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Candy has always been Elaine Shepard’s creative outlet.
“I used to make treats with my kids, we made lollipops to take to people’s houses, chocolate straws, things like that,” the owner of Wicked Good Treats by Elaine shared.
“People always said I should sell them,” Shepard added.
But it wasn’t until she accompanied her husband, Ronald, an accomplished furnituremaker, to a craft fair that the idea of selling her creations crystallized.
At that fair, Shepard saw a woman selling caramel apples and approached her about her business.
“We had a long conversation about apples and chocolate,” Shepard recalled. “She told me how many apples she made and what she charged, and my chin just dropped. I went home and told my husband ‘I think I can do that.’”
Using the apples she had seen as an inspiration, Shepard signed up for her first craft fair — the 2007 Mattoon Street Arts Festival — brought her apples and “a dozen different things,” and her business was born.
“I participated in four events that first year,” Shepard said. “My business grew from there; every year I booked more events to sell chocolate.”
Her collection of products, she added, grew organically with the events through conversations with her customers.
“People would come up to me and ask, ‘Do you make….’ and I’d say, ‘No, but I will try.’ I made many things by request,” Shepard said, saying her candy-making skills are mostly self-taught.
Shepard explained she has a residential kitchen license from the town of Wilbraham, where her business is based, that allows her to make that “chocolates, fudge, all my baked goods and jam” for the craft fairs, farmers markets and event catering she does with Wicked Good Treats.
Shepard said as her business grew, she continued working her full-time job with the nonprofit Jewish Family Services, crafting her chocolate creations — including chocolate dipped cookies and pretzels, peanut butter “acorns” and “millionaire shortbread” dipped in caramel and chocolate — after work, sometimes until 11 p.m.
“By 2013, I was working many night hours in the kitchen,” Shepard said. “Ron and I talked it over and we agreed that I’d leave nonprofit work and pursue my passion.”
In 2015, Shepard took her business to the next level, enrolling in the business incubator program at Valley Venture Mentors in downtown Springfield, which offers education and advice to help entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses.
She said the program “helps you understand what you need to do to scale your business” for growth and success.
“That was a great experience … very supportive and friendly,” Shepard said, adding that she still meets occasionally with her business mentor, Scott Longley, to “throw ideas around.”
As her business grew, Shepard also expanded her candy-making skills, enrolling in a three-day class at the Vermont-based King Arthur Baking Company in 2019.
“I did a class for chocolate professionals, that’s where I learned to work with fine chocolate,” Shepard said. The class, taught by a fourth-generation German chocolatier, provided her with the skills necessary to “temper chocolate, add different fillings and decorate them,” Shepard said.
“It was a lot of work,” she added, but worth the exhaustion to gain the expertise that she now uses to make her chocolate truffles and other filled candies.
“Some I mold, the truffle shells I buy, fill and seal,” she said of her more elaborate chocolate creations.
Like most small businesses, the COVID-19 closures — which hit just as she was branching out into more exquisite creations — had Shepard concerned about the fate of her business, especially as supply chain issues caused a spike in supply prices.
“I had to pay $51 for a gallon of corn syrup when I used to pay $17,” Shepard recalled. “Do I stay in business? How much do I raise my prices?” were among the questions Shepard said she began asking herself at that time.
“During COVID, my business was slow, all face-to-face events were canceled for a year. I had several customers order from me and we would arrange a meeting location or I’d deliver to their homes,” Shepard said. “I did cater two outdoor events, one bridal shower and a graduation party. Every item was individually packaged, so the menu was crafted to meet those specifications.”
“I also supplied one customer with 90 boxes of assorted chocolates,” Shepard continued. “To avoid potential contamination, every piece of chocolate was individually wrapped before going into the gift boxes. That took hours to do, but we met the strict COVID guidelines for food safety.”
But as restrictions eased and events returned, Shepard said her business picked up, especially during holiday seasons.
“I like to do a lot of holiday-themed things,” Shepard admitted. She specializes in “Valentine-themed dipped Oreos, Easter-themed dipped Oreos, assortments of truffles and cookie platters” for various occasions.
She also creates “dessert bars” and “candy bars” with assortments of chocolates, candies and cookies for parties, weddings and special and corporate events. Her catering business, she added, often comes through word-of-mouth referrals or requests at events.
“I always like to do something new, something creative. That’s why I like catering, it lets me be creative,” Shepard said. Wedding favors — boxes of custom truffles tied with ribbons and seals designed to match the wedding colors and invitation designs — are another popular catering request.
In the summer, Shepard said she saves her chocolates for catering and corporate events, focusing on bringing her breads, pies and jams to the farmers markets she participates in. Her bread selections include cinnamon, tomato basil, rosemary garlic, asiago cheese and “tea breads,” Shepard shared. Her jam selection includes blueberry, strawberry, strawberry jalapeno, peach pineapple jalapeno, cherry, every berry, spiced tomato and more.
In August, Shepard said she will be participating in the farmers market in East Longmeadow at Graham Central Station at 64 Maple St. on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Belchertown Farmers Market on the Belchertown Town Common on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Aug. 5 and 19, and at the Forest Park Farmers Market on Tuesdays from noon to 6 p.m. in Springfield. On Aug. 8 she will be at the Food Truck Festival in Three Rivers.
And though she and Ron had planned to spend their retirement pursuing their passions, he his handmade furnishing and she her chocolate, selling them side by side, that dream wasn’t meant to be. Shepard lost her husband, a “brave cancer warrior,” in April of 2024.
“We didn’t get to see that goal, but I know he wanted me to stay busy doing something I love,” Shepard said.
For more information on Wicked Good Treats by Elaine, including a complete menu of her products that can be purchased online, visit wickedgoodtreatsbyelaine.com or its Facebook page.
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