February 12, 2006

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Santa Cruz—Ian Mackenzie didn’t expect to be a chocolate maker. It was his mom’s hobby, after all.

But he must have inherited a cocoa gene because, at 42, he’s quite happy to run Mackenzies Chocolates.

He’s in charge of the production side while his wife, Mary Rose, supervises retail sales. Their children, Megan, 14, and Colin, 9, helped during the Christmas rush. Valentine’s Day means another blitz of customers, with 10 percent of the store’s sales expected in a five-day stretch.

The company’s specialty is chocolate molded into a variety of shapes, from seashells and turtles to strawberries, butterflies and the Eiffel Tower. Mackenzie is excited about the latest, a pair of faces depicting Greek comedy and tragedy.

“It’s based on artwork my Mum did,” he explained, sitting at a table with a wall full of special molds behind him. “We sent it to a moldmaker in Holland.”

From upgrading equipment to keeping up with European currency and creating a site for sales on the Web, there’s always something new to do.

“This is what makes it fun—new stuff,” Mackenzie said.

Listening to Mackenzie talk about how chocolate has to be heated and cooled at precise temperatures and how he developed his very own recipe for caramel, it’s hard to believe this talkative fellow with a goatee hadn’t planned to go into the family business.

His mother hadn’t intended to start a chocolate dynasty.

“It was a hobby gone wild,” Mackenzie said.

Immigrants from Canada

It all started with his Mum.

Thelma Mackenzie, who grew up on a farm in eastern Canada, studied typing and shorthand. She married Colin Mackenzie, an Englishman in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and put him through medical school. By the time he added “MD” to his name, the couple had three children.

The doctor had a yen to see the United States, so the family moved to Oroville, then to Santa Cruz in 1965 when Dr. Donald Seapy was looking for help in his Scotts Valley clinic.

Thelma enjoyed cooking and sewing and candy-making, but doing it on top of the stove was a challenge. Then, as a 25th anniversary present, her husband gave her a machine to “temper” chocolate. Soon Thelma had heating chocolate down cold.

You might consider chocolate temperamental. It has to be heated to 110 degrees, but no more than 120 degrees. That’s “the danger zone” where chocolate can be scorched. Chocolate also has to be cooled properly, which is easier to