Chocolate Celebrity Andrew Shotts
Maggie Lange, GoLocalProv Contributor
Chocolate Celebrity Andrew Shotts
But Shotts recounts these delectable treats without romantic flair. The sublime quality and creative pairings are his everyday. With ten years of creating these singular sweets, Shotts isn’t wrong when he says that Garrison has become the go-to chocolatier in Rhode Island.
Beyond cacao and into coffee
Shotts is happy with the establishment, the reputation, and the sweets—but now he is itching to expand. A pastry chef at heart, he started Garrison Confections as a chocolate brand in order to start small; the equipment necessary for a pastry shop is enormously pricy.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHe opened his first chocolate lab in Manhattan on 6th Avenue in 2002 and in 2003, he moved to a location in South Providence and chose a larger space in Central Falls in 2006. However, even with two upgrades, the Central Falls space lacks a substantial retail space.
Now, Shotts says that Garrison is overrunning its space and he is looking for a new home and a new brand. “My goal is to reopen a retail store in Providence. Not just chocolates—I want to open a pastry shop unlike anything here—breakfast, lunch, heavy on the coffee.”
He hopes to be on the West Side, Broadway or Westminster, eyeing properties. A few weeks ago, he was ready to sign papers to purchase a space on Atwells Avenue, but the deal fell through. Getting funding, he says, is a sour obstacle.
“Business only gets better and better, but the headaches get bigger and bigger,” says Shotts, “More business needs more space, sales increase but so did costs.” The immediate success of the small business became a liability, and there were fears that Garrison Confections might overwhelm itself.
Shotts is ambitious. He doesn’t talk the way that lots of craftsmen or artisanal food makers speak about their treats. He is straightforward and without sentiment. He tells his journey as a series of steps to succeed.
Perhaps it is this directness, this immediate understanding of how to succeed in the gastronomic world that has afforded Shotts such acumen and praise. Bobby Flay, the famed restaurateur and Food Network host praised Shotts’ book, Making Artisan Chocolates: “Andrew Shotts started out by working for the best in the pastry and chocolate worlds. Now, he's beating them at their own game."
Shotts has served as a celebrity judge dozens of time on the Food Network Challenge and has been recognized in a gamut of national publications: Food & Wine Magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, and the Washington Post.
Perfectly quirky pairings
It is the particular and peculiar combination of disparate ingredients that has accrued national attention for Garrison Confections: raspberry wasabi chocolate, white chocolate lime, spicy mango, Mint Julep. Shotts says that he gets ideas for new pairings everywhere. “I find inspiration all over,” he mentions casually, “when I’m out to dinner, or a flavor combination in a cocktail, or walking in the grocery store.”
Garrison Confections also has a penchant for adding sophistication to retro or childhood candies: a high-quality peppermint patty, a Creamsicle summer flavor, and an adult peanut butter cup. This doesn’t mean that Garrison can’t do simplicity—their best seller is a salted caramel.
A sweet for every season
One of the most spectacular things about Garrison Confections is the number of different chocolates that they offer—and the constant change of menu. Shotts says that he is the only chocolatier to create a new line of chocolates four times a year, according to the lunar calendar. At the Summer solstice, Autumnal equinox, Winter solstice, Vernal equinox a set of seasonal edibles give room for special creativity.
For this summer, some highlights of the twelve new flavors include Raspberry Hibiscus dark chocolate, Ice Tea (black tea infused dark chocolate ganache), Lemon Crush (milk chocolate spiked with fresh squeezed lemon juice, enrobed in dark chocolate), and an Apricot Mint chocolate.
With twelve new chocolates each season, twenty flavors offered year round, and a special “Legendary Lovers” dozen for Valentines Day, Shotts estimates that Garrison produces more than 60 different chocolates each year.
He started the four seasons of chocolates in 2002, but he has cut back since last year. He doesn’t have the space and without a retail store, there was not enough product turnover to justify it. He says as soon as he opens a shop, he will be back with new chocolates—twelve for each season. Though he is expanding, it will allow him to return to his the original creativity that made Garrison Confections a deliciously unique brand in the chocolate world.
Garrison Confections are available online, here, or at the factory store, 72 Ledge Street, Central Falls. Hours vary. Call 725-0790 for more.