Alpine Chocolat Haus is “where the magic comes to life,” but today “chocolat meister” Bruce Brown and his team of 25 volunteers share the magic.
The famous Chocolat Haus, along with a few Ashby's Sterling ice cream flavors, cost 50 cents until 10 p.m. in support of Sault Area Little League.
“This fundraiser, today, is going to be nice,” said Brown. “Today, we will probably raise about $2,500. A lot of people are throwing in more money, because it is all donation. I donate 100% of the money to little league, so I keep none of it.”
Brown owns all four Alpine Chocolat Haus locations in Gaylord, Boyne City, Sault Ste. Marie and Plymouth.
“I have been doing this in Gaylord for over 20 years,” said Brown about little league fundraising efforts. “That is where I live; it is where my main store is. I used to play little league. I am very fond of little league, and that is why I got behind that organization.”
The little league season started about three weeks ago in the Sault, and games have already begun.
“We had our first games in majors last week,” said fundraising volunteer, Sault Area Little League coach Dave Hall. “Minors started yesterday, so we are going. Everything is in full effect. We are going. Everybody's having fun already. That is for sure.”
Hall has a daughter in tee-ball and son in the rookies. Therefore, he spends the majority of his summer teaching kids softball and baseball basics. He and seven other volunteers sit on the Sault Area Little League board. In truth, there is very little sitting to be done.
“Bruce is gracious enough that all donations from here will go straight to little league, so it will get them their jerseys,” said Hall. “We are getting scoreboards this year. The money is for field maintenance and all of that stuff. This is our big day to get money, outside of people paying to have their kids play.”
District Manager for the Sault Mike Cavanaugh said it is all about the kids: “Ice cream and summer, why not?”
“It is a great way to give back, and everybody looks forward to it,” said Cavanaugh.
Alpine Chocolat Haus has been open since 1985.
“We opened downtown in 2010,” said Brown. “I have been in the Sault since 2010. This is my hometown. I was born and raised here. I graduated from here.”
Brown referred to opening the candy stores as a “fluke” occurrence.
“A candy store came available in Gaylord, and that is where my wife at the time was working,” said Brown. “We thought, ‘Why not?’ I was 28-years-old. Let’s give it a shot.”
Brown and Cavanaugh agreed business has been good this season with 20 ice cream flavors to choose from, especially as it gets warmer
“Our newest one is lavender honey,” said Cavanaugh. “We use real ingredients. I mean, we use Madagascar vanilla.”
Madagascar vanilla is extracted from the fruit of an orchid species native to Mexico.
“There is about five pounds of honey in a batch of ice cream,” said Cavanaugh.
Dairy products come straight from a Michigan farm.
“We get it from Betsy down in Nashville, Mich.,” Brown chuckled in a joking manner. “That is the name of the cow.”
“We use real ingredients in everything we do,” Cavanaugh reiterated.
“These are all my ice cream recipes,” said Brown. “We will get about three to four containers out of a batch, so when we make a batch of ice cream, we will make anywhere from eight to five gallons at a time.”
Brown and his employees make mostly every item in the store.
“Except for the gummy bears,” Brown said. “That kind of stuff I don’t make, but everything else in here is stuff I make.”
The chocolat meister listed off chocolates, creams, clusters, caramel corn, and etc. Chocolate covered potato chips happens to be the store’s number one seller.
“We are the number one user of Ruffles potato chips in Michigan,” said Cavanaugh.
Not too far behind in store sales is caramel corn and cased chocolates.
“We do make a caramel sea salt, and that is really good,” said Brown. “They are covered in milk or dark chocolate. That sells really well. We make our own sea foam. You don’t see that much anymore. It used to be called sponge candy.”
People have been in and out of the store on this sunny day, picking out ice cream and browsing through the many selection. The blue donation bin is filling up fast.
“Everything goes right back to the kids,” said Hall. “We don’t get paid. There are eight volunteers working the board, field and everything else. I will be here until 9 p.m. today, so this is what we do.”
In order to donate to Sault Little League, visit its website at: www.saultarealittleleague.com
