We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erika Cline a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Erika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

 I came up with this idea of opening a chocolate shop in St. Croix, Virgin Islands because I have a love and passion for chocolate. One thing people don’t know about St. Croix is that cacao grows in the rain forest here in St. Croix and it’s amazing. So to me it made a lot of sense for me to open a chocolate shop here in St. Croix US Virgin Islands originally, I started Bleu Chocolát in Tortola BVI, which is the British Virgin Islands and it was in 2015. I had recently moved there and I just knew that I needed to keep chocolate in my life. I had been a Chocolatier and the Director of a chocolate factory in Nassau Bahamas for 4 1/2 years and they follow the building specs to my needs. It was called Graycliff Chocolatier by the family named Garzoroli who owned the oldest hotel in Nassau which is called Graycliff. They also have a cigar factory and now they serve their own vodka. They have a whole empire of amazing tourist items for people to buy. After I left the Bahamas I decided to move to Tortola open Bleu Chocolat and showcase southern Caribbean chocolate from being to bar. It was an experience, I could say that it was overwhelming. It was exciting. People were so excited to have a chocolate shop on that small little island of over 30,000 people, They were happy to have a luxury item which I was gladly to give them, it was to me the light of my life. Around 2017 Irma (hurricane) came and destroyed my shop. It broke my heart. I really can’t explain how my heart was so broken. It was just very overwhelming and I decided to pack up and move back to Florida and I took a break. Well my family decided that they still love the islands and in 2021. They said they wanted to move back to the Virgin Islands and that’s where I decided to start my passion back up after being here nine months and not feeling my complete self and being on the island. I started doing pop-ups the fall of October 2022. The responses to my chocolates was awesome. We have over 30 items right now. We are also making soap and candles. We will be selling everything online during the cooler months of the year. For me making chocolate is life, chocolate is love, and happiness.  Chocolate makes the world go around, I know it’s a cliché but actually is true. I got super excited just another day when I saw the movie trailer for Willy Wonka and a lot of people call me Wilma Wonka here but my nickname for a long time was the chocolate lady or chocolate itself, and it just makes me feel like I’m a part of the community here in Saint Croix. People come and knock on our door when they see us in our chocolate workshop that we now have which took almost a year to open after doing all the pop-ups. We really wanted to give the community and tourist an experience by teaching hands on class. That’s why I named it the Bleu Chocolàt Workshop. It has been a great experience as in people loving what we do and that is one of the main reasons why I became a Pastry chef and Chocolatier, because I love the expressions and the memories that my desserts and my chocolate bring to people. How I feel about what I do and making this my livelihood. It’s worth the long hours and hardships. I have so many issues of living on this island because it’s not as convenient to get certain products, but I work my way around it. I have amazing friends that are chefs in the states and I can ship things to them and  they put it on a boat or they put it on a plane. I have figured it out so far. Being able to solve those kind of problems makes me feel accomplished.   It took three months once I signed the lease just to get electricity turned on in my shop. That was eating up my money. I still have a full-time job to help cover expenses. So I can continue to do what I love and eventually step away from that full-time job and just do Bleu Chocolat. I want Crucian chocolate to be known which that’s where this special trip that’s coming up for me to go to Salon du Chocolat in Paris. This will let people that have not been to Virgin Islands or never had Crucian chocolate before know about us. I’ve been doing this for 25+ years and a pastry chef 35+ years. “A Day is Never Good Without Chocolate.” Life is good and that’s my story of how I came up with opening Bleu Chocolat Workshop in St Croix .

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a Pastry Chef and Chocolatier for the last 35+ years. Everything I have done or worked I was the first African American woman to do so in the kitchen of almost all the hotels and restaurants or companies I have worked for. My brand is unique because I live on an island that just started recognizing the growth of chocolate in the rainforest. Lucky for me this is a luxury for the locals and tourist that love chocolate. Bleu Chocolat Workshop offer chocolate experiences in the workshop.  Our guests get to learn the history of chocolate, tempering chocolate and to be creative with chocolate. Our shop has over 25+ chocolate products not including our hand painted chocolate bon bons, truffle and specialty bake goods. We are so proud of every product we put out but just knowing that chocolate can create such a happy experience for people is exciting to us. Bleu Chocolat Workshop is love chocolate and happiness and we want our chocolate lovers to know that our chocolates taste so good because of the passion we have for our chocolates.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

COVID…..The year everything changed. it was a lonely time but I need to step away from everyone. I became a barista and managed a coffee shop during that uneasy time. I was separated from my husband and family. I was on my own and it was scary. The black lives matter, Trump and just not a comfortable financial time. It was when I was the most unhappiest and loneliest time of my life. But I got through it.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

My best source of new clients have been through word of mouth and Facebook. Having a great product and being the only unique chef on island has been a success for me. Many sure that I am consistent and giving great customer service is the key.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bleuchocolatvi.com
• Instagram: Bleu Chocolat Workshop