Cowgirl Chocolates
Statement of the Facts
Cowgirl chocolates was started by a woman, name Marilyn Lysohir, who was a ceramicist and lecturer. Her husband, a sculptor and professor, helped her get this business off the ground. They both worked on a magazine, High Ground, and had to find creative ways to find funding for it. They turned to chocolate because of Marilyn's love for the treat and she worked at a candy store when she was growing up. The idea of spicy chocolate was her thinking of health in chili and cayenne pepper and her brother had the idea of combining them. After testing out her recipes on her friends, she found a local candy company to make them in larger quantities.
There are different varieties of this spicy-sweet combination, as individually wrapped truffles, chocolate bars, and a dessert caramel sauce. Marilyn decided to set her chocolates apart as a status with different packaging. Her chocolate came in gift boxes, collectible tins, and in muslin bags with drawstrings. The variety of flavors it came in were plain chocolate, mint, orange, lime tequila, and espresso. She also decided to bring in a mild chocolate, to be able to get her brand on store shelves. She had done her research in the field of looking through the spicy food industry which indicated that only "15% of American consumers were currently eating hot and spicy foods and men were much more inclined to eat hot and spicy foods than were women."
Seattle Chocolates produced her Cowgirl Chocolates with their European-style chocolate wrapped elegantly for gifts; which had private labels for upscale stores such as Nordstrom and Nieman Marcus. They took Cowgirl on because they were very interested in the idea and wante ...