Conscious Choice Seattle: Chocolate Dreams

January 2004 | Evergreen Citizen

Chocolate Dreams

He started with artesian breads and compassionate management. Next up for this business leader is cocoa.

By HEATHER NORDELL

Meet Jeff Fairhall, activist and businessman. Jeff is founder and president of Essential Foods and The Essential Baking Company, the local artisan bakery.

What’s more, he oversees a growing family of cafés, and just started a chocolate factory at the old Red Hook Brewery space in Fremont.

In 1988, the Seattle native launched Essential Foods from his home on a shoestring budget. Since then, he has built a thriving company that celebrates the diversity of 150 employees from 10 countries with current sites in Wallingford and Madison Valley and future locations coming soon.

Fairhall is an active leader involved in several community economic initiatives, including a community currency project called Interra and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). Evergreen Monthly recently spoke with Fairhall about his company’s latest delicious developments. Here is an edited transcript of the conversation.

Jeff Fairhall is our first Evergreen Citizen of the month. There will be plenty more.

EM: What is your vision for your new chocolate factory and community hub in Fremont?

The Essential Chocolate Company will create our own chocolate directly from the cocoa bean, then craft confections, chips, candy bars and bulk chocolate for both consumers and processors such as pastry chefs and chocolate product manufacturers. With quality production from organic and fair-trade cocoa whenever possible, we aim to establish a niche for socially responsible, fine chocolate.

Recently we bought the former Red Hook Brewery building as the new home for our chocolate factory, café, shop, kid-friendly educational tours, cooking classes, visual and performing arts and community gathering space.

EM: That’s a lot of activities in one place. How do you see it all tying together?

We plan to educate people about how chocolate is made, its history and issues about the trade in cocoa products. We are converting the former Trolleyman Pub into a community space. It is intended to be used as a non-commercial “tribal” or sacred community gathering place of truth, free expression, and celebration.

My hope is that by gathering more intimately as a community, we will understand how we have been tricked into living in fear, and see that all humans share common aspirations.

EM: Why chocolate?

The impetus for our chocolate venture budded from the talents of our Pastry Chef William Leaman. When he started crafting artisan chocolates, we started selling his chocolate confections with unique fillings such as chocolate banana ganache, hazelnut, peanut butter and jelly, organic mint and Madagascar vanilla.

As their popularity increased, the demand outgrew our production space. While searching for a larger site, I learned about the chocolate industry and began researching what it would take to do chocolate a little differently, and actually make our own directly from the bean.

EM: OK, 75 words or less. What are your greatest passions, dreams and successes?

My passions are truth and justice. Driven by values first, The Essential Baking Company demonstrates that business can be financially successful without financial success being the objective. We are purposeful about selecting our suppliers, how we make our products, and how we treat our employees and community.

My dream is for the business is to be a reflection of what I want to see in the world. I am proud of the quality of our products and that our employees feel good about what they do. I am most proud of the culture we have fostered within our company.

Heather Nordell is a local writer who specializes in issues of sustainable business.

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