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New owner vows no change for Van's Chocolates

Christie and Bryan Vanderlois will continue in consulting roles as new owner Will Ralston (right) takes over Van's Chocolates.

Van's chocolates are unlike Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You do know what you're going to get: quality handcrafted candy, whether it's a truffle, a caramel or a nut- or cream-filled mound.

Will Ralston, the new owner of Van's Chocolates, appreciates that. He wants to make one thing perfectly clear. Van's Chocolates won't change. The shop, he vows, will continue to make chocolate treats as it always has, by hand, in small batches.
Although they sold the company to Ralston last month, family matriarch Peg Vanderlois and her children Bryan and Christie are staying on to make candy and teach Ralston the recipes and processes.
"There is absolutely nothing I want to change at all," Ralston said. "I want everybody in the community to know that. I just want to uphold Van's recipes so there's a seamless transition."
Peg and Russ Vanderlois used recipes from Russ's mother to make candy as gifts for the holiday season starting in 1968. The candy store has been in business in Hendersonville ever since, with Vanderlois family members using the old recipes in the handcrafted chocolates, truffles, caramels and toffee sweets.
Ralston got his start in chocolate through marriage. His in-laws, Phil and Jamie Holtje, sold a printing company in Wisconsin and bought a chocolate candy company in Rockledge, Fla., in 2009. Ralston specialized in sales and marketing.
"I doubled the size in the first year with an increase in sales of 27 percent," he said.
The company, Grimaldi Candies, donates its profits to local charities and the Viera Water Network, a Christian organization that works to supply fresh water solutions to underdeveloped countries including Nicaragua, Haiti, Zambia and Peru.


Many transitions

Ralston and his wife, Celeste, started looking around for a chocolate shop of their own.
"We used to vacation here a lot," he said. "Our research takes us to chocolate places everywhere we go."
While on a trip to the mountains, they looked at Downtown Chocolates in Brevard and Van's in Hendersonville.
"My wife had the great idea of calling them and asking if they were for sale," he said. "Downtown Chocolates wasn't and Van's was."
If the Ralstons do anything new, it may be to develop a product that schools and community groups could sell as a fundraiser. It's unlikely to be chocolate candy, Ralston said, because the price point for quality chocolate is too high for a fundraiser. He'd also like to have enough sales year-round — chocolate sales go up and down by seasons — to keep a steady work force.
"I think the biggest thing is keeping people employed," he said. "I think employment for people is a huge thing to consider."
Will and Celeste expect to close on a house this month in Edneyville. They have a daughter in pre-K and another in kindergarten and a 6-week-old son. While the Ralstons are bearing a load of life-altering transitions —selling a house, buying a house, buying a new business, nurturing a newborn, navigating the holidays — Will says the family's faith and numerous lucky breaks have made the experience sweet.
Asked what was important about his new ownership, he repeated his vow to remain faithful to the Van's Chocolates taste that customers know and love.
"I really think it's vital for people to understand that Peg is here and my total goal is to learn the craft and not change, not change, not change."