Latest / Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast / Ethel M Chocolates Shares Their Legacy | 334

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Ethel M Chocolates Shares Their Legacy | 334 · Hey BigHead: The Vegas Local Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Julie, being that you are a new found Vegas local, I don't think you've been to all the hotspots when it comes to the sweets here in Vegas, have you?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_04: I haven't, which is a surprise given how much I love dessert and anything that I can just savor.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: You do love your dessert.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, most people in Vegas they they've heard of Ethelim as the chocolate factory with the cactus garden.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: I that's how I found out about them too.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: I was going to the cactus garden and trying their uh their uh tasting menu there.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: But the story is so much more interesting than that.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna dive into this, not necessarily just you and I, because we have some incredible guests with us today.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: We have Lisa Vanderson, the creative and PR director, and Mark Mackey, the chief chocolateier for FLM.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: Lisa and Mark, welcome to the show.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for being here.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: This is this is so much fun.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: I listen, I'm I get very excited for every guest that we have on, but I can see uh Julie's off camera right now, but I can see her drooling because she's checking out those boxes of chocolates that you got us uh that we're gonna taste later on.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm very excited for it.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, really excited to share them with you.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, absolutely.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um so let's dive into the story a little bit, uh, the the origin story if that's all right.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of people know MMs like in Snickers and Milky Way in Mars, but I don't think enough people know that Ethel M is connected, the family is connected to that.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Is that right?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Ethel M, the M stands for Mars, and people so a lot of times just it goes right over their head.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: But back in 1911, so a little bit of a history lesson, Frank C.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Mars started making buttercream chocolates in his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: And his wife Ethel walked door to door to sell them.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how the company got started, the Mars Incorporated Company.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it goes back quite a ways.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: So Forrest Mars, Sr., you already built this candy company.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: So how did he go from building that to where Ethel M is?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, so if I keep on with my history lesson, and this kind of epipo with, you know, our our big anniversary coming up for the country.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, uh Forrest Sr.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: was his son, and they in 1923 came up with the Milky Way, sold it for five cents in 1923, and it was not named after the solar system, it was named after the drink that you would get, like a shake, right?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: And it was delicious and everyone loved it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the two gentlemen went on, Forrest uh, I'm sorry, yes, Forrest Mars Sr.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: moved over to England and he saw um some little candies that weren't melting in hands being made, and he decided that he was going to make the MMs.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that is what we know today as you know, melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: He created the MM, he moved back to the States.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, those were used in the war in World War II.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: It was rations for the soldiers.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then when he retired in the states, he got bored, moved out to Vegas, heard we had loose liquor laws, and decided to open up the factory that we still have today, which is so incredible, and that cactus garden that everyone enjoys.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: He lived upstairs and he had a little dog, Susie, and he would walk the grounds every day and show the associates how to make chocolates the way his father did back in Tacoma, Washington.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a pretty cool story.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: It comes full circle.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: How many times have you told that story?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, a lot.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: You've got it nailed down.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that was 1981, that was 45 years ago.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I I we were talking about this earlier.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people in Las Vegas don't know that we exist, which just kills me because we've been a staple of the community and we're so proud to be here.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: Blows my mind.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: How long have you been with the company?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've been here eight years.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: How did they find you?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, so it's a little bit of a little bit of a sorted past.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually was with Wrigley in Chicago many, many years ago.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if you you know follow the news.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Mars bought Wrigley back in like 2008.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So there was a little bit of a family tie there.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it was a natural connection just to join the group and get back into the family.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: Is it true they named Ethel?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Ethel was the name of the mother?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Forrest Mother.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Forrest Mother.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: And the we have a box.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think we brought that one today.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's called our classic collection.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it is the 16 original recipes.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's round, it's a beautiful box in the shape of a hat box.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: So sort of an homage back to those days when his mother was around.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it's all true.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: And you can see a lot of the history if you come out.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we've got signage in the store, we have videos.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: You can see even traces of forrest throughout the garden, too, because that garden started very, very small back in 1981.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: If you see pictures, you would die.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: And now it's huge and just you know a staple in the community that people love to come out and check out.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Do you feel like Forrest started Ethylm with the intention of showing that he could do it?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: Or was it was there more behind for the reason of why he started Ethel M?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I I d maybe.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think he proved himself, right, with the MMs.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think he literally the story we heard is that he got bored and wanted to do something different and you know took a lot of pride in it.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's also, um, actually, I hope there's no children listening.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: The man who plays Santa on site at Christmas, he used to work in the factory.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, no, he still tells stories of how Forrest would come down every day and he had two newspapers, one for the staff to read at the lunch hour and one for him and Susie to take upstairs and read.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but no, I think it was just a family pride thing, and he wanted to do that one last uh premium box chocolate in honor of his mother.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: I can assure you that there better not be any children listening to the show.