We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gary Knight a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gary, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
After suffering a traumatic brain injury, one of the permanent changes to my brain is that I now have a very child like mind and can become hyper focused. I am easily distracted by shiny, colorful objects. On social media one day during my rehabilitation, I came across a colorful, shiny piece of chocolate, with an amazing pattern and texture, that was made by an amazing chocolatier. I couldn’t figure out how they could have possibly created such a thing! I knew right then that I had to learn how to make them! I taught myself the craft by studying videos of chocolatiers from all over the globe, social media like Youtube and Instagram. Now I am being mentored by an extremely creative and generous chocolatier that teaches chocolatiers and chefs in many countries of the world. He has guided me to be more organized, efficient and creative. Learning multiple ways of tempering chocolate and cocoa butters has been extremely helpful. Also, learning how the temperature and humidity level of the environment, as well as the temperature of the tools, molds and other equipment effects the process was key. For me it was a lot of trial and error before finally receiving professional hands on training. Initially the cost of equipment and training was a barrier, but soon the sale of the chocolates began paying for everything the business needed to grow and become more efficient.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am generally a person who lives and breathes positivity. But during a dark period of my life I became a heavy drinker for a few years. It was killing me and I had to stop. But the principles behind A.A. were not for me, so I had to find a way on my own to stop drinking. I read a book that prioritized avoiding “the first drink”. I was able to do that, and my road to sobriety began, with only a few, one day slip ups during the first years. I started treating alcoholism like a disease and took a pro-active approach. I stayed with it and trusted the process. Eating candy was helping replace the sugar that was missing from the alcohol. Popping a piece of candy replaced taking a shot of whiskey. In the first 6 months I lost 30 pounds and my liver healed. Then a tragic 3 car pile up changed my life forever. During the first 7 months of my recovery, i wasn’t getting any treatment for my brain, only avoiding light and sound because it hurt. It was during this darkness that I discovered shiny colored chocolate bon bons or truffles on social media, and began my deep dive into the rabbit hole of colorful chocolate making. Making chocolates was a long process that required a lot of focus, and doing so, helped me stay sober. Soon after, I was in a 24hr live-in recovery program for my brain injury, and chocolate making was integrated into my therapy. I stayed there almost four months, then continued therapy at home. Despite some permanent brain damage, I was able to get back to driving, back to work, and was able to retire on my own terms after 30 years of government work. My wife and I relocated from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley in CA, to a much more relaxed small town lifestyle in western Nevada. We now have a pop-up style local business making fancy, colorful tasty chocolates and other sweets called Knights Candy Shop. We recently started using a commercial kitchen and now have the ability to put our products in local shops in town. What sets us apart from other local candy business is our constantly changing artistic designs and creative flavors of caramels and ganache. My wife Sandy also makes delicious chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies, as well as various types of fudge. Recently we have added flavored marshmallows and caramel sauces to our product line. We are also formulating a line of hot cocoa flavors that will be available soon as well! We are extremely proud of our quality ingredients, artistic designs, unique flavors and exquisite mouthfeel of our products. We also are in the process of changing to all natural colors in all of our products soon. We are most proud to be nominated for Best Sweets & Treats in Carson Valley for 2025, in our local Record Courier! To this day making chocolates continues to be my therapy!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
When we first relocated to Nevada, we were strangers in a small town. We literally knew nobody! So, we started looking online for local activities and found the local Farmers Market. We reached out to a local vendor there and asked how they got started at the market. They were happy to help, and our market journey began, with lots of trail and error! We began following local businesses on social media and in return, they quickly followed our business. We found that when sharing a photo of our chocolates online, if we hash tagged other business, our followers grew. Soon, we began promoting local businesses and their events occasionally, between posts of our products, and more local businesses followed. We don’t make chocolates often enough to fill our social media with only posts of our products, so we also share photos of our hikes and other outdoor adventures. Sharing about some of our personal life makes us more relatable to our customers. In addition, we search the web daily for positivity to share, which inspires us, but also, others have told us that it inspires them as well! Our local makers support other local makers, which really makes us all grow! We have found that whether you are raising a family or running a small business, it takes a village!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Life sometimes throws you curves. My shoulder, tricep and wrist are injured and I currently can’t make chocolates due to those injuries. I will be having surgery soon to hopefully remedy the situation. But we didn’t want to lose our spot at the farmers market nor in our commercial kitchen, so we had to pivot. We did our research and began testing, then selling flavored marshmallows and a few flavors of caramel sauces. Most of this work is done with less manual labor, and doesn’t require the specific skills of a chocolatier. We are still using quality ingredients, unique flavors, and nice packaging, so our customers love them! Now, we are testing some hot cocoa formulations, which will allow us to put a product on the shelves for a much longer period of time. When adversity comes, you may feel like quitting, but we recommend taking some time time to do some deep thought. Cry for a while if you must (I did). Then find a way to pivot! We would have never thought of making these items without the help of our online chocolatier support groups. When in doubt, ask for help! Keep a positive mindset and you never know what ideas will come your way! When we are ready to make a comeback, we will be well prepared and ready with a much more diverse product line! Our chocolate business would never have happened without a tragedy and now, what should be another setback, will only launch us forward into bigger and better things. Always strive to make the best of what seems like a bad situation!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.knightscandyshop.com
- Instagram: knightscandyshop
- Facebook: knightscandyshop
Image Credits
Gary Knight