Episode 27: Melissa Coppel Chocolate and Pastry School

Transcript

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I'm Zachary Cartwright this is water and food earlier today I had the chance to meet with Melissa copel who owns Melissa
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copel chocolate and pastry School in Las Vegas Nevada we talked a little bit about how she uses water activity in her
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curriculum to show her students that making chocolates is not all about making a delicious product but also
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using water activity can help them think about things like shelf life and moisture migration
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hi Melissa welcome to water and food thanks for being here today how are you thank you so much for having me I'm
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doing great of course well uh we're here today to talk about your school and and I just
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want you to introduce your school and what it is and how long you've been doing this so
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um I have a Melissa couple chocolate and pastry school for the last six years we're located in Las Vegas and
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um yeah it's we dedicate ourselves to short-term classes mostly on chocolate
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we do offer some pastry classes as well but it we are mostly a chocolate School
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and what type of students are enrolling in your school are these food science students or are returning students or
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people who are recently interested in making chocolate and pastries what type of students do you have
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so I have to say that it's a little bit of a before and after so before the
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pandemic it was mostly professionals wanting to Perfection The Craft
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um then when the pandemic hit we actually converted uh 100 to an online
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school and uh and in there is in that precise time uh I started realizing that
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there was just a lot of people that wanted to change careers that were so interested in in you know learn the art
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of chocolate um so and I think now that it's a little bit you know after the pandemic that we
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can return a little bit to uh having some Hands-On sessions uh that I see that there's a little bit of a mix so
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our school is unique that way we're very inclusive and I welcome everyone with
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the desire to learn so um we don't really require uh previous training or anything but I do see the
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change uh before and after the pandemic so I think right now it's very diverse
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and it's my understanding that when you start a new class or you have students that you make it very clear that
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everyone there is equal that you're all on the same page and in there for the same goal and I was hoping that you
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could dive into that a little bit deeper and and the approach that you take to teaching your classes
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so I think it's a combination of two things one thing is having good memory uh to where I didn't know anything I
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really wanted to learn um so I never forget that uh that's first and then second I remember also
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having memory on the classes I took in the past where uh first day of school is
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nerve-wracking you think that because you're an adult you are over that and and it's just little kids going to first
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day of kindergarten their stress or first day of of first grade but actually it's the same with adults so for me I
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like to you know welcome students to the school and really make them feel comfortable uh and I have a speech that
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I gave in every single class the first day where I let them know that first of
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all I don't care their level uh their expertise that everybody is the same here that I ask everyone to leave their
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egos a little bit outside the door uh that they're not welcome here and that way everybody kind of relaxes I can I
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can immediately really see their faces changing when I give the speech and I also believe that if they don't feel
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comfortable real learning doesn't really happen so after the speech everybody relaxes I let them know that there's no
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silly questions that I don't mind if they're making something in you know molding a a mold and the mold you know
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Fels in the machine or or in the floor um that this is not the type of school
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where I'm going to be judging their skills and everybody really appreciates that and they become friends the real
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networking also really happens and it's a very relaxed and that being said not
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to be confused with not being professional we keep the ambience and the the style very professional but at
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the same time you know very inclusive mm-hmm and I'm sure your students really
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appreciate that and and I like that you said you know we're basically just bigger kids you know we never really stop being kids and I think it's really
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helpful if you kind of set the foundation like that and and I'm sure that your students appreciate that oh
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absolutely absolutely where did your passion for making chocolates and pastries come from is this something
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that you've always been interested in so when I graduated from uh School uh my
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mom I was actually a terrible student so when I graduated my mom actually was the one that told me that what she saw in me
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was the only thing that I liked really was to actually cook so she was the one that suggested I should pursue something
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uh food related but in my town I'm from Colombia and from a small town
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um and there was no pastry uh or actually at that point I wanted to be a chef so this let's say like the passion