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: Otherwise, otherwise we're gonna have to have some discussions.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um What do you feel?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because so how long has Forrest not been involved with Ethelim right now?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good question.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't I don't know the exact date, but um he ended up selling the Ethyl M part of the company to the Mars corporate company.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: Do you feel like there's still his fingerprints are still on EthylM?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like and then you walk through the factory or anything?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: There's even rumors, there's even like ghost stories sometimes.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: Ghost stories.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we're like, oh, Forrest is here.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's that's all in jest.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I think so.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: We actually, well, we're at our 45th year.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, five years ago, we had a big 40th reunion or you know, anniversary party, and a lot of the folks that worked with Forest came back for it.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: The landscaper who designed the garden.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, um, I think he's still alive, he came back for it.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's awesome.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the, not a lot, a few of the men that worked the machinery with him.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: I know Mark, you know very well a lot of that machinery is some of the original stuff, right?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: From back in 1981.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: So absolutely, he's um still around.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: And he uh he lived like in the just just above the factory, or is that true?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: He lived right upstairs.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: You can actually see his patio still if you're down in the garden.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and all of that, for the most part, has been taken over by conference rooms now.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're lucky and you know someone to give you a private tour, you can see his bathroom with like the gold lame and the wallpaper and the eight-track cassette tape.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's so funny.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: How often do you go in there?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, not very.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: I think when you first start, it's pretty interesting and you want to go up there, but then in 110 degree weather, you don't really want to walk across that parking lot to see it.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's so funny.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I I know a lot of this you tell in the the the the tour that that you get that people go to.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't want to share too much without you know spoiling a little bit.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: But I always thought the this this there's so much history behind it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: And there's so much more than just chocolates, right?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: Which I I'm so fascinated by.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I love that there's you guys have built a true experience of of uh you know uh almost like a time timeline of how it got started to where it is today and like the the gradual growth of it, um, which is just so intriguing to me.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um why did you why was Henderson chose as the location?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I think back in 1980 or 79, I think, is when they broke ground, there was probably land available.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think Howard Hughes probably had a hold on the other side of the valley and Forrest probably saw you know all that land available.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: I will say I give him a ton of credit for having the foresight to buy as much as he did.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you know also, we have a four-acre uh solar field in the back.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: So our garden is partially powered by sunlight uh during peak season, which is nice.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he also bought all that land for the factory and then the garden.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm guessing he just saw you know an opportunity out there, and like I said, it wasn't the other side, and he decided to settle over in Henderson.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: If Forrest walked in today, what would you think he'd be most proud of?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: I I think just that we all take such pride in the company.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I sort of feel like I'm a Mars member, but I'm not.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we do like we all take such pride and we're so proud to work there.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I moved here from Chicago and people ask where I work, I was thrilled to tell people because a lot of people do know where, you know, like, oh, Ethel M, we know that from when we were kids and we took you know field trips or whatever.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I think he would love that we're all still so proud and that you know, Mark is still continuing on with the original recipes, but then he's also iterating and bringing innovation to the to the experience, like you said, because we all have to evolve with the times or we're gonna die.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, right?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's still the handmade aspect of it, right?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So nowadays, you know, especially with Mars, you know, there's a lot of automation with other products.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, our truffles are still handmade.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: We airbrush like the actual molds with colored cocoa butter, as you'll show you'll you'll see a little bit later.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, but there's still that like handmade like artistry that applies even today, which you know, even with the best machinery, you can't replicate a human hand.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's uh yeah, it's that little extra special touch that I think makes our chocolates a lot different than than others.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why you're the chief chocolatier because you notice those small details like that.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yeah.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: What a fantastic title.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: I if if I was a chief chocolatier, everywhere I would go, I would say my name and my title.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't matter where where I am.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's interesting, like so.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: My background, like originally, you know, I wanted to be a chef, like went to culinary school, and you know, when you're in school, you're kind of taught it's like, no, you're not a chef.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Even with the most like accreditations and experience, it's like no, I am a cook.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, even you know, some of the world's top chefs, it's like they sometimes kind of cringe when you say that because it's it's just you know, we're we're just here because we love this.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're we're we're passionate about food, we're passionate about what we're creating.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the title is kind of just you know secondary.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's just kind of exactly.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: Did you so when did you I mean you obviously uh wanted to be in the culinary industry?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: At what point were you like, okay, now I'm honed in on the chocolate side of things?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it was really by chance.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I grew up in outside of Seattle, Washington, and you know, from a very early age knew that I wanted to be involved with food, like watching, you know, Graham Care, Julia Child, um Emerald.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on like public, you know, at the time I think she was doing a show with Jacques Papin on public PBS, and I was just like enamored, like I could not take my eyes like off the TV and like watching them prepare food and creating you know dishes that excited other people.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like I loved that.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, worked at an Italian restaurant um down the street, washed dishes for many months, kind of moved up through the ranks and quickly, you know, discuss you know, decided to say, I need to go to culinary school.