Sunday Brunch Special: Charssi Spoon Fudge

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your indie business.
My name is Cherie and I make a sinfully yummy fudge that is packaged in a jar and eaten with a spoon, aptly called "Spoon Fudge." This is the second business I've started and I'm having a boatload of fun working my way through the food industry. I have a husband, Joe, and a 15 year old son, Timothy, who both are an immense help in the running of this business. Timothy is the one who labels and packages all the product and Joe handles the shipping side of the things. I'm left with the actual making of the product. My husband and I also run a web development firm from home - this is our "real" job and it allows us to get away as needed to run the fudge business.

2. Where are you located?
We are currently in Tucson, AZ but are looking forward to a change of scenery and are planning to relocate in Seattle, WA this fall or next spring. Our families are in the general area there and my fudge will be much happier away from the heat of the desert!

3. How did you come up with your business name?
My grandpa used to call me "Charssi" when I was a wee little girl and the name stuck up until his death when I was 12. When it came time to find a name for the business my old nickname came to mind immediately. It's unique and I really love it!

4. Where do you sell your products?
We currently sell online only at our website, www.charssi.com. We are planning to franchise at some point in the future and are looking at mall locations where a customer could purchase "scoops" of different flavored spoon fudge, much like one orders ice cream now. We like to plan big!

5. Do you belong to any local and/or web groups or affiliations?
Nope! We're pretty much loners and like to keep to ourselves. :)

6. When you’re not making things, what do you do?
It's quite silly actually, but a great hobby of mine is making up new business plans and running through how they could succeed. I'm just a bit odd I guess ;) When I'm not daydreaming about yet another business, I can be found in the kitchen, tinkering around with recipes and coming up with new ways to keep my weight on.

7. What would be your dream job?
I love what I do now, both the web development and working with the chocolate, but I really REALLY would like to be a chef and run a restaurant at some point in my life. I have celiac disease so all my cooking is gluten-free and my goal is to have my own little cafe within 5 years where I'll serve up tempting and tasty gluten-free treats and meals - good enough that "normal" folks will want to eat there.

8. Do you have any quirks or obsessions you care to share?
I think I might have a bit of OCD. Everything has to be lined up "just so." The light switches must be in the down position if the light is off (when a light has multiple switches), my books have to be lined up by size, and when I am working on new labels or some other form of graphic design for the fudge, I throw away more than I keep due to it not being *just right*. I drive my husband batty! ;)

9. What’s the most difficult aspect of running your biz?
I would have to say shipping. We cannot do daily pickup by the USPS due to the heat here (can't leave that setting in a truck for hours) so it becomes a major hassle to run the PO all the time. Thankfully we live just 3 miles from the nearest branch and we pay for shipping here before we deliver them, but it's still not the optimal situation.

1. What is your favorite meal?
I LOVE fried chicken, biscuits, and ice tea!

2. Do you prefer tea or coffee?
Coffee = yucko! I'm a tea gal all the way ;)