Hatching A Sweet Deal
Valentine’s Day is a busy time at Hatch Family Chocolates: from February 12th to February 14th, the store is inundated with customers.
“We feel that our product is a perfect way to show the people you love that they’re special,” said Stephen Hatch, who co-owns and runs Hatch Family Chocolates with his former wife, Kate Masterson.
“Valentine’s Day is kind of the procrastinator’s holiday,” adds Masterson.” It’s like everyone says “Oh, is it Valentine’s Day already?”
Many people come in desperate for last minute gifts.
“You can’t go wrong with the boxes of assorted chocolates” says Masterson.
Other special items for Valentine’s Day include balloons with stuffed animals inside, along with a box of chocolates, and even rose-flavored ice cream.
“It’s just what it sounds like: ice cream with rose flavoring” says Stephen, sheepishly admitting that he hasn’t worked up the courage to try it himself. “One of our employees likes to say that it tastes like your grandmother would smell.”
Hatch Family Chocolates is in the business of selling happiness. “What we tried to do and what Kate’s family does with their restaurants is to provide an environment just to come and to forget all your worries and to just be happy,” said Hatch. “What we’re really trying to sell is that happiness and to make you forget everything else.
Hatch and Masterson shot to fame in the TLC show “The Little Chocolatiers.”
“TLC actually approached us and wanted to do a show on our chocolate shop. Kate and I said, no way, we didn’t want to do it, we didn’t like all the stereotypes,” Hatch said.
They ended up doing the show, but with the fame came troubles. Their marriage ended, and the business was threatened with foreclosure.
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“I always wanted children, Kate never did, and she always told me that, and in my naiveté and perhaps stupidity just thought she would change. And I really didn’t think that was fair and dealing with that and just barely keeping our doors open, nearly losing everything. Sometimes it’s really hard to talk with people and sometimes it’s hard to put on a happy face. The bottom line is it isn’t my shop and it isn’t Kate’s shop, it’s our shop.”
Hatch Family Chocolates opened in the Avenues in 2003 to ensure that the family’s strong tradition of candy making survived and is passed on to many more generations to come.
In 2010, the dessert restaurant moved from its 4th Avenue location to its current storefront on 376 8th Avenue Unit A. The location provides a storefront upstairs, as well as a 5,000-square-foot kitchen area below.