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for being in the kitchens has been always been there with me um over the years I realized at first I
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tried to pursue a little bit more cooking then I realized I'm a vegetarian I was not never going to be able to like
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you know cut a pig in two or kill a lobster so I start kind of feeling out
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of out of place and then I realized how precise pastry was and how clean and how
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the ingredients were nicer to work with you know you cannot compare chocolate with onions and I kind of like start
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sensing that it was it was just yeah it was just a sense um so that I was really young at that
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point maybe 18 or 19 years old um and then the passion for chocolate really happens I don't believe in
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coincidence um I was uh I work at a restaurant here in town uh the the best restaurant in
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town and one of the best in the country which is uh and uh and being there
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um you know it was like I was I I push it really hard um for two years and I was at certain
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point at the end of the two years in charge of the station on of of lately and
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after I you know I got pregnant and I had to quit my job and when I tried to return to the industry it was when the
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really big um you know collapse of the of the the whole economy happened which was in 2009
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or so so when I wanted to return to my uh career there was no jobs available so
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the only one that I could find was doing chocolate decorations at another casino so I would say chocolate found me I
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didn't really was looking for it um I don't have that dreamy story of since I was a little girl I wanted to
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work with chocolate I think that it was just a little bit of um you know that that was kind of like the path I have to
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to have and was there a specific moment that you can remember that you know you went from
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thinking about production or working in a restaurant to switching to instruction was there something that inspired you
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and you realized that you know deep down you really are a teacher and and that this is what you're supposed to be doing
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so I think that that would that uh was actually once again a little bit of a uh
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something that happened by I was actually in the process of of I had a business partner for a while and we were
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going through some legal issues uh when I decided to leave that company where
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um you know things needed to be a little bit more clear between us and I was kind of like waiting to see what you know
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like with the non-compete in that um that I had us I actually opened a little uh space and uh that I call
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Atelier Melissa kobel which it was just a tiny kitchen with everything I needed but that I wasn't really sure what to do
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with my time yet because I couldn't start selling because of this um and then I said well you know I I
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love to share I taught a few classes before very few two maybe or three
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um and I loved it uh so it was kind of like it was just this precise moment where I say well I can I cannot make
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chocolates to sell yet uh what am I going to do with my time I'm not going to stay home I have this beautiful
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kitchen why not just trying to teach and I literally it was like a midnight post on Instagram where I posted and I say
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I'm going to be teaching this class in a month or so uh whoever is interested just email me uh or write me a message
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here on Instagram and and that house actually how this the school was born and it was very casual and quite funny
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because I didn't have a website so I had a website by the one that's not like a
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website where you could pay it was just a portfolio so it was very funny because people would email me and I said well
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give me a call and I charge you you give me your credit card um and it was very you know like funny
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that way and uh and then if people would like email my address it didn't show a
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schooly show a pain clinic so it was just really funny how people really trust me and there's a lot of interest
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and a lot of people really wanting to see my work and learning from me so I said well I'm enjoying it a lot I'm I'm
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loving it and and it seems people are interested in what I do so it also happened a little bit like that by
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um and and what year did your school start so it's been six years uh so you do the
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math I yeah uh yeah it's been yeah this year in April uh it was six years so the
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first year was in a small school um and then after a year I moved to
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where I am right now so it's been six years and what is the curriculum for your school look like how do you put together
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that curriculum and and what things are included in it so actually right now it's very
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it's a completely shift and transition I think that uh the pandemic proved that
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doesn't matter if something is working uh uh that doesn't mean it's gonna work for more than six months or a year right
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so people that kind of get stuck with a business model and I don't know anything about business don't even you know get
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me wrong I just noticed uh that the trends and the world is at such Fast Pace that you have to constantly be
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um kind of like I think that the world is for open-minded people to be honest I
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feel really bad for those that aren't open-minded because it's tough uh even me that I'm very open-minded I'm like