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be, I want to be a chef, I want to be a cook, I want to do this, and went to Culinary Institute of America out in Hyde Park, New York.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the time, and still today, I think it's a very highly regarded, you know, university um for culinary and pastry, and graduated, you know, not still not really knowing exactly what I wanted to do.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to try to own a restaurant, do I want to, you know, go and work for like the food network and try to be like the next Emerald or something?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, and I fell into chocolate really by chance.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was planning to go back to school to Cornell um to finish my degree, um, master's in um hotel and restaurant management.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And there was like a six-month lag um between graduating and when the next program started.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw this internship pop up at Mars.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, at the time it was called Master Foods USA in New Jersey.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know, that'll be something kind of different, yeah.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of cool, you know, kind of taking the science and kind of blending it with a little bit of the culinary artistry.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I was like, oh, this will be kind of fun, you know, 18-week internship.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's give it a shot.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I inter interviewed, they asked me to come and intern.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the interview, interview went well, obviously.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um and very quickly, I was just like really just shocked at not just like the technical skill that is required, but how difficult and complex chocolate is.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I it it's it's one of those things, it's like even if you do everything perfectly, it can st you can still mess it up.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, depending on the environmental conditions, the humidity, you know, all of these things, it's it's just like, and that that constant like challenge and complexity is just like keeps me going, keeps me like engaged.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, quickly, you know, kind of fell in love with that and have luckily been able to find roles within Mars um that have been able to kind of allow me to be creative, yeah, and also you know, still maintain somewhat of a of a normal, you know, or I would say stable work-life balance, right?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well said in restaurants sometimes, you know, it can get a little galactic.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, for sure.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: In the on the FLM side, on the culinary side, how many people would you say are above you in terms of the decision making of what product gets put out there?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: At FLM, I mean, I'm really, I would say the head as far as RD.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my manager and our sales and marketing director kind of have the final say um with a lot of those decisions, but I would say a lot of it rests with me, I think.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we get very excited when Mark walks out with this white box because we know we all get the taste test.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: And just like you're gonna laugh, but just like wine, there's a spit cup because sometimes we have to taste so much.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, What about this lemon or this lemon?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: And we're like, oh my god, you know, you didn't know that so much goes into it, but at some point you get tired of eating it, so you're like, you know, but yeah, it's a real thing, yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's amazing with it all.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's yeah, because you're you know, you're trying to get like this balance of let's say something that's very strong, something like lemon, right?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or or another sour fruit, you know, you want to balance that with the chocolate with like another texture or ingredient, you know, any one of those things could be out of balance, which could throw the whole piece off.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so to get that right, you have to try, you know, at like eight to twelve different, you know, iterations of that same piece.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: So how many products do you think would you say under your reign of being the chief chocolatier uh you've put out or created?
• 14:35
  unknown: Oh gosh.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: Hundreds.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, over the last so I've been with FLM just about 10, a little over 10 years.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Individual pieces, I mean, yeah, I want to say at least like 50 probably more.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's correct.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you're considering like we do a lot of limited limited releases too or like tests and things, so um, yeah.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh sorry, go ahead.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was just it's it's it's it may not sound like it, but you know, if you think about like everything that goes into like one piece, right?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: And all of the ingredients and you know, from there, all of the like item setup side of it, you know, and making sure that everybody in the factory is following the recipe, you know, and and making it and able to repeat that and be consistent, you know, time after time is where a lot of the work comes in.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because it's it's anytime you have a like a handcrafted piece like we do, right?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you adjust the the setting on like the spray gun a little bit, right, you could have a very different effect, right?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Which might be nice, but it may not be what we're looking for.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so trying to make sure that we hone all that in is really, really important as well.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: How long does it take to go from uh not necessarily inventing a new piece, but making a piece from scratch for to the person eating it?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: How long does that process take?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, from the kitchen, like you know, typically when we think about creating like a new piece, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like we'll think about what are you know interesting and unique flavors, like what are the things that are trending, you know, what if some of us have gone like on vacation overseas, like what are they doing overseas in China or Japan, right?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'll come up with a concept, you know, we might create something in the kitchen, present it to you know, our leadership team.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: It may not be you know something that's for that next season, or it could be something that we're developing for the future.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I would say from when they approve that, you know, we could be potentially on the shelf, I would say maybe six months.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of depending on how complex the pieces and the packaging, if we're gonna develop brand new box for it, right?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or a new tray or something.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the lead times there can be a little longer.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's something limited that we're just launching and kind of testing, you know, six months or less.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: Which by the way is amazing.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for real.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like if you were to look at the larger company to get a new MM out or something, it's gonna probably take a lot longer than that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: So kudos to Mark and the team.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, everyone's very nimble and they turn it around.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you're talking to chefs.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're small and scrappy.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Probably are that probably that timeline.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're talking to like a chef, right, like a restaurant, it's probably like, oh my gosh, it takes you that long.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: But like for us, it's you know, I think, yeah, if you're looking at like a new flavor of Snickers, they're probably like three to four years out, yeah.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: Minimum internationally, where do you say your inspiration comes from with your chocolate cuisine?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: It honestly will depend on where I go on vacation.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of times.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's in love with Japan.