Alexandra Clark was destined to make great chocolate.
She worked in an ice cream shop in Plymouth as a teen and soon got hooked on the idea of peddling sweets. She earned a degree in Hospitality and Food Science at Michigan State University and went to New Zealand where she earned a graduate degree in agricultural economics, specializing in chocolate. She also worked at Sanders in Clinton Township on the assembly line
Last year, Clark, 27, opened a shop, Bon Bon Bon, in Hamtramck at 2756 Evaline Street where workers produce handmade chocolate bonbons of all flavors – about 70 in all -- including carrot cake, rhubarb custard and lemon tart. Besides making chocolate there, the shop sells its product online and to hotels and local retailers, including Zingerman's in Ann Arbor. The shop is open to the public on Saturdays, and bonbons go for $3 a piece.
The Hamtramck shop also produces chocolates for her latest venture, Bon Bon Bon Detroit, a quaint little retail shop in the Chrysler Building at 719 Griswold Street. That opened three weeks ago.
So far, so good she says of the Detroit shop. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Sunday is Mother’s Day, and folks are mailing her product all around the country.
Clark talked this week with Allan Lengel of Deadline Detroit about her passion for chocolate and her business.