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wow you know so uh where I'm going with this is I wear I was a completely Hands-On school then the pandemic
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happened and I became a 100 online school now I have kind of like a hybrid
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where you can search um on my website and you might see some online live classes meaning people
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connect with me in real time or with other guest chefs that I invite um then there's also Hands-On classes
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and there's a third one which is called On Demand so you search on demand and you see oh this you know this class
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about caramels sounds great you pay for it and you get it you get immediate access there's also subscriptions and
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now I'm actually super excited to to launch the the new project which is uh chocolatier like a basic chocolatier
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program that it's going to be um online so people will complete in three months a series of tasks and
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there's all kinds of you know Theory and videos and a lot of support and
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um so that's the new the new um let's say uh so it's a little bit for
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everyone um and and I think that the the beauty of this is a lot of people cannot afford
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coming to take my classes for time for money for visas um so it's uh I think that there's so
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many people out there that want to learn and cannot learn it in the you know in the Hands-On way so we have a little bit
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for everyone and do you have any idea of the number of students that you've been able to to
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serve so far do you have any any idea what that number looks like so Hands-On I have no idea I actually never
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really but uh besides every single person that has stepped into my school uh before the pandemic every month I
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would uh teach to a different country around the world um so those were like many countries
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many people then Hands-On in the school I never actually like uh have counted I
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know that during the pandemic over a thousand people for sure um I think between a thousand and two
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thousand people I was I was able to reach my classes are not cheap uh at all
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and um I know that there are many many people that want to take the med simply cannot afford it I just have this debate
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and it's a mental debate I my family calls me Mother Teresa uh because I
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really cannot hear a story of someone that needs and someone that you know requires help even if I don't know them
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I I always want to help everyone so that part of me wants to like teach for free
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to to be honest like and that's my final goal like eventually I will have some sort of foundation or something where I
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will be able to teach for free um unfortunately I have employees and expenses and the real world happens
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right right but I also am aware a part of me is really aware of that people
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that don't pay you know for something they don't you know appreciate it so
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going cheap means even people starting to doubt my work uh like wow this is
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cheap and maybe she doesn't know what she's doing or maybe she's desperate or maybe so you know and I always do this
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relation between a product that you buy so if you buy a pair of shoes that cost you 500 if something happened to them
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you die you are the ones that you think are the prettiest even if they're not uh
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is the ones that you really care for um and then the other pair that you pay 30 dollars and you bought them at like
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you know this shop and I don't know Mark Marshalls or something and they were you
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know it's good good type of shoes but they're just you pay very little for them you don't really care if they got
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lost so they get damaged and it's a perception we give value uh to things like that so I've never been a big fan
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of of of giving my work uh for nothing also because you have to understand that
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when you enter a class of mine everything I know I will give it to you it's not uh that oh you're gonna ask me
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a question about a topic that we're not covering and I'm not going to answer you because you need to register for the next class I'm not that way so pretty
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much once you're in and you're part of the family everything I know I will give to you so I have to protect myself that
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way and and that's fair I think there's a balance and and you like you said you have employees and it's a school and it
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takes money to run that school but uh I I suffer from the same syndrome and sometimes having a big hearts can uh be
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tough you know so totally I definitely understand um it's my understanding that in your
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curriculum you always bring up water activity in your classes and you teach your students about what what activity
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is what why is this important for your students to understand so
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so I think I've seen in the profession because 99.9 percent of the students
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that come to my school they either have a shop and many of them for many years
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and some of them are about to open a shop and a lot of them have haven't even
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heard about the concept so maybe some have and actually wrong because they
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think that water activity means the total water content of a recipe so uh
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for me it's safety overall you know and on curiosity so like how can you not you
