Jan 26, 2009

Mary Ann’s Chocolates craves drop-insBy Juanita WestabyMLive.com

East Grand Rapids, MI — Music teacher Mary Hillyard did a full-body double-take when she saw the newest Gaslight Village business was an old favorite: Mary Ann’s Chocolates.

She and three other East Grand Rapids teachers trooped in on impulse.

“I’ve got to stop and get something for my wife,” said music teacher Bill Bier.

Don Kallil, a managing partner, is familiar with that reaction now. He hadn’t finished the shop’s interior, and paper still covered the windows when “people just opened the door and said, ‘We’re coming in,'” he said.

But not only is Mary Ann’s Chocolates now open at 2226 Wealthy St. SE, with a grand opening planned next month, the new owner is taking the local delicacies nationwide.

Kallil took over the business in October from the daughter of the original owner, Mary Ann Maloney.

JoAnne Abraham had been managing the business after selling it three years ago to Dan Pfeiffer. She put Kallil in touch with Pfeiffer.

With 22 years in the gift industry with his company, Design Design Inc., Kallil saw potential in Mary Ann’s Chocolates.

“Chocolates are a gift, and they fit right in with a gift company,” Kallil said.

His 75-member sales force that sells 8,000 Design Design products in stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom is now selling the chocolates.

Maloney still works in the factory at 4695 44th St. SE, Kallil said. The factory’s five employees include her grandson, Anthony Abraham, the head chocolatier.

Read complete article.