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I do like I love it.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we launched, actually, we have some samples here.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: We did a um, so I went to Japan a couple years ago and had my first had, you know, there's uh Japanese citrus, so there's obviously Yuzu, which is kind of like a combination of lemon and lime.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's also one that I really fell in love with called Sudachi.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it's a little bit, it's it's like lemon, um, not quite as I want to say, like tart in your face, but it has a lot more floral notes, which I think are make it a lot like more exciting of a flavor than lemon, although lemon's great.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we actually paired that with a mixed berry like cream in a truffle.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there's two layers there's a sudachi layer and a mixed berry layer.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way that you eat it and when it melts, the sudachi melts first, you taste that, and then the berries come in.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really exciting.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I it's one of my favorite pieces, I think, that we developed over the last year.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: But I could listen to you talk about chocolate all day long, by the way.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's very gets into like ingredients, sometimes it's like a foreign language.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I don't know what that is.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's fun.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at the end of the day, it's like, you know, going into the kitchen, like, how can you not like?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, your taste is chocolate, like right.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Elisa said, like to her point, you know, it's like, yeah, sometimes for tasting 12 or 15 iterations of something can be a little bit too much.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, at the end of the day, it's like, yeah, like I'm creating something that's gonna make somebody smile.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's so cool.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: Is there a flavor that you've tried to make work that hasn't worked?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: That you're just it's it's like your your Moby Dick.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yes.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, so you know, I mean, any great success I found, like you have to fail, right?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to come out with ideas, like, oh, this is gonna be the next best thing.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've had plenty of those, and they just haven't taken off the work.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: One of them I think was, you know, several years ago I had this crazy idea.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, the chocolate-covered raisin is so like commoditized, right?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows about chocolate-covered raisins, and how could we take that concept and elevate it?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a company that was selling um dried wine grapes, so Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay wine grapes, right?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a really nice, like elevated raisin, essentially, right?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: That and I was thinking, like, oh, we could take that, we could chocolate coat it, and it would be like, you know, elevating that experience and something really cool, right?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: People know chocolate and wine, great pairing um and flavor combinations there.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I got these wine grapes in, you know, spent a bunch of time.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's called panning.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd have like a it's almost like a cement mixer on its side, okay, and it's and it kind of rotates.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so you put whatever you want in there.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: So chocolate-covered almonds are made this way.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you put like, let's say, my almonds in there, I'll put my grapes in there.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: You put a small amount of chocolate in.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: As that pan rotates, um, that center will become coated evenly with chocolate.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're building up basically very, very thin layers, layer after layer, until you have your final in panned piece, right?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I had these these grapes that we, these dried wine grapes brought in, and we I panned them up.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And what I failed to realize was like, you know, they're not like these wine grapes are not like they are like raisins, but there's one very important difference, and that is seeds.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: So these wine grapes, although they were delicious, they had all these little seeds in them.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so people, I think, when we started doing some small consumer testing in focus groups, yeah, it was just people didn't like them.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like spit in your mouth.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're so close.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: You were so close.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, how cool would that be?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: But we did go forward with them, didn't we?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: We we tested them one season.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, one season because I remember I was like, How do we market this?
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so funny.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's this like pruny little thing covered in chocolate and has that has seeds in it.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it was a one and done.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: The one that I was thinking of, but actually it was really delicious.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: It just didn't resonate with audiences.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we went live with it, was uh lemon blueberry.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it was well, I can't remember.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: So we are a little insider info.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: I like it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we're still kind of making this.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: It was delicious.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like in the summertime, it was refreshing, you know, but it just didn't, I don't know.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: With that one, so one of our best-selling pieces is our dark chocolate lemon satin cream, right?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you have this like tart lemon center, um, you know, molded inside of dark chocolate.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's really interesting and neat because you have this tart lemon center, and then the dark chocolate will melt and kind of cuts that sweetness and that sourness, and it introduces some earthy notes, some bitterness, which when it kind of rounds out on your palate, it's this amazing.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Experience.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: It tastes like you're eating a one-bite dessert or a two-bite, you know, plated dessert.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so on that note, I was like, oh, that'd be great if we created like, you know, like a line extension of kind of different pieces based off of the lemon.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I was thinking lemon blueberry.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, in my head, I was like, okay, we'll blend these together and and put them inside of a piece.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was good, but I think the part that didn't click and and actually did later on was that um in blending them together, it kind of also blended the flavors.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: So although you could taste the blueberry and the lemon, it wasn't as exciting exciting of an experience as if it would be when they were separated.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So fast forward two years, we started developing truffles with two centers.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll have you know, a orange and cream, for example, so a mandarin orange and like a vanilla ganache layer.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: When you separate the flavors that way in on your palate, they melt differently.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so that experience now becomes so much more exciting because the flavors are kind of you know bobbing and weaving, and it's not just like a homogeneous thing.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm I say it now because we're actually doing that.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: We've kind of split those into some new truffles, so splitting the lemon, splitting the blueberry into a new piece that I think is gonna be a better like 2.0 version.