Chocolatey success

By Danielle Gagnier

A Windsor entrepreneur is selling one-of-a-kind chocolate and sharing his profits with the hungry.

Johnny Oran, the co-owner of Licia Ruby Food Company, creates unique and “highly addictive” chocolate bars. His homemade, roasted white chocolate bars are hand crafted, hand wrapped and hand delivered by Oran himself.

Oran started as an aspiring chef who wanted to start his own catering business. He began working with his friend Merja Avena, owner of Dressed by an Olive restaurant, cooking foods for the tasting parties they host.

“He was working out of the same plaza as we were at our previous location and he would pop in and introduce himself,” said Avena. “His thinking is outside the box when it comes to food so we wanted someone like that to be creative. Our ideas were always on the same path so it just seems fitting that Licia Ruby is made from our kitchen as well as Johnny selling chocolate out of our store.”

Although he still caters small dinner parties, Oran has put his catering business aside for now so he can perfect his white chocolate roasting technique to ensure his customers are getting good quality chocolate. His chocolates do not contain any preservatives, which is why he is keeping the company small for the time being.

“It’s not something we just want to ship out in huge amounts and let them sit there,” he said. “We want to keep it small and we want to keep the bars fresh.”

The bars are made with high quality white chocolate and a hint of sea salt. It has a distinct and unique taste due to the fact the chocolate caramelizes as he roasts it creating a flavour similar to toffee. Avena said she has never tasted anything like it.

“The chocolate is really unique,” she said. “I’m not a fan of white chocolate, but the taste, the caramelization and the texture just give it another element.”

Oran started the company with his wife Elise in August 2015. The couple wanted to find a way to make a living while making the changes they want to see in the world. Their motto is “be the change you wish to see” which is why for every chocolate bar they sell, they share one dollar with Action Against Hunger to provide one packet of lifesaving food to a child in need and help provide their community with clean water.

“The more success we have, the more we can contribute to our charity that we’re working with and the more change we can make,” said Oran.

Oran said he wants to expand the company in the future and has already begun experimenting with different flavours of chocolate to provide his customers with a wide variety of choices. Avena hopes to continue working with Oran and use some of her products in his chocolate.

“We hope to incorporate our olive oils and balsamics into his recipe to give it another dimension and another flavour, something new for the customers that they can feel good about buying.”

Oran said his end goal is to get his chocolate in small stores across Canada, but he is not ready to start selling outside of Windsor yet.

“If it was successful enough in Canada and I had the chance to grow, I would definitely consider selling it worldwide, but that’s a huge step,” he said.

Oran currently sells his chocolate bars at three restaurants in the Windsor-Tecumseh area including The Little White Baking Company, Robbie’s Gourmet Sausage Company and Dressed by an Olive.