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know in a way care of a product that like or or a concept that it's so
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tightly uh it's just for me it's crazy how can you make a bombon and uh with a filling and
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then sell it without knowing for how long that moment is going to be stable um and I understand that it's not really
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out there and they don't teach it at schools they don't I mean I went to uh you know a six-month uh worth of uh in
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the US a program a pastry school no one ever mentioned this uh yes it was like 12 years ago or something but it doesn't
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matter so it's a little bit of knack of lack of knowledge but I also think it's almost
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like covering your eyes a little bit over something because even if nothing no one talks about it and they didn't
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tell you at school it's kind of like wait but if you buy anything at the supermarket there's always an expiration
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date on it right so how come if they don't taught you that at school you never thought about that right so it's a
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little strange right it's a little bit strange um that being said I find it extremely
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important there's not a recipe that leaves this school without that measurement being taken
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um obviously if it's a pastry class no mooses and things like that we don't I don't teach that but when chefs comes in
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they come in I don't but every single recipe on demand online live Hands-On it
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doesn't matter what it is marshmallow compote fat based filling ganache will always have that measurement and then
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the chart on the back telling them this number means this amount of days and and
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I also think a second part of that is that sometimes whoever teaches the concept teaches it
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with very complicated words and I'm not a fan of that so
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for me one of the things that make the school also special is I talk in a very
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simple language and I'm going to tell you right now how I next how I explain it so basically uh you know you say aw
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first of all they don't know what that name you know two letters are right aw sure okay
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activity of the water okay what that means uh I then explain the difference between you know having the amount of
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water and I just say let's say that you have magical powers and you have the capacity of taking every gram of water
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in your recipe so from the water in you know inverted sugar glucose syrup butter cream fruit puree or whatever so once
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you have with that magic wand you take all those little grams of water and you you can actually put them in a bowl and
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measure them that's the amount of the total water of of your recipe but then to explain what really means activity of
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the water I picture them always that they have a bowl with the water from the
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recipe and they have a very clean sponge I have to say clean because I'm very visual so I'm
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envisioning the sponge I want it to be clean brand new actually so you grab that sponge and you you know grab it
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with your hand and you just like tie it tighter tied it put it inside of that ball and uh suddenly that sponge is you
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know really soaked with water and then you lift that sponge and you look on the bottom of the bowl to see if there's
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water and there is a little bit of water there so that's the free water right uh
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what happened what is that sponge it's very easy it's the structure um and how you get that structure you
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know because you have a balanced recipe between the sugars and the proteins you found you you are able to create the
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structure so the water is really tight within the structure and it's not free for bacteria right to feed on
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um and then the little bit that remaining in the ball the ball is the trouble water you know water is live so
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there's gonna be issues with that water that it's not bounded um and I think with this it's a very
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simple explanation it takes me what 45 seconds but suddenly they kind of get it
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in what is this machine measuring you know with atmospheric pressure and so on it's the water that it's you know free
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for bacteria to feed on and and so I think that that little simple
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explanation everybody can understand right you don't have to you know and
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then they start understanding the importance of getting the aw meter or at least testing their ganache recipes in
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Labs that's another option so I I love that explanation I think it's
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great to know I'm probably gonna steal it to be honest Melissa oh my God go for it is great yes because it's simple and
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it's kind of like I don't know I guess um I am very visual anything that you
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you're telling me I'm creating the story of my head I'm like picturing it right so when things have examples that are so
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clear for me it's like oh now I understand what you're telling me versus something that is very hypothetical it's
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just like oh God like I don't even know what you're saying you know so I think that actually makes me a good teacher
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because I talk in a language it's just everybody can understand I don't use French terms besides too shablon and
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frasage that's all the French even though I know all the terms but is it really necessary to start bringing
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French if we're speaking in English um I don't want anyone to feel bad because they don't understand these
