Chocolatiers of the Kawarthas

Millbrook Valley Chocolates

By Gina Jones Chocolate Lover

I met up with Steve and Jackie Flamminio, the owners of Millbrook Valley Chocolates and the winners of the 2020 Readers Choice Award for Best Chocolate Shop. I had so much fun chatting with them! Their demeanor is warm and welcoming, and we laughed – a lot! Jackie’s first husband passed away 18 years ago. At the time she had four young kids, one still in diapers. So you can see where she gets her amazing strength. Jackie’s love of movies led her to work at a local video store where, four years later, she met Steve. “He came in for a video and it was love at first sight,” Jackie laughs. They moved in together, along with Jackie’s four kids. Between the two of them, they have six kids. When they introduced their children together, ironically they all knew each other since they all went to the same school. And now they are grown and have moved out. “We are empty nesters, baby!” She laughs. Opening the chocolate business was an unexpected career for either of them. Steve worked in a steel plant. “So the only shift I don’t work now is mid- hill into Millbrook and I said, Oh My God this nights”, he laughs. “Except when we are super busy is so beautiful! We parked downtown to walk at Easter and Christmas,” Jackie laughs. around, and Joe the Barber’s music was playSo why chocolate? “It’s an exciting experience! Customers love coming and we need all the happiness ing outside his shop. We walked by, saw this store was for rent, and took it right away.” in our lives as we can get,” says Jackie. They didn’t know much about chocolate. “I thought I knew a bit, because I used to bake all the time. What I knew was absolutely nothing,” she laughs. They spent time visiting other Chocolate shops but Jackie, being the ultimate optimist, said she could do better. Some of the top end shops don’t actually make the chocolate themselves. “It’s an integrity thing. We are a chocolate shop, we are the Chocolatiers and we can vouch for our products.” Why Millbrook? “In the fall of 2015 we went for a drive and the trees were beautiful with the autumn colours. We came up over the crest of the

“You are getting all organic and all fresh.”

They love what they do and it shows. Their specialty is chocolate, but they also make incredible ice cream cakes, truffles and in the summer they have ice cream. ‘We will potentially be doing European chocolate desserts as well,” says Jackie. People drive for miles for their famous European-style hot chocolate. It’s melted pure Belgium chocolate, with your choice of milk, white or dark chocolate, and a variety of flavors to choose from. I tasted the dark chocolate with peanut butter and it’s delicious! “We don’t use shelf life extending additives,” Jackie says, “We’ve never had to, our chocolate sells so fast that it’s not on the shelf for more than five days. Everything here is real. If it’s a raspberry truffle I’m smashing raspberries, if it’s a lemon truffle, I’m smashing lemons. So you are getting all organic and all fresh.” Jackie has held chocolate making classes for Grade 1 and 2 students in schools. “We taught them where chocolate comes from and what the cocoa tastes like right off the tree,” says Steve. “The one thing I miss with Covid regulations is not hosting workshops. We have a riot of a time,” Jackie says. They have the alley patio and host birthday parties along with customers just enjoying their time watching the world go by. “We get the local customers, but people come from Pickering, Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Peterborough,” Jackie says. “Our motivation is love. Millbrook is our extended family and it’s all about caring about our neighbours.” “My favourite part of our business is that I get to work with my wife every day,” says Steve. Jackie concurs, “We are a 24-7 couple and I love it.”