Meet Diana Hsieh and Nancy Rangel of The Chocolaterie in Duluth

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diana Hsieh and Nancy Rangel.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Diana and Nancy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Nancy and I both worked for the previous owners of the store, Michael and Elizabeth Ashworth. We both started learning everything from the bottom up. Everything we know now we learned from Mike and Libby. They opened up The Chocolaterie 12 years ago at The Collection in Cumming, GA. They stayed there for ten years until deciding to move the entire store to our current Downtown Duluth location two years ago. Nancy has been with Mike and Libby for five years and I joined in about a year after they moved to Duluth. Mike and Libby have always had their hearts set on Maine to retire.

After a lot of talk between us four, Nancy and I finally took the dive and set on our way to taking over the store. Mike and Libby guided us through everything. We wanted to make sure that we did everything and everything right. We took our time to learn not only about making all the tasty treats but all the important skills needed for owning a business. All in all, everything worked out for everyone, Mike and Libby retired and moved to Maine (we still keep in touch even though they are a little farther) and on July 1, 2018, Nancy and I took over the store. We hit the ground running and never looked back.

We both honestly never thought that we would be business owners. Both daughters of immigrants, we thought our paths would lead us somewhere completely different to fulfill the American Dream. My family moved to Georgia from Vietnam when I was two. I grew up here and went to school at UGA, graduating with a degree in sociology and public health. I had plans to pursue a career in public health. Nancy’s family moved to Georgia from Mexico around the same time in the 1990s. Nancy went to school at Georgia State to pursue a career in marketing when the opportunity at The Chocolaterie appeared. Neither one of us thought we would be helping people and making them happy in a much sweeter way. We are both so blessed to have such amazing support our families and the community. Duluth has really open their arms to the both of us and we are looking forward to providing everyone with the best chocolate sweets for years to come.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We’ve had a few bumps along the way, but nothing we could not handle. The building that we are in is the old Bank of Duluth. It was built in 1905 so we’ve had a couple of issues with the building during the Duluth Fall Festival. The only other struggles we’ve had are more of finding out what works for us in making everything at the store. We offer a wide variety of flavors of truffles as well as fudge and ice cream. Getting the schedule down was a big hurdle we got over. Another hurdle was providing the same quality in the products that our customers have come to know. We took over a store with a loyal 12 year following from some of our customers. We wanted to make sure that we provide the same quality as Mike has as well as adding our own flare to the products.

Please tell us about The Chocolaterie.
We are an artisanal chocolate and ice cream store. We are mostly known for our handmade and hand-painted chocolate truffles. We also offer a wide variety of flavors of gourmet ice cream, fudge, and traditional chocolate treats. We also have gift items and seasonal treats such as our gourmet drinking chocolate during the winter and our triple dipped chocolate covered strawberries during Valentines. We are most proud of our truffles of course but we also pride ourselves in the experience of our store. We love meeting people and making them happy with all things sweet. The store has an old time candy store feel where you can come in, pick a treat and enjoy with your family and friends.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
We wished we had done it sooner. This whole experience is humbling and so fulfilling. We have learned so much in such a short time and look forward to learning so much more.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3099 Main Street
  Duluth, GA 30096
• Website: www.thechocolaterie.com
• Phone: 6785853338
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechocolateartist/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thechocolaterieluxurychocolates/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-chocolaterie-luxury-chocolates-duluth?osq=the+chocolaterie

Image Credit:
Nancy Rangel, Diana Hsieh

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.