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's so funny.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: We had we've had like Chef James Trees on, who has you know uh definitely world world-renowned and incredible local chef, a lot of local restaurants.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: Hearing you talk about chocolates and the detail and the passion that I can tell are is the same way that Chef talks about any of his menu items when he was talking about it.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it's so interesting to see how, even if it's a different industry, um, you know, it's not necessarily culinary, but like you know, Jonathan Jostle, the CEO of the plaza, you know, the the detail, the attention to detail and the the passion and the small little things that when they discuss what makes them different or how they got to where they are, I see that so much.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: And in both of you, you both are a phenomenal representation of FLM.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: Whoever's at raises at the top, yes, have them come to me.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'll recommend raises, I'll recommend whatever it is.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: You need keys to the city.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: You both got it, because you you both do such a great job at representing the company, um, which is phenom phenomenal.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited the two of you are here.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like like I guess it's like I think you're you hit the nail on the head.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you're not passionate about what you do, it's like it becomes evident, right?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like you're not gonna want to put in the extra hours and the extra effort to really like perfect what you're doing unless you really love it.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: Very true.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's and I think you see that in in all aspects of ethylm.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you've been to the store.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when you walk in, you're greeted right away.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: We all know the world's a different place than it was, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, sometimes you walk into a restaurant, people don't even make eye contact with you, they don't say, hi, hi, what can I do for you?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: We are so that's one of the key things when we interview for our retail associates.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's how do you interact with people and can you talk to them and can you make them feel comfortable?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like it is a luxury experience, and we all take great pride in it from all the way at the top to you know, all of us that work the day shift at the top.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: So, Lisa, then when you're telling the story about the history and the origin and where it is today, I I know you anybody can read off a script, but what's important for you to really emphasize or or convey when you're sharing the story of where they were or where they are today?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of it's that we're a family-owned company and we still are.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you're aware of this, but Mars is still a privately owned company, um, which gives them the flexibility to do a lot of things that companies that are looking at the street can't do.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: I will say with pride that when COVID happened, we all maintained our jobs.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: No one was let go.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we all did different things.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: There were times that I had to get my food handler's card and I had to go work a line in the back.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: It was like that I love Lucy thing, right?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: But the family made sure that uh everyone was well taken care of.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, Ethel M, we call it the jewel in the desert because Ethyl M chocolates, it really is um that premium luxury prized, you know, possession that the family loves because it was started by their grandfather or their father in some cases.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I think we're all just really proud and happy to be a part of it and want to keep that passion alive.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: One more topic, Julie.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: Calm down before we get into the chocolates.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: I know she's no, my stomach's growling.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: I can hear it from here.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta tote it down, Julie.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's foaming at the mouth.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um can you share with us a little bit more about the cactus garden and the the holiday lights?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because the holiday lights are so much fun, but the cactus garden just in general, year-round, is so so beautiful to see.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: And if you have a family or you're with you on date night or whatever, it's just a cool place to check out outside of devouring chocolates, too.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it really is.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's three acres.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh it's called one of the best botanical cactus gardens in the southwest.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: So three acres, over 300 species of plants.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, some of them are not native to Nevada and they've been brought in, but they're still fantastic to see.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're really proud that for the most part, it's free and open to the public most days of the year.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: During the holidays in November and December, we do charge a fee of$3 per person, but half of that goes to two of our partners here in town, local charities: Three Square Food Bank, which I know you guys are aware of, and Help of Southern Nevada.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, one of the things that the Mars family is really big on too is giving back.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: And we all volunteer in the community and we want to.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we also want to be a staple in the community to make sure that folks know uh we're here and that we're supporting.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, in addition to the giving back, the lights turn on in early November.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: There's over a million lights.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, it's three dollars to get in.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Santa's there.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there's a lot of photo ops.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's magical because again, coming from the Midwest, you would always see evergreens decorated.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sure.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Who in the world ever saw cacti decorated?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it's really, really neat.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great experience.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_03: Ethel M can literally do no wrong.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: You guys are just pristine.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know about that.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: You ask anybody, you know.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: But we have signs in the garden that say do not sit on a rock, and then people sit on a rock, and then they call and then they get mad at me.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: What are you gonna say?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's too funny.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's take it, let's take a quick break.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get set up for these chocolates.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: Julie is so excited for this, I can tell.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and we will take a quick break and we'll be right back.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Julie, I think a lot of people think the reason that I have a podcast, when I have musicians on, they think I just want to have my own personal concert, which is very true.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, that's true.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then when we have chefs on or restaurants on or business owners on that that bring food or bring goodies, they just think that I have a podcast just for that amenity as well.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it's also very, very true.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, then fortunately, because Lisa and Mark are our lovely guests from FLM, they have brought us a tremendous amount of chocolate that we get to try live on air.