Business: Le Chocolat du Bouchard
Address: 127 S. Washington St., Naperville
Phone/website: 630-355-5720; www.lechocolatdubouchard.com
Owner: Cathy Bouchard, 74, of Naperville
Years in business: 18
What does your business do? “We were the first chocolate lounge in America that we are aware of. Everybody would come in and say, ‘What a wonderful concept.’ … I was building a dessert shop. Nobody was doing that. … It just kept growing. … We’re a bistro, a party shop, tea shop and a chocolate shop with an espresso bar. … The best carrot cake you will ever eat. … Our chef is Walter Picado,” Bouchard said.
What’s the background? “Back in the 1990s I was basically at the end. Debilitated. Bedridden. Praying to die. I had been happy, healthy, active. … I lost my (first) husband to cancer and never painted again, but I was a famous artist, distributed to over 50 countries around the world. My artwork was on TV shows, in movies. … Two years later, my friends said, ‘You’ve got to do something.’ … I started designing bridal gowns (for) 16, 17 years.”
How did you discover cacao? “I was so sick. Fibromyalgia. There was no quality of life. … I’d always been a reader. Egyptology led me to the Mayan and Aztec pyramids. … That led me into the Mayans and Aztecs being cultivators of cacao. … The more I looked, you couldn’t find anything at bookstores about cacao. Nothing other than baking books. … Nobody was talking about gourmet chocolate. … I read how the king of France was given doses of ‘chocolat’ to help his health problems.
“Over umpteen years, I’ve given over 350 seminars (about cacao) on cruise ships, at foundations, (to) doctors, nurses, dentists, (at) nutrition places, wellness centers. My story went national in 2004 (when) I built the first chocolate store in a different location. We could not do all the stuff we wanted there.”
What should people know? “Don’t let them spell check this article. It’s not cocoa. It’s c-a-c-a-o. … Cocoa comes from cacao. Spell check will change it to cocoa. … I hate seeing that in an article because it makes me look like I don’t know what I’m talking about. … I’ve been taking cacao since 2001. Twenty-four years now. I have a piece every day. … Chocolate will last hundreds of years. It doesn’t go bad. … They found chocolate in an 800-year tomb and made hot chocolate out of it. … Cacao is 10% of our sales.”
There are health benefits from eating cacao? “My eyes have improved. Right now, I have no glasses or contacts. My optometrist has talked to his associates. My eyes have improved five times that we’re aware of. … He said he never had anybody whose vision improved. He said its unheard of. … Other than a bout of pneumonia two years ago, I haven’t had one single sick day in 24 years.”
Why is dark chocolate popular? “Because everyone knows it’s healthy. Now I can’t buy enough of the stuff. … You have to get chocolate from Europe and it has to be 70% cacao. … I know tons of people who lose weight, get off their meds.”
What do you like about your job? “When someone gives me a hug and says, ‘This changed my life,’ that’s all that matters. … The whole reason I got into it was to become the ultimate authority on chocolate and cacao in America. This is something people should be eating every day of their life. One ounce.”
How many employees? “We have 30.”
What about competition? “Mars tried to do a chocolate lounge. I was a mile away. They were out of business in two years. Closed 11 stores in the Chicago area.”
Any future plans? “I’m writing a book — hopefully, it will be out next year — about the whole journey, my entire story. … We may be opening a couple stores in Vegas.”
Is business good? “It’s been a hit from day one. … I had to turn away 187 parties last year.”
When are you busiest? “Friday and Saturday. Sunday, we get a nice crowd. We are closed on Monday.”
What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “Be prepared to sacrifice. Something in your life is going to give. You’ve got to give up time, give up vacations. It’s seven days a week, 365 days a year. But when you love what you do, it’s OK. … You will be so torn sometimes. That’s the roughest part. … I try to keep Sundays open, take my mom out to dinner.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun. If you know of a business you’d like to see profiled in Down to Business, contact him at metschmsfl@yahoo.com.
