The Manufacturing Confectioner • October 2010 29

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Purdy’s Chocolates has had a steadygrowth in the number of its stores over

the past 4 ½ decades. In 1963, we boughtthe 56-year-old company, which had fourstores and a small, 3,000 sq. ft.factory/kitchen. As the business grew, itbecame apparent that we needed moreproduction time, meaning we needed tostart Christmas production in the summer.But how could we protect our short shelflife? What if we could freeze boxes ofchocolates wrapped and ready for sale?

I had experimented with freezing, fol-lowing the writings and recommendations ofDr. Woodruff from the University of Geor-gia. He was the guru. By 1965, I knew itwould work for us.

Freezing gave us two advantages. First,we could keep our skilled staff workingcloser to full time. Second, we could operateout of the same small space for a longerperiod.

By 1980, now with 28 stores, a move wasforced upon us. But the fun here was theopportunity to build a state-of-the-art fac-

tory/kitchen in a 57,000 sq. ft. formerCanada Dry plant (Figure 1).

All of this continual growth has been wellserved by freezing. Most years we keep ourfull-time staff working year round, and westill start Christmas production after Easter.There are now 60 stores in British Colum-bia, Alberta and Ontario.

This is why we got into freezing; now let’sdiscuss the “how.”

HOW TO FREEZE

The process is not complicated. Chocolatescan be frozen just like butter can be frozen,

Freezing Chocolates forStorageFreezing is not complicated and extends shelf life so productcan be made in advance of the busy holiday season.

Charles FlavellePurdy’s Chocolates

Charles Flavelle ischairman of theboard at R.C. PurdyChocolates, Ltd. Hehas also served aspresident of RetailConfectioners International.

Figure 1

Purdy’s Chocolates in Vancouver