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: And before we dive into it, I know it's hard to see, but we have some video that we'll overlay.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: The presentation on this, Mark is phenomenal.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: What is like we get the American flag here, which looks so delicious.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: Each one of these truffles, you can tell the attention, the detail that goes into them.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, when you're decorating this, do you see the vision before it's actually made?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: Or do you just kind of go as figure it out as you go along?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so a little bit of both.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I will say so about two years ago, we moved to, you know, completely natural colors or colors from natural sources.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in that, the the natural colors themselves, you know, they're just not as vibrant, right?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so they require a lot more care and um in how they're applied and actually have to be layered.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so what you think is gonna come out or what shade you think is gonna come out may not necessarily be exactly what comes out.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a little bit of like mixing and matching um on the end to kind of get the the like kind of the color that we were looking for, um, and then just the effect inside of the box as well.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: Love that.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so can we can we try some of these truffles right now?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, all right.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I am about to grab this yellow one, which I am not sure.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: I think you you mentioned what it was.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's our white chocolate Alfonso mango truffle.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so is there a rule to biting into this?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well, I mean, I would say so.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Normally we would take you through, we'd say, okay, well, you want to, you know, kind of smell it a little bit, right?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_04: Because I've already been smelling mine everything.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Julie's just smelling all the chocolates back there.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Trying to be patient.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of helps to prepare your palate, you know, um, rather than just you know taking a bite, but smelling, you know, kind of thinking about what you're what you're smelling and um what you will be tasting, right?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you should be getting a little bit of floral, some um some sweet dairy notes, maybe a little bit of vanilla, and then take a bite.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: A full bite or one bite?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I would say about half.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Take about, yeah.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: So each truffle's about two bites.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, take a look at the inside.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can see that beautiful white chocolate mango ganache.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Silky smooth, really melts um really nice and like silky smooth on your palate.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you get some of that floral tropical note coming from the mango and some of the creaminess from the white chocolate.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry, I couldn't, I couldn't let you finish.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: I had to take the second bite.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: It was so good.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: So usually that's a great, like, you know, anything white chocolate, we have like a tasting, we'll start off with white chocolate or the white chocolate mango.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's a great kind of just like level setting, not too complex.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, we'll start to kind of go up into milk chocolate, start to talk about and taste caramels, different nuts, and then we'll move into dark.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of like a wine, you know, how you have a wine tasting kind of um stage, the same thing.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: We start off with lighter, kind of fruitier and move to darker, richer, heavier.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, so good.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: Is this the one with with liquor in it?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or is those, no, those are our summer fruit fusions truffles.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the ones, so the blue truffle in the upper or the creme liqueur in the upper left here.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: Part of the American flag.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, tequila, a part of the American experience as well.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: Is it also a two biter?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Have your napkin ready, yep.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that one is a tequila forward uh creme liqueur.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, that's where we always tell people have a napkin ready.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, Mark.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's uh Cazadores um and Yeho tequila in there.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we're using premium spirits in all of our creme liqueurs, and you really taste it.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's definitely not not playing around.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: Funny story, I was at an equestrian vent event um a few years ago, and we were selling our bourbon barrels.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: We call them bourbon, and um that again, it's a actual real bourbon.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: And this lady took a bite and she said, That tastes like real bourbon.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, It is.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: Go figure, yeah.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: So again, I think that's part of you know, when you look at our chocolate, yeah, it's whether it has liquor or not, the ingredients are real and it's not really for children.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's made to savor and enjoy.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can see like the like the swirl right in the truffle um there in the in the back.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: This one, or sorry, in the front, the cream box, right?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: You see kind of the white swirl and some of the um the different effects there.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, literally, we have our artisans, they are taking a paintbrush and they are painting the inside of those cavities.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um the one on the right here?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, nope.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um in the front cream box that you have.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is the cream box?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Go this way.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is the cream box?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, the front cream box you just had.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's colorblind.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, but you can see, no, the one that's on the opposite end there.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, the next one over.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: The white spoon.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, look at that.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: There it is.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: I knew we'd get that.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: My sense of direction is not my other left.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, of course.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: But you can see, like, like that squirrel, we actually have, you know, an artist is painting that with a paintbrush, and then there's a color, um, color cocoa butter that's sprayed behind it to kind of give you that effect.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: So there's actually three different passes that we make just to create that one piece.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you can't you can't replicate that with no even robots, like it's uh, you know, it's it's not doesn't give you the same effect.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you ethylm isn't utilizing AI or anything like that in their I will say when production process when we do inspiration, yeah.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm looking at like, okay, what's trending, right?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: What is, you know, what are the top restaurants doing in Asia and Europe?
