(Editor’s note: This is the 31st installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the economy and, in many cases, our way of life. See previous installments here.)
At Hauser Chocolatier, Rudi Hauser Jr. has a sweet job.
The 18,000-square-foot Westerly-based operation makes chocolates and truffles, producing a little taste of Switzerland right here in the Ocean State.
Delicious aromas of cocoa fill the air within the manufacturing space, but Hauser, owner and president, says he can’t pick up the scent anymore. He spends so much time here, the sweet smell of chocolate has become too familiar for him to recognize, he said.
“I only had one other job, for one summer, my entire working life besides being at Hauser. Professionally, chocolate is really all I know,” he said.
Cooling tunnels sit in a room near the production line to chill freshly made chocolates. Another area houses vats of melting caramel that swirl with the rhythm of the day.
Recently, Irish-themed Saint Patrick’s Day candies adorned the chocolatier’s storefront off of Tom Harvey Road. Meanwhile, chocolate bunnies are being made for the upcoming Easter holiday in the manufacturing space behind the retail shop. The location, just 2 miles from the beach, will soon bring enthusiastic summertime tourists looking for something sweet from the storefront, too.
And the factory is equipped with the staff and machinery to create every kind of chocolate imaginable.
A small production staff of more than 10 people makes chocolates in the sprawling manufacturing space behind the retail shop. They run the industrial machinery that rolls and shakes liquid chocolate into the many shapes and flavors that make up Hauser’s menu. The options include such delicacies as hazelnut praline cups and vintage art-labeled milk chocolate bars.
The truffles, which come in a variety of flavors, including peach, caramel sea salt and Grand Marnier, require a bit more work. Those are hand-finished before being decorated with various toppings, like nuts, coffee grounds, cinnamon, powdered sugar and brown sugar sprinkles.
“There’s something for everyone here flavor-wise. We’re constantly thinking of new flavors,” Hauser said. “And as for our storefront, we’re only limited by what we can fit in the display case.”
There’s even a little museum-type, self-guided tour room right inside the retail shop, which has an elevated platform so visitors can look through the glass and see the production floor, Hauser said.
Some of the machinery is old-fashioned. In 2005, Hauser purchased the only Chocolate Lace machine in the world. The unique apparatus drizzles caramel in lacy patterns in small sheets that are then enrobed in chocolate, Hauser explained. It was developed in the early 1900s in Czarist Russia.
The factory is also equipped with chocolate melters, a horizontal spinning machine that creates thin, hollow chocolate shells, and the Knobel One-Shot, which simultaneously makes and fills truffles.
These pieces of machinery can range in price from $250,000 to $500,000 each, with many needing to be imported from Europe, Hauser said.
Elsewhere in the facility, label makers put the finishing touches on the final product, whether for other companies’ private brands or for Hauser’s own. Hauser said that at least 60% of the company’s business is done through private label manufacturing, much of which ends up out of state.
Hauser Chocolatier is currently under contract with two separate retailers, which in turn use Hauser’s product but with their own label on it, he said. However, Hauser declined to identify those brands.
“We have the manufacturing expertise and the capability, leverage that with someone else’s idea, their label, their marketing and our product, that’s a business model that works well for us,” Hauser said.
The rest of Hauser’s product is sold online through the company’s website or in the storefront. Much of the company’s online sales are driven by gift giving.
Rhode Islanders can find the Hauser-branded product in local candy spots as well, such as Sweet Lorraine’s Candy Shoppe in Barrington.
[caption id="attachment_491123" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
SWEET TREATS: Aasha Hauser, a student and third-generation employee at Hauser Chocolatier, with some of the company’s products on the manufacturing floor in Westerly.
PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM[/caption]
And if the name doesn’t give it away, it’s a family business. The best part is, the Hausers learned the art of chocolate from the masters. The company was started in 1985 by Rudi’s father, Ruedi Hauser Sr., who emigrated from Switzerland to Connecticut in 1963.
The elder Hauser began the business with handcrafted Swiss-style truffles, featuring a classic round shape and a creamy center. As a young man, he studied in his native Switzerland as an apprentice pastry maker and chocolatier, eventually earning the rank of certified journeyman, Hauser said.
The business eventually moved to Rhode Island in 1990. Hauser bought the business from his parents in 2008, and now makes 28 different kinds of chocolate truffles, among other items.
For now, Hauser oversees everything at the chocolate factory. But his children are already fully invested in the future of the business.
Aasha Hauser, 23, is currently a junior at Johnson & Wales University, where she’s pursuing a Bachelor of Science in business administration degree with a concentration in baking and pastries. She can often be seen working at the retail storefront when she’s not in class. Meanwhile, her brother, Ravi Hauser, 26, is the company’s production manager.
“Working with a medium I love and seeing my dad and grandparents daily is truly a special experience for me and I’m excited to carry on the legacy with my sister,” Ravi Hauser said.
The third-generation chocolatier added that he would be honored to take over the family business once his father retires, however he could be waiting a while to do so.
“I’d love to, if he ever gives up the reins,” he said. “My grandparents, who are both in their 80s, are still coming in to work daily. If I’m lucky, I’ll be doing the same thing when I’m their age.”
