steadily. We don’t want to overdo it. We will need helpers to accomplish a certain amount of boxes per month. We certainly weren’t prepared for this kind of impact; we were prepared for 20 boxes per week. At this point, we are now calculating 400 boxes.”
Nowadays, Mueller is a man of multiple professions, working not only as a chocolatier, but as a part-time wedding minister (he has performed 80 weddings), and in the mango export business.
When asked if he ever tires of eating chocolate, Mueller replies, “Sometimes when I am doing tastings at night, I tend to get a bit saturated.”
Ah, the life of a chocolatier!
For more information, visit facebook.com/ChocolacAXIXIC.