Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Lomelin.
Michelle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles in the 1980s, I became a clothing designer/ merchandiser in the fashion industry.
By 2000, the need for a change drew me away from the garment industry and propelled me– aided by the encouragement of my mother, Nancy, who had initially introduced me to chocolate – to pursue a new career as a chocolatier. Realizing that I didn’t have to choose just one career over the course of my lifetime, I embarked on what I call “a new century, a new career, a new life.”
Sweet Petite Confections’ first sales occurred in 2008, with me offering my first collection of chocolate for Valentine’s Day 2009. We moved into a brick-and-mortar location in May 2015, celebrating its Grand Opening the day before Mother’s Day.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The biggest struggle I incurred was learning how to take the ideas on my head and get them into a physical form that tasted wonderful and looked beautiful.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Sweet Petite Confections – what should we know?
We are an artisan confectionery specializing in gourmet chocolate products including bonbons, meltaways, barks, salted caramels, house made marshmallows, custom chocolate business cards and more. Our retail store is stocked with playful creations for immediate purchase, an open kitchen where classes and tastings take place, and custom chocolate services for wholesale and other clientele – including The Lodge at Torrey Pines, The Hotel Del Coronado, BMW, Hyundai and The Farmers Insurance Open.
Our chocolates are designed, unlike any others, being largely influenced by my former career in fashion design. As a result, each white, milk or dark chocolate is adorned in any number of on-trend patterns created using special prints, colors, glitters, dusts, hand-painting and other techniques – the end result being colorful pieces that catch the eye and taste delicious.
I consider my biggest triumph the actualization of a company created purely from my own creative drive.
I am perhaps the only chocolatier around who designs chocolates as one might design a clothing line. I choose colors, prints, packaging and flavor profiles for each season and holiday, and use traditional fashion design processes including a merchandising calendar, a marketing calendar, and inspiration boards.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In time, I would like to open a full cafe/ retail space in a trendy area of town, Little Italy perhaps.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3582A Mt Acadia Blvd. San Diego, Ca. 92111
- Website: www.sweetpetiteconfections.com
- Phone: 859.688.0210
- Email: hello@sweetpetiteconfections.com
- Instagram: @SweetPetiteConf
- Facebook: @SweetPetiteConfectionsandCreamery
- Twitter: @SweetPetiteConf
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/qTKq/QGyWQ8EQG0
Image Credit:
Head shot- Marc Balanky
Product shots- Michelle Lomelin
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