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, that's definitely I'm taking a look to see, okay.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, even like looking at what's really cool now about AI is you know, that it's actually looking at food molecules.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: So believe it or not, like a lot of the best pairings within chocolate and food, part of the reason is because they share molecules or they have the same molecule or very similar molecules.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if you look at caviar and white chocolate, you'd be like, what?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like that doesn't make any sense.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look at it, there's actually, and I don't know the exact name, but there is a molecule that they share.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: And believe it or not, those two foods are actually fantastic together.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they work, yeah.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, it's it's you know, and so AI is kind of doing a lot of that work and a lot of those notes and and um um like is basically computing and it's giving you some of these combinations of things to try.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: I will say some of the things that I've I've looked at, I'm like, I don't know that that's gonna work and it didn't it doesn't work, yeah.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's just it's a it's another tool, right?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: The toolbox that helps you kind of assess, like, okay, here's some really interesting, cool things.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let's give it a shot, right?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what's going on and how that you know works with chocolate.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: So about that.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_02: To answer your question, so AI is not making anything in this.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, yes, yes.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing on the production.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: Set the record straight, right?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh on this box over here, what do we have?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: What's the oh those are okay, so those are they're not out yet.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I wanted to share with you just a few things that we're working on for holiday.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: So those that's gonna be our holiday um bakery collection.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: So each of those is a kind of a holiday satin cream that is based on like a holiday cookie or you know, holiday Christmas Hanukkah cookie, things that we're creating kind of with our friends and family in the kitchen.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: We wanted to kind of re-in kind of kind of um reimagine them in in a chocolate form.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure which you had the little spot like a sprinkle line or something.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the um that's a cookie butter.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we take actual speculose cookies and blend those into our satin cream center, and then we add a few on top as well, along with the speculose cookie and the cookie butter are both in that.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you can kind of taste inside like the crunchies.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually the the real cookies.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um we also have a peanut butter cookie, we have a peppermint and a gingerbread as well that I'm really excited about.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's the beginning of July, and I am so excited for the holidays already right now.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Just after tasting that one piece of chocolate, phenomenal.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's isn't it great?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like it kind of like for me, it kind of brings me back to you know making cookies or during the holidays, right?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Home from school and kind of like hanging out with the family and making desserts at home.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_04: I do want to say, I feel like it's it's really rare.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, I'm I'm in my late 20s, but like as I've gotten into adulthood, it's hard to feel like a holiday spirit or something that actually brings back the nostalgia.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: But I tried the same one Andrew did, and it was like, Oh, I'm back home with my family making the holiday cookies that we always made.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: But that was, I mean, I know I've been quiet, but it's because they're so damn good.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_04: All I can think about is that you're gonna be able to do that.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_03: Look at you making us time travel to back in the day with your chocolates.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, I mean, you know, so this was um we had a food scientist that joined us a few years ago um from Clemson University.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: So this was like one of her first big projects, and so uh it's really exciting to kind of see her take, you know, a concept, an idea of something in our kitchen that we were just kind of back and forth playing around with to actually see it into a translated, like finished um finished collection.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: So really excited to cool.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Shout out to Natalie, shout out to Natalie.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: How long did that take Natalie from when she came in and stepped foot into the city?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's funny, so that actually was something I gave her, I think, a prompt.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Hey, you know, we want to create some new interesting holiday themed pieces.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I kind of gave her like a few prompts and she went off and created, you know, kind of something very similar to this.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a year and a half later, we actually brought it back.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: We said, Hey, like, remember those like pieces that you made way back a year and a half ago?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's take those and like kind of move them forward.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's like, you know, refine them, polish them, and turn them into delicious pieces.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we've tested this a few times now.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh yeah, we're like really, really excited about it.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: We think it's gonna be a wonderful, you know, part of our holiday portfolio.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna be your number one buyer by far.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: Either Santa will be too.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_02: I can already see the marketing.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, move over cookie plate.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_03: Sign me up.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, wow, that was that that that blew me away of how good that piece of chocolate was.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like it's right in your face.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's like one thing I think as well that separates us from everybody else is you know, you can taste the freshness of the ingredients and like the crunchiness, right?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to put things in there to hide, you know, chocolate flavors or to make things, you know, something that they're not.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, it's exciting.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it really does translate really nicely.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell you, you've ruined every time I go to the gas station, I get a chocolate bar.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: You've ruined it for me.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to let you know that.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_03: I will never be able to eat a Snickers bar and enjoy it as much anymore because of how delicious these are.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Snickers has its place.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, of course, of course.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: So make sure you're getting when you're getting hangry.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: It has its place, you know, and that's what that's kind of what I mean.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, we are to savor.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: We're not that immediate consumption, like MMs and Snickers, right?
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_02: But they have their place in the world.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, not to I'm gonna get in trouble for sharing spoiling too many secrets.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I'll say, you mentioned Snickers, you know, we are working on, you know, right now, what would an upscale like luxury chocolate bar look like?
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: So think about like a Snickers, like how could we take that?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's made with quality ingredients, right?
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: But how could we take that and like go crazy with it?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: So how could we source, let's say, Argentinian peanuts, right?
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Using like Madagascar bourbon vanilla, um, you know, translating that into like, let's say it's like a luxury Snickers bar, or like a luxury, you know, let's say Milky Way bar, um, or other, you know, candy bars or chocolate bars that folks love.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: How could we take that and really just reinterpret, you know, kind of create something new and different?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: You're speaking my love language right now.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: This is just Snickers bars to the next level.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: I brought you a sample of another one too that you can try.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: So my gosh.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna I'm gonna have a sugar card.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm running back home after this.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: Taking feedback.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love it.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um one last question before we get into this American flag.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: How many, how often do you re-revisit the shelved uh items that you used to sell and maybe don't sell anymore?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like like you did with the the holiday ones.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think, you know, like a lot of you know, I would say innovation sometimes can be like cyclical, right?
