Michelle Smith, owner of Chocolate Dreams, widely regarded as Jamaica’s premier chocolatier, has decided to sweeten up the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

At the Jamaica Observer‘s Food Award’s pre-event dinner at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston last night, Smith announced that she has restructured her board of directors and is developing a succession plan with the aim to list her company in the next 18 months.

“It’s a lot of hard work getting ready for investors, and we are committed to get it done. The JSE is how we are going to preserve the legacy of Chocolate Dreams for not only my family, but my beloved country.”

Smith’s story can be seen as one of easy success, but really it is one of determination and reinvention. The business model first started as a provider of chocolate as part of Jamaica’s first erotic store, Nice and Naughty. Chocolate Dreams then focused on retail with three locations. Then the company developed relationships with the seven largest hotel chains in the Caribbean to supply turn down chocolates that the staff place on freshly made beds as guests check in. Additionally, there is the relationship with the Appleton Rum Tour to supply specialty rum-flavoured chocolates.

And now, Chocolate Dreams is shopping for a 3000-square foot building to turn into a Willy Wonka style chocolate factory and tourist destination. Quite where though, is anyone’s guess — though it “will be Kingston for sure”, Smith told the Jamaica Observer.

“I’ve been looking and looking and looking,” Smith told the Jamaica Observer. “I have someone looking very feverishly right now.” There was an idea to create the destination in Grants Pen, Kingston, but another thought is downtown Kingston, in anticipation of cruise ships stopping there.

Smith explains her journey. “We started in 2004 out of my family’s apartment where I lived with my then husband and babies. Now I have a team of 21 people and 2 locations. Fourteen years ago, I didn’t know anything about chocolate and I used the internet to learn how to make cake and my brother said that it looked like an Orange elastic pudding.” Smith’s sweet tooth kept pushing her further. “I worked almost 18 hours a day as a newly divorced mom and I looked after my two kids from a distance — we had made the decision that they would live with their father. However, I was always there for them. And I learned to overcome the bumps in the road. Everything I do is for my family.”

As Smith sorted out her family life, she decided to expand beyond the apartment.

“Next we made a decision to find an office space and shared a 900-sq ft with Mike Matalon. My office was the kitchen as our location was this old meat factory that we converted. We made chocolate and baked…which was difficult to do because we had stoves and freezers. Also, we went to every trade show I could think of. I built my brand by giving away chocolate. Funny, when I look back, I see I did it backways. The Chocolate Dream brand is bigger than our operations. When you see the factory it is tiny, and I made the decision to keep things tight.”

Smith explained that she always kept her eye on the bottomline. “When you live in a country where there is not enough for the entrepreneur, when you go to the bank and you can get money for a car but not a business because people just don’t believe you can do it, it means you have to watch expenses and keep things tight.”

Smith also confesses, “I made a lot of mistakes and a lot of enemies. And that is from trying my best to make happen what I want to see happen.”

As Smith grew in confidence so did the locations of the brand.

“In 2009, we opened the Devon House store and that helped us a great deal. The ‘walk-foot traffic’ was tremendous.” Six years later, a fire wiped them out. “In 2010, I got a call that the store had burnt down in Devon House. When you are in the food industry and there is a fire, everything has to go. We had to throw away hundreds of boxes of teddy bears, ribbons, everything…it was a total wipe out.”

Yet, Chocolate Dreams could not be stopped. “I was able to rebuild in six weeks because my partner believed in me and helped me with financing.” As the business continued, Smith had to adjust to a life of challenges. “In business, every day you deal with high overheads and especially in the food industry there is a lot of unskilled labour — most people in the food industry want to work on the north coast than Kingston, don’t ask me why.”

Then there is the inevitable competition. “I know that people are bringing in cakes from China, yet I don’t compromise on quality. I believe there is a place for the $10,000 cake and the $2 cake…I believe in quality, as I will not compromise on the standards that I set. And you don’t know what is in the $2 cake. I understand that people have to consider their pocket. However, you have to consider the quality you are getting.”

That said, Smith explains, “Despite the bumps in the road, I am still going and that says a lot for my business and says a lot for me.” When asked about why she continues to push forward, Smith becomes patriotic. “I love Jamaica. I could have left in 1979 with my mom. Yet, I am determined to make it work here. Yes, everything else overseas is glorious yet this is my home and my father raised me to see Jamaica as my home, and I will be damned if anyone will get me out.”