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terms you know and and that's what really means inclusivity like to really bring a
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coming together and and being in the same you know part of the same group mm-hmm and I think that's part of the
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reason you and I get along so well is because our jobs are similar in that way that I'm trying to take these
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complicated things and present them in a simple way it doesn't always have to be complicated you don't know have to know
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every single detail and like you I'm very visual so I can really appreciate uh thinking of a sponge or you know
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whatever the visual is it always really helps me to understand and that's part of what I do at meters is help build
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those visuals or help build those explanations that a common person that doesn't necessarily have the the
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background of water activity can now learn this concept and in 45 seconds like like you said right amazing I'm
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glad you liked it and uh when did you first learn about what activity how did you find out about it and uh what was
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your first experience with it so basically uh before I own this well I
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opened the school six years ago I co-owned a wholesale company here in town it was me and a French partner and
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we were supplying for four years I was part of the company for four years um we were supplying casinos with
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casinos at the beginning and then we were shipping all over uh the country products so it was because of of this
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company uh that we you know like I first learned I learned the concept before but
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like implying it into a real you know production and testing daily every recipe and having a log
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um you know where we would write every recipe with Lot number and aw and so on and who made the recipe like kind of
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like the what do you do in big scale was the very first time for me and it was
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then when I you know uh came in you know across or came into using the machine on
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a daily basis so when I moved to the school uh at that point it was like pretty much one of the first things I
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wanted to buy so I bought the the small one the pocket version and uh and then I
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start realizing the importance of teaching that to students so at first I bought it for my own personal usage then
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as I told you this the school kind of happens because life you know put it that way wanted it to be that way
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um and then I start in you know from the very beginning and I think over the years I'm getting better and better at
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explaining the concept I think this little story that I told you I've been saying it for the last year or so before
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I would explain a little bit different uh but then it occurred to me to like really understand it that way because I
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kind of I had to find a way to to put it in in in words that you could picture and it
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would be easier and the same exact way has happened to me with my formulas so
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it's super unique because I only teach formulation in the formulation class I don't teach for example right now I'm
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teaching a four day class on running a chocolate production that one is all about being you know fast and practical
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and you know simple decorations and flavors that everybody likes and how you pack and ship and sand and that part of
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the kind of like the business part um so I'm not teaching formulation but it doesn't matter like all the recipes
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has the aw and then I also explain a little bit of the concepts why I'm putting things together so I think the
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more I go the more I understand how to formulate having great texture Great Taste and
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grade aw which I think is the final goal if you ask me what is the perfect ganache recipe I'll tell you the ganache
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where you could hide the most amount of sugar that's pretty much it like I will just I don't say anything else like
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people get all complicated about it it's like no no all you're doing when you're formulating ganache recipe is hiding
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sugar and how you hide it is very easy with bitterness and with acidity that's it so I can actually it's very acidic
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it's very easy to have a great taste texture and shelf life because you were able to put a lot of sugars and you
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don't feel it a very bitter ganache it's very easy like a caramel but then when
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you start with your ashes that are in bitter by nature or or acidic by Nature that is when it's the expertise comes in
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place to hide those sugars so that's kind of have been kind of the journey with the aw meter and and I like
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that comment that the better you understand water activity the better you start to understand your formulations
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and a part of my job a lot of the reason that food scientists or other scientists
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come to us it's almost always formulation you know they always want the answer and they want to understand how their ingredients are interacting
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and I think if you start with the basics if you start with water activity then over time you understand your
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formulation better and and how new ingredients are going to affect the final water activity in shelf life and
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all these things so I I thought that was a really good point that you brought up it's actually very funny because
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um you know for during the pandemic I all I did was teach so everybody was
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kind of locked down home a little bit working part-time not working whatever relax whatever and it's the time of my
