Banking on KC – René Bollier of André's Chocolates
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René Bollier of André’s Chocolates: Continuing a Sweet Tradition
Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is René Bollier, the owner and president of family-owned André's Chocolates. He's here just in time for World Chocolate Day, which is coming up in just a few days, Friday, July 7th, in fact. Welcome, René.
René Bollier:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
Premium chocolates and specialty chocolate sales, I saw something that said they went up 20% for three years, in fact, leading up to 2021, but André's has always been ahead of that curve. You've always been in the specialty chocolate market, and your family hasn't just been involved in the chocolate business for three generations now, but like I said, in the premium chocolate business, specifically Swiss chocolate. And you've been in Kansas City since 1955. So take us back to 1955, or even before, and tell us about how chocolate really runs in your family's veins.
René Bollier:
It all comes down to my grandparents who were living in Switzerland. They were newly married. My grandfather was a master pastry chef and someone who really had an entrepRenéurial spirit, wanted a business of his own, but just didn't have the means to do that in Switzerland. Switzerland's this amazingly unique, beautiful country, but it is amazingly expensive, as well. My grandmother had an education in accounting and was working for a butcher, and they started talking about ways they could fulfill their dream of having their own business, and realized it meant they would most likely have to go somewhere else, to go to another country somewhere.
They started looking all over the world. They really did look in a variety of different places and fell on Kansas City. It was in 1953 that they really started talking about it. My grandfather's brother was in Kansas City selling Swiss watches and told my grandparents that Kansas City was a growing city, and the market was wide open, that there was really no luxury European-style chocolates and pastries within the Kansas City market. They knew they'd have to raise some funds to get over here and have enough money to open a business, so they actually wrote a book on, what we call tea cookies, small little confectionary cookies. My grandmother helped do all the illustrations and the copy on it, and my grandfather did all the recipes and methods, and they self-published the book. And that is how they funded their trip over to Kansas City and to end up with enough money to start a business here.
Kelly Scanlon:
I've heard that story. It is so incredible. They truly had an entrepRenéurial streak within them, because they were entrepRenéurial just to raise the money to get here. That's crazy. So who did they sell the book to?
René Bollier:
Well, my grandfather had a tremendously well-known name within the Swiss culinary world. He had an opportunity actually to take over the professional school for pastry chefs, and that was kind of what he was weighing whether he wanted to do that or really try to open his own business. So by publishing that book, just with his name recognition in the professional world in Switzerland, he was able to sell quite a few of those books. We still have a few of them at André's floating around, which is neat. But yeah, so it was more for professionals, but it spread throughout Switzerland. It raised enough money for them to do what they were dreaming to do.
Kelly Scanlon:
They start contemplating the idea of leaving Switzerland to follow their dream of having their own business, and they settle on Kansas City, write this book, sell it, make enough money to come to Kansas City. So they land here; what's next?
René Bollier:
Well, what's next is trying to find a location, and my grandfather had this idea in his head he had to be on Main Street. If he was going to be a success, it had to be on Main Street. So he found a little spot where the card shop is, Perfect Scents, is now. And six months after they arrived, they opened their very first confectionary, so focused strictly on chocolate candies and petit fours, or small pastries. They opened their doors and very quickly realized that chocolates and pastries alone in Kansas City in 1955 was not going to cut it. The general public in Kansas City just didn't really understand what they were doing, what made their products special, why they were more expensive. So that first 10 years, my grandparents spent the majority of their time educating the Kansas City public about what luxury chocolates were all about, as well as finding different means to get them in the door, and which is why we have such a vast variety of products today, because they realized they needed more than just chocolates and pastries to get people in. So they opened their first restaurant two years after they opened the first André's, they started doing more baked goods, they created the quiche recipe that we still use today. And all those things were really just to get people in the door so that hopefully they buy those chocolates on the way out.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, have something to attract them and then introduce them to the chocolates and get them hooked.
René Bollier:
Exactly. And yeah, fortunately for me, that whole process worked really well. My grandmother was always quick to tell me how easy I have it.