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: So like there's something, I mean, I've been working for Mars now for 20 years with FLM for 10, you know, and there are things that I worked on as an intern that I'm like that would be so cool now to like bring back, right?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so I find all the time it's like things that may not have been the right time or the place to launch then might be something now that I want to kind of bring back.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it happens frequently.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, um it's yeah, even just combinations of ingredients and things that I thought might not work out at that, you know, but it happens constantly.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I think those, I mean, like I said, like it's you know, obviously holiday, we always want to have holiday themed pieces and holiday flavors, but um you know, thinking about like okay, well, we've done it this way.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: How can we do that a different way?
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: How could we introduce like a different texture to really like turn that on its head and create a different experience, right?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um so you're always creating, always evolving, always thinking of what else you could do.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly, yeah.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, with chocolate, it's like you know, it's kind of like wine, like you have maybe the same type of cocoa, yeah.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but depending on where it's grown, where around the world it's grown, right?
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: It can have a different flavor profile.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: Some cocoa is more fruity and floral, others more nutty and caramely, others are more earthy, you know.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so figuring out, okay, I want to use this chocolate, this cocoa from here, right?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Combine it with this, with this piece that I'm creating to really give you like that best, you know, experience.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, and it's it's just yeah, it's it's I love the passion behind it.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: I love when you're you're talking about it, you're smiling, which is awesome.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell you something.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: I used to build, I mean, I still do, but when I build websites, I don't smile anymore when I'm talking about websites because I'm so burnt out of them.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: You, sir, are still smiling ear to ear when you're talking about chocolates.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, yeah.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, got it.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then lastly, we have this box here that was designed and presented as an American flag, which is a perfect segue to uh an event that we have coming up.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_03: Lisa, do you mind sharing a little bit more about the sweet celebration?
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: So we are constantly, just like our pieces, evolving our chocolate tastings that we offer in our flagship store in Henderson.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: And in honor of America's 250th coming up, um, we have started what's called sweet celebrations tasting.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_02: And again, going back to the Mars family, there's quite a long history there.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're offering it every Saturday, and we're taking you through chocolate history.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it won't be the pieces in those boxes, but there's that bar on your desk.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_02: We're going to start with the American Heritage chocolate, and it's going to be a drinking chocolate.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: So you're going to drink like George Washington did.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then you're going to move on and you're going to taste a Milky Way, which you can say, I've had that before, but they're going to tell you kind of how Mark said, like how to experience it, what to think about.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um we have red, white, and blue MMs, and then you'll finish off with an ethyl M chocolates piece.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_02: But again, the whole intent is to celebrate not only our country, but what the Mars family has done, and just that that really cool innovation that they brought along along the way and that we all know from our childhood.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's so much fun.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it's every Saturday through August 1st.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think this Saturday sold out.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: Last Saturday was sold out.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's family friendly.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you have to buy tickets for it.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: You do.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we would encourage you to go to ethelm.com, and there's a limited number of seats in our tasting room.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it's at 10 o'clock in the morning, it's about 45 minutes, then you can get on with your day.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh Marsh, Mark, and Lisa, let me tell you something.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: This has been a phenomenal episode.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: I am so excited to devour the rest of these, and I know Julie is as well.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_04: Don't devour them.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_04: Eat them in two bites.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, two bites.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_04: Everybody knows the rules.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, of course.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um where can people other than going to the actual location, where can people learn more about Ethel M?
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so like I said, ethelm.com or Instagram page.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I would say just a quick shout out to all the stores around the valley that we have now.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions about anything we've talked about, stop in.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_02: We have a downtown Summerlin store now, okay, which is right outside of Macy's.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have Town Square, we have the Cal Hotel, we have several at the airport, and of course our flagship store.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: But um, like I said earlier, our associates are always happy to talk about, kind of like Mark, about our chocolate and how we can help you.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like that flag box, that's a custom box.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: We can customize any box for you.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: So come on in and let us help you out.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: What are some other designs you've made?
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember?
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know if you know for the Vegas Golden Knights a few weeks ago?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: I had a forged in gold box.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_02: It was all of our gold liqueur piece.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that was really cool.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: It didn't really bring us good luck, but yeah.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I bet they were well fed at least.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: They were well fed at least.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Lisa and Mark, this was awesome.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for every Vegas local out there that hasn't had a chance, or even if you have had a chance, go back to Ethelm, to any of the stores you have, especially the flagship store in Henderson.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's so much fun because there's so much to do and there's so much to learn.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: And you really do experience chocolate in a different way than just randomly eating it out of a wrapper or a box.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you truly get the full experience.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_03: But yes, thank you so much for coming in.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_03: Julie, do you have any last words before we head on out?
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_04: Not really.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just waiting to eat more chocolate, but thank you for bringing it.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, this is great.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_03: Lisa and Mark, thank you again.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: Catch new episodes each week on heybighead.com.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: I am going to have a major sugar crash, but it's totally worth it because I'm gonna eat as many as I can.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see you next week, everybody.