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life where I think I work the most because we were with a new concept of online classes and every week we would
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put a new um a new program so it was either teaching or creating the new products
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for the new program um and then I realized after a year and a half that I was so burned out so I
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stopped for two months completely to teach because I was I wanted to retire I was so tired
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um so I kept joking I'm about to retire and then with my assistant with Kyoko she's amazing she's Japanese we were
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um working really closely on developing new recipes and the amount of growth in
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those two months I got from formulation I think I like not even in like the last five years because all I did for two
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months was every day really focus on formulation so but then I understood
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that because I'm very creative and sometimes it's kind of hard to catch me like I'm out there and I don't like put
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it on the table it's kind of flying dreaming you know so I said no the only way this is gonna work if it's I
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organize myself per flavor so I start grabbing one single flavor and thinking
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how far I can take this flavor you know what are the things and down and but with a with a purpose the purpose was
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developing ebooks so people could print those out have them in their kitchens and chocolate kitchens mostly or pastry
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kitchens and then have like a binder with this recipe so the only one that it's out right now is the pistachio and
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it's very interesting because my formulas before and after these two and a half months or two months have changed
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completely completely now I'm into like making an ashes with really low percentage of chocolate or no chocolate
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at all just cocoa butter and it's just so fascinating what you get from from
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these kind of formulation so there's a never-ending point and it's so
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important to no formulation no aw and understand ingredients in general
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well speaking of formulation I do have a few products here that you send for us to try and um I'd like to start with the
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smaller product about it and and let me know what this is and what I can expect
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for a minute so there's two different bars that you have there um those are what I call American Style
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candy bars it's really you know childhood memories at its best there's two different ones that you have there
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there's one that it's called Milky Way my way so it's the idea of a Milky Way
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even though the flavors are a little bit different so I'm not using in this one um it's the one that has the hazelnuts
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on top you have actually the on the back the the stickers with uh so one is Milky
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Way and the other one is the peanut butter um it's a sneaker so it's the one it's
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with hazelnuts and one is with um it's really
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uh you I think it's a you know really bring it's a tribute to those candy bars
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that everybody grew especially Americans I'm not American I'm Colombian but anyways anyhow we do always find a way
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to get those you know uh American American bars so it's an adult version I
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would say you know where I'm combining the same elements not necessarily in the same flavor a profile so the Milky Way
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has a coconut nuga a soft caramel with a little bit of coffee and some janduja
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Hazel and janduja and the other one is more soft and soft caramel in peanut
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butter and some caramelized peanuts so very down the childhood memory lane
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um very nostalgic and then what about these uh chocolates I'll go ahead and try them in a second I
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hate to to chew right into your ear but uh I also want to show these off as well
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so what is the second product that you have sent for us so that's actually
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a chocolate box um that one combines molded bombings and
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as well as and roped so I am most well known for the molded
30:18
pieces um and I would say and it's funny to explain to people that aren't in the industry when my family for example say
30:25
but why they invite you to Ukraine and you know Israel and you know Switzerland
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and Belgium and all these countries like they like they don't understand what's what's the concept behind the invitation
30:36
like why am I so special and I just it's funny for me to explain that it's just because the way my bombings shine
30:43
they're like what you know no one that has invited me ever has tried my bombers they don't even
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know if if they taste well um it's just a shine so that's kind of
30:54
like my special my specialty is how I paint uh Slash uh the shine that I get
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onto onto those um and then the robots which are the square ones I really enjoy making them
31:07
and I think they have to be at the same level of perfection if you wish than the other
31:12
ones um so it's an assorted box of of my moments honestly they're so shiny that
31:20
when I first opened this I thought there was more packaging on it like you're trying to remove the the second layer of
31:26
plastic yeah yeah I'm sure that this camera probably doesn't do it justice but uh actually yeah for the shine you
31:34
need not natural light once you sure I suffer when when we do the buffet because it's inside obviously in the
31:40
school and it's like it's never the same uh but I have to say something that it's
31:46
actually quite important for me and it's that I pay much more attention to the inside um even though it might look you know
31:52
that it's a outside my focus but I think the outside is what catch people's attention to my work uh my
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uh and that makes I think the the class is also very unique for students because
