Wendy and Brandon Buckner’s chocolate boutique, The Hot Chocolatier, should be on every chocolate lover’s list of places to visit in Chattanooga. Together, they have created a contemporary chocolate haven that provides heavenly treats for weddings, events and visitors to their showroom, which has been located at the Business Development Center since December 2008.
The couple has found a creative outlet through their work with chocolate. “I really view this as our artwork – chocolate is our medium now,” Wendy says.
Always a chocolate aficionado, Wendy attended the French Pastry School in Chicago in 2005. She says the school’s intensive program helped solidify her passion for this creative culinary endeavor.
“I realized how many possibilities there are with chocolate – how creative it is to work with,” she says. After graduation, she worked as head chocolatier at a chocolate shop in Ashville, N.C. After moving home to Chattanooga in 2007 – with assistance from the CreateHere SpringBoard program and the Chattanooga Opportunity Fund – she opened The Hot Chocolatier.
While The Hot Chocolatier’s artisan products are beautiful and often tout complex tastes, their ingredients are simple. “We use high quality pure chocolate without any additives,” explains Buckner. “You can get chocolate from all over the world and they can all taste completely different. We find the chocolates we like and create our own blends.”
According to Buckner, The Hot Chocolatier is well-known for its truffles, offering 15 varieties with more to come in the future. “Our most unique truffle is The Hottie: dark chocolate ganache blended with ancho, chipotle and cayenne peppers. It’s an ancient combination of flavors that has a bite to it.”
Another popular chocolate creation is The Conglomeration, a candy bar created by Brandon that contains popcorn, marshmallows, pretzels, cranberries and peanuts, covered in milk chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate.
The Hot Chocolatier also offers barks, coconut macaroons, chocolate-dipped pretzels and fruits, and seasonal molded shapes. Sipping chocolate made from ground chocolate is also popular, according to Buckner.
For weddings, events and parties, Buckner is able to create custom chocolate sculptures for centerpieces. She has also recently added the ability to print company logos and names on custom chocolate creations. “There are endless possibilities in the ways to use chocolate,” extols Buckner.
Buckner says she uses only the freshest ingredients, and she is proud to use ingredients from other Chattanooga companies, including spices from Alchemy Spice, coffee from Chattz Coffee, and honey from Falling Water, Tenn., beekeeper Jim Gifford.
The Hot Chocolatier also prides itself on its contemporary “boutique” approach to selling chocolate. “Throughout our travels, we have visited various chocolate shops,” explains Buckner. “We feel like The Hot Chocolatier brings to Chattanooga all the things we liked from the chocolate stores we have experienced.”
In the end, Buckner most enjoys the response she gets from customers. “Our customers see our chocolates as something really special and comforting – something that makes people happy.”
Please call ahead to visit The Hot Chocolatier at (423) 266-3066 or visit their website for more information at www.thehotchocolatier.com.