Capital Confections Celebrates 20 Years of Chocolate and Community at Town & Country Village By Laura I. Winn
In 1997, a key, a phone number and a strange coincidence changed the course of Craig and Teresa Higgins’ lives. It all started when Craig decided to quit the insurance industry and follow his dream of owning a business. With two young children at home, 3-yearold Marisa and 6-year-old Alina, the Higgins desired a family business – a place to spend time together and make a living of it. On their tour of local properties for sale, the Higgins visited a chocolate shop in Town & Country Village. The businesses’ phone number was just one number different than Higgins’ home phone number. And in a strange twist of fate, the Higgins’ house key turned and opened the shop’s back door. It was a sign. The couple purchased the business and embraced their new roles at Capital Confections. Following in his mother’s candy-making footsteps, Craig became the chocolatier, creating their signature confections made with lots of chocolate and little sugar, and Teresa, formally a legal assistant, took on the marketing and customer service side. To help the couple in the transition from the white collar to the burgundy apron world, the existing staff stayed on for the first year. After 5 or 6 years, Teresa says, the couple really made the business their own. On the marketing side, Teresa networked within the wedding industry, and on the chocolate side,
Craig learned to expertly decorate their confections. The business grew with the family. Capital Confections became an after-school hang-out spot for the Higgins girls and their friends who marked their growth on a chart still found on a back wall. When Marisa and Alina were old enough, they worked behind the counter. Alina, now a CPA, especially loved counting money side-by-side with her dad. Today, the shop is known for its one-a-kind chocolate and package creations customized for special events and corporations. Other chocolate shops even send customers to Capital Confections for unique designs. They carry 800 different chocolate
molds – from animals to automobiles – and Craig still hand-dips and then drizzles the shop’s most popular treats: truffles. “He is the reason why they are perfect,” Teresa boasts. Although the handmade milk, dark and white chocolate is still the focus, the shop also carries other sweets like taffies and lemon drops, plus seven flavors of gelato and one sorbet from The Latest Scoop, an award-winning ice cream shop in Berkeley. Beyond the products they carry, the relationships they maintain with their customers has been key See Chocolate, page 11
Sacramento Valley Symphonic Band Association ♬ presents
Community Band Festival Carmichael Park • Saturday - Sunday • June 3-4, 2017 Free Admission!
Free Parking!
SATURDAY June 3
SUNDAY June 4
12:00 Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band 1:15 Sacramento Symphonic Winds 2:30 Winds of Faith 3:45 Solano Winds Community Concert Band 5:00 Yolo Community Band
Bring a lawn chair!
Food Booths!
12:00 1:15 2:30 3:45 5:00 6:15
3 Note Band Vallejo / Pittsburg Community Band Amador County Concert Band Sacramento Concert Band Roseville Community Concert Band Capital City Concert Band
Bring a picnic!
Spend the day!
Carmichael Park is on Fair Oaks Blvd between Grant and North Wheelchair accessible Information: (916) 489-2576 http://www.svsba.net Sponsored by Sacramento Valley Symphonic Band Association and the Carmichael Recreation and Parks District Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.
www.valcomnews.com • May 26, 2017 • Arden-Carmichael News
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