Kelly Scanlon:
What is it about Swiss chocolate in particular that makes it so special? Because it is, it's so wonderful.
René Bollier:
Yeah, the Swiss have a lot of history within chocolate and the creation of the chocolate that we think of today. And one of the things that they claim is the creation of the first milk chocolate. There was a gentleman, a Swiss gentleman in I think it was 1876, who was a candle maker and was put out of business by the invention of the kerosene lamp. This is the way the story was told to me. He was looking for a new way to, well, to have income. His father-in-law was a gentleman, part of the Kaye family, which is a very famous chocolate that's seen mainly in Switzerland. You don't see it in the US. And then his neighbor was a gentleman named Henry Nestle who had just created the first baby formula or condensed milk.
Kelly Scanlon:
I had no idea. You mean Nestle was in the formula business before he was in the chocolate business? Oh, wow. He's still in the formula business, too.
René Bollier:
Yep. Yes, yes. But so yeah, Daniel, Peter and Henry Nestle combined the Kaye dark chocolate with the condensed milk to make this first successful milk chocolate. And so they invented milk chocolate, and then they also invented a process that creates a much smoother chocolate than what you would see back then. So there was a gentleman named Rudolph Lindt, so which is Lindt chocolate, which is really interesting because Kansas City now has roots with lindt chocolate due to the fact that Lindt purchased Russell Stovers. But yeah, Rudolph Lindt created a method called conching, which is basically just taking the finished chocolate, but then working it back and forth within a vessel. And whether they use stone or stainless steel rollers, they work the chocolate for hours and hours. And what that does is it rounds all the little molecules of chocolate out and wraps each one in cocoa butter, but then it also releases a lot of the volatiles that are naturally in cocoa beans, so the vinegars and the acids and things like that.
So you get a much rounder, smoother chocolate that melts much nicer in your mouth when you conch. But then the Swiss started conching for excessively long times, and I say excessively, it's what makes it beautiful so I don't find it excessive, but conching for days at a time. And the conching process actually creates a tremendous amount of friction, which creates heat, which naturally caramelizes the sugars in the chocolate. So that's what really makes, especially in milk chocolate, the Swiss chocolate different than a lot of other chocolates from around the world is they have really strong caramel notes. And they're in the dark chocolates, as well. You don't notice it as much because there's not as much sugar, and then the cocoa content's much higher. It more compliments the cocoa opposed to really becomes a dominant flavor. But in the milk chocolate, you really notice that caramel, those caramel notes throughout the chocolate.
Kelly Scanlon:
I think I've read somewhere that chocolate is $130 billion industry. So how does André's, within that big industry, stay so successful? What do you attribute your staying power to?
René Bollier:
I always tell people that I really believe our longevity comes from our mandate that we stay very traditionally Swiss. There's lots of trends that come and go, but we really keep the business and the chocolates in the same vein as what my grandfather was producing 67 years ago. So it was real important for my parents that I trained in Switzerland, so I got to spend three years as a pastry chef over there to really learn the art form from Swiss pastry chefs. And so we really stay very traditionally Swiss, and we always continually try to innovate, but we never want to sacrifice quality. We look for ways to produce more efficiently, but we refuse to ever let that demean what we're producing. We make sure that the quality always stays as high as it's always been, and I think people really respect that. And staying traditionally Swiss, really representing what the Swiss pastry chefs are doing, I think does set us apart within the national chocolate market. And it also is a phenomenal story. People love a story, they love hearing about the history of André's and its relation to Switzerland, and we try to represent that not only the product itself, but the packaging, as well. We really bring in all that red and white.
Kelly Scanlon:
You do. You have a lot of the red and white, and the way the cuts that are made. I read something about that once, about how they represent not just the colors, but many of the other traditional items of Switzerland.
René Bollier:
They do, yeah. We had a tremendous experience, and we were very fortunate to have the chance to work with Willoughby Design, who is a local branding agency here in Kansas City. So my father has some Scherenschnitte, which is that scissor-cut pattern artwork hung in our restaurant, or tearoom as we call it. And they saw that and really found it impressive and unique. And so they actually created custom Scherenschnitte patterns to be incorporated in our new packaging design. And it has a lot of those elements that you think of when you think of Switzerland, the cowbells and the cows themselves, the mountains. And the goal there, again, was to tell our story, talk about and really represent our history and our heritage.
Kelly Scanlon:
You talk about not wanting to deviate from the traditional Swiss methods of making chocolate. Is that a dying art?
René Bollier:
It's not actually. It is more prevalent now than ever before in the United States and all over the world. We have our head pastry chef; she trained at the CIA in Napa, and all her training was from, or her head pastry chef was from Switzerland, was a Swiss-trained pastry chef. And I think in the US, people really embrace the European style of pastries and chocolate making. And so you're seeing it more and more. And in the US as we tend to do, we try to put our twist on things. So some of it isn't as traditional as we try to stay, but I think that it is a great representation of what is done in Europe. And my father always told me and really hammered it into me the competition is what drives business. And so there are a tremendous amount of really high end chocolatiers within the US, and some in Kansas City. Kansas City has a really rich history in chocolate. It is a great time to be a chocolatier. It's a really fun time, because there is just a lot of competitive but also cooperative people out there who are trying to do amazing things.
Kelly Scanlon:
What are some of your most popular items? You talked about how early on, your grandparents had to diversify, and you still have many of their items in addition to your chocolate, like you mentioned your quiche. So what is your most popular item, would you say?
René Bollier:
Our most popular item far and away is our chocolate-covered almonds. And I always tell people, I think our chocolate-covered almonds are simple perfection. It is not necessarily an unusual product, but the way we produce them, we really take a lot of small steps to make them as perfect as possible in selecting the highest quality almonds and roasting those almonds really dark brown so that it really brings out a bold almond flavor when you bite into those almonds. And I always tell people that the milk chocolate almonds are my guilty pleasure, and the dark chocolate ones are my multivitamin, because with all those antioxidants and the chocolate and the almonds, which have a lot of health attributes, I feel like I'm going to live forever just eating three of those every morning.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, lucky you. You've teamed up with several other local companies to create some really unique products. So tell us about some of those collaborations.
René Bollier:
Local collaborations are exceptionally important to us and to me, as well. I think it's really fun to work with other businesses, other entrepRenéurs who are really doing unique products and really have passion behind those products. When J. Rieger & Co. were first starting out, I had the pleasure of doing a panel discussion with Ryan Maybee about chocolate and whiskey, and did that at the World War I Museum. It revolved around the fact that those two items were given to the troops as they were going out, and they invited us to come and talk about whiskey and chocolate. And got to meet Andy Rieger at that event, and really enjoyed both of them. So collaborated with them to create a caramel whiskey sauce to put over ice cream, or apple pies it's delicious on, and then created multiple other products along with them. Have just had a lot of fun working with them. But then a variety of different ice cream stores within the Kansas City area, Betty Rae's and Summer Salt and French Custard we've gotten to work with. And then we've done some savory things, but it's just really enjoyable to try to promote other local businesses and help them find success as we have success as well with them.
Kelly Scanlon:
Your family's had a long-time connection to the Kansas City Arts community, and perhaps that's not a surprise you're tied to the art community given the artistry of your chocolates. Why have the arts been so important to your family? I believe when your grandfather died, for example, some of the local artists even made some things that were dedicated just to him.
René Bollier:
When André's was founded, my grandparents were huge supporters of the arts. They loved music, they loved theater, and I think the artist community within Kansas City were some of the first groups to really get behind what André Bollier and Elsbeth Bollier were doing and gave them a lot of support, as well as we've always had a tremendous amount of artists working for us, people in theater, all kinds of artists. And so it was really important to him to really support the arts within the Kansas City community, and it's one of those things that really does make Kansas City special. The artistry within Kansas City is just tremendous, and I get that from people who come into the Kansas City area, and they're really blown away by the art scene, the food scene within Kansas City, because we aren't a major city, we're not huge, but we do have this strong support for the art community within Kansas City.
Kelly Scanlon:
In 2022, global chocolate consumption was something like seven and a half million tons. That's huge. What do you think accounts for that enduring demand for chocolate? It goes back so long, I think 4,000 years to people in present-day Mexico who started making chocolate that was somewhat, [inaudible 00:14:49] the word somewhat, like it is today. Why do we crave it so much and it endures, whereas there's other flavors that come and go, other confections, other flavors that just don't last?
René Bollier:
Yeah, I think some of it, especially we've seen tremendous growth ourselves over the last three, four decades, is that it is such a unique product. It's so versatile. It is so dynamic in the way it can create pleasure in so many different ways. Whether you love the intense cocoa notes that a really high cocoa content dark gives you, or the rich flavors that a beautiful milk provides, it really can give and does give so many different people who have different wants and desires when it comes to confections, it meets everyone's needs. We at André's, we used five tons of chocolate last year and having trouble meeting demand. And I do think that from a national perspective, we're in a really unique place because people can have the ability more so than ever before to search out very smaller, unique brands like André's, and then they can get it online.
We were just recently looking, our online sales through the pandemic jumped almost 500%, which is tremendous and tough to navigate. But I think the demand for chocolate is something that doesn't... I hate to say it's recession proof, because I don't know if anything is totally, but I think those small pleasures that things like chocolate can give you are something that people will continue to splurge on. It's a beautiful gift to give to a loved one. It's a beautiful gift to give to yourself. And I think the really high-end chocolate has just become something that people really embrace and are willing to spend some of their disposable income on.
Kelly Scanlon:
What's the most popular time of year to buy chocolate?
René Bollier:
Oh, the most popular time of year, there are four major holidays for us. Mother's Day is extremely important, really big. Valentine's obviously is a huge one for us. I wish it wasn't so last minute, but it usually is. Easter is exceptionally important for us, but nothing compares to what we deem the holiday season. And that's really the months of November and December. 40% of our annual sales come from the month of November and December. It's just all-encompassing. Between corporate gifts and online sales and wholesale sales and retail sales, it's overwhelming at times. So that really is the biggest time for us.
Kelly Scanlon:
What's on the horizon, René? You and your wife Nancy, are the third generation to lead André's, you've been doing that now for about 20 years, I believe. What can we expect to see as you lead André's into the future?
René Bollier:
Our biggest push right now is towards national growth. We are so appreciative and conscious of our local sales and our local customers, and we will always really pride ourselves in being a Kansas City company, which is a testament to Kansas City. That was something that we never really used to talk too much about, just strictly because a lot of the larger people within the specialty market, the specialty food market didn't take you as seriously when they heard you were from the Midwest. But now it's a selling point. We really promote the fact that we are from Kansas City, so we will continue to be a Kansas City company that prides itself in supporting the Kansas City community. But then we also have this phenomenal opportunity to take our products through other retailers on a national scale. And that's really what we're looking to right now. Never sacrificing quality. That is paramount to us. We never want to lose sight of what my grandparents and my parents and my aunt and uncle have created, but at the same time, we do see this tremendous opportunity to bring what we're doing to other people outside of the Kansas City area. And that's really exciting to have that opportunity and be able to go on that journey. And especially to do it with my wife, which makes it exciting.
Kelly Scanlon:
It absolutely does. And we are so glad that your grandparents chose Kansas City to immigrate to as they left Switzerland to follow their dream of having a Swiss chocolate business. We wish you the best of luck with your expansion international, and thank you so much for being on the show today.
René Bollier:
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to René Bollier for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. In an age where faster and flashier often drive business, André's Chocolates continues to demonstrate that sticking to basics is the recipe for lasting success. In a chocolate shop where candies are still handmade, there are no shortcuts, but there's plenty of passion for their craft. Ambitious ideas and industrious work ethic, and getting out from behind the counter to meet the community have steered three generations of Bolliers from Switzerland to Kansas City. As René said, André's doesn't shy away from innovation. They'll continue to introduce new products and serve new people in new places, but they'll never sacrifice quality to do so. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank member FDIC.