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it's same amount of detail on the outside than on the inside which it's
32:11
it's not that easy to to get usually uh sometimes you know it happens that
32:16
people focus way too much on the outside you have these gorgeous cakes and then you try them and it's disappointing or
32:21
vice versa so it's one thing that I tell students be very careful if you focus only on the outside because people come
32:28
one very first time for the shine and the look and the beauty if it's disappointed they're never coming back
32:35
right I'm gonna go ahead and try one of these while you're here so I'm gonna please take this one and when you lift
32:40
you see the flavor on the bottom oh I love that yeah there's information about it underneath
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I I love this packaging maybe while I try this you can uh tell me a little bit about the packaging and how you came up
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with these colors and the marketing of it oh actually
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if I we hired a um a company in Barcelona
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um they are it's called so z-o-o well zoo in English but it's really so in
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Spanish um and they uh they're amazing they're super super creative and uh when I you
33:16
know hire them to do The Branding of the of this of actually of at that point it was not The Branding of the school the
33:21
Branded of Melissa couples um they came out with that packaging and I have four different boxes uh plus the
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the tablets the little bar sorry um actually the inspiration I loved it because it's uh it's kind of the lights
33:35
of Las Vegas uh as well as the the shine of my bomb on so it's kind of like that play on there
33:41
um and it's very feminine the packaging which at the beginning it was funny because I didn't quite like so much that
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fact actually this one is not too pink but the other boxes have a little bit more pink in them and then I started
33:54
really questioning myself why I'm like trying to be so bold with my with my color even when I painted you know it
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was everything was very bold and black and red and then I realized you know I think it's that part of you that it's
34:07
very tough to be a woman in the kitchen and pretty much I'm sure you imagine that and and I think that you toughen up
34:13
in a way that but it's it's just silly you know thinking that because I use a black box I'm tougher than if I use a
34:19
pink box right so they were the ones that convinced me and they're like Melissa you're a woman and you should be feminine in your packages should set it
34:26
and should say it and they're like okay I didn't like At first also the heart because the I don't know
34:32
if you saw it's thicker but it's an emcee it's like a kind of like a heart and I'm like oh pink and hard what is
34:38
this too soft and then they're like no and then they have this big explanation about the reason why and so I laugh
34:45
about myself and I'm like you're right you know it's beautiful right I love it the colors kind of remind me of like a
34:52
sunset yeah and I like that the they're kind of different in the front and that it almost transitions tonight on the
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side so I really like the packaging as far as the flavor goes I've never had a chocolate like this it essentially just
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melted perfectly in my mouth the the flavor was spot on so I I wish everyone listening could try
35:11
um if there is somebody listening who wants to try this how can they get these products what's the best way to try these so we uh that's where the funny
35:20
part uh starts so I'm basically a school and for now I'm pretty much always out
35:26
of stock I sell very little and when I to upload some products on the website they run really fast
35:32
but that being said I'm a little kind of like feeling kind of guilty about it
35:38
because everybody asked me and I'm never I never have not even for friends family people that come and visit the school I
35:44
never have uh availability because I'm so busy with the school so I started in
35:50
at the end of September once the heat wave leaves I'm gonna start opening a pop-up shop here and in town in Las
35:57
Vegas I haven't decided if it's going to be Fridays or Saturdays I think it's going to be Fridays uh afternoon that
36:04
being said I'm gonna start producing more Ramones because of the pop-up so online you go to melissacouple.com and
36:10
uh you can either buy the bombers try to get a box of bombas or you can get maybe
36:17
interested in learning how to make them yourself well I feel extremely privileged to to
36:22
try these out so thank you for sending this to us thank you in my watch I really appreciate it my last question
36:29
for you is what's next what's next for your school what were you looking at doing maybe later this year or five
36:34
years ten years down the road what what's what's uh life look like for you you know
36:40
um lately after the pandemic I've been feeling a necessity to connect with
36:46
people and that's actually why I decided to start the pop-up and it's kind of like dipping my finger a little bit in
36:52
what it's going to really feel like producing like a little bit bigger volumes while I still have the school
36:59
and depending on how that goes I would open a little shop
37:04
um or not like I want to test myself first to see um because I have an 11 year old and I
37:11
also know you know the responsibility of having a shop on the retail part that's kind of like
37:16
the idea to test it first to see how I feel and how people react also to my products you know
37:22
um and then uh with the school uh I think that is really putting a lot of
37:29
effort on the chocolatier program it's going to be a base it's going to be a basic slash medium and then a second one
37:36
coming after which is the advance and um it's just gonna be I think really
37:42
really exciting because this program is not going to be just a program taught by Melissa Coppell it's actually a program
37:49
where I'm going to be inviting other circular teas uh to be part of it so I
37:55
think it's going to be super super exciting and unique because um it's going to be a program taught by
38:00
really the best professionals out there um really bringing the level of
38:06
chocolate to a different uh I think that in pastry you find a lot of information
38:11
a lot of books a lot of professionals a lot of you know uh in chocolate no so my
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goal is to have the best chocolate School in the world that's really what I want that's amazing and in six years you've
38:24
already come so far and I'm excited to see where this goes so thank you again so much for coming on to water and food
38:30
I'm so happy that we were able to finally coordinate this and get you on the show and we may even have to have
38:35
you back at some point to get an update on your school and and see where things are at so thank you Melissa we we really
38:41
appreciate you thank you so much Zachary it was a pleasure was all mine and I'm very happy that you liked the bombers
38:48
enjoy them and really cannot wait to be back thank you Melissa we'll see you bye
38:56
I'm Zachary Cartwright this is water and food [Music] find this podcast on Apple iTunes
39:02
Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts