Doreen Pendgracs is an award-winning writer, author and public speaker based in Matlock, Manitoba, Canada.
Work Samples - Chocolate & Lifestyle - Add More Chocolate to Your Menu

If You Want More Women in Your Restaurant … Add More Chocolate to Your Menu! By Doreen Pendgracs
(this article is slated for the April, 2011 issue of Your Foodservice Manager magazine)

There is no doubt. Women love chocolate. Statistics have proven that when women have food cravings, 76% of them crave chocolate! In fact, the most quoted contemporary source on chocolate, artist/cartoonist and self-declared chocoholic, John Q. Tullius is cited as saying, “ Nine out of 10 people like chocolate. The 10th person always lies.”

So what are you waiting for? Savvy restaurateurs are being proactive and adding more chocolate to their menus. Much more.
Juliette & Chocolat boasts three Montreal locations packed daily with chocolate lovers who know their every desire will be satisfied by the offerings of the choco-centric menu – in addition to the full case of takeaway hand-crafted colourful chocolate truffles just calling their names.


The creative menu at Juliette & Chocolat boasts bold oxymorons such as the “Chocolate Salad” comprised of strawberries and greens mixed with a chocolate raspberry sauce and served with sliced apples and buckwheat crepe slices that are topped with a chocolate dressing similar to a molé (Mexican chocolate sauce.) The ladies (who make up about 70% of their customers) love it as they tell themselves they’re eating a healthy salad, and for the most part … it is!

The key is to be creative with your menu items. “We’ve tried to include as many chocolate classics as possible (crepes, drinks, pastries) but also original combinations like the chocolate vinaigrette on the salads, to really satisfy clients who crave those classics as well as more adventurous clients who are willing to follow their passion for chocolate – even in their salty meals,” says Lionel May, owner of Juliette & Chocolat.
The extensive menu at Juliette & Chocolat is 75% chocolate. “Taste and pleasure are at the forefront when we are establishing menu items, “says May. “However, down-to-earth concerns such as cost and inventory also come into play. Some items are simply too expensive to make and include on the menu. We’d love to double the size of our menu! But stocks, inventories and workflow in the kitchen would become unmanageable. We also try to stay on concept, which is to serve indulgent, heart-warming simple treats made with top quality ingredients.”

Pedro Flynn is the new general manager at MoRoCo Chocolat, a chic and trendy restaurant/chocolate shop in Yorkville, Ontario. Everything about MoRoCo is enticing, from their sensuous website – done in soft, sensual colours … complete with mouth-watering chocolate images, to their indoor décor of warm and welcoming upholstery that makes you want to linger. MoRoCo also offers a patio that is inviting and comfortable enough to whale away several hours of guilty indulgence amid a floral background spring through fall.
“Ninety percent of our clientele are women,” says Flynn. “And the majority of those are regular customers who come in daily.” MoRoCo meets the desires of its chocolate-loving customer base by offering 30 different flavours of truffles, an enticing menu that includes a dozen choco-centric dessert items and three flavours of “sipping chocolate” – their sensuous signature beverage.
Their recipe for sweet success is simple. “We have a chocolatier who has worked all over the world. When he comes up with a new menu item, first our owner and I will taste the item. If we give it a thumbs-up, it is then taste tested by our 22-member staff, as it’s the staff that sells the items on the floor. We like to get their input, and 100% of the time, our chocolatier pretty much blows our socks off!”

Find MoRoCo Chocolat at: http://www.morocochocolat.com/.
Find Juliette & Chocolat at: http://www.julietteetchocolat.com/.
Read more of Doreen Pendgracs’s musings on her website and blogs at: http://wizardofwords.net. And if you love chocolate … watch for her book, Chocolatour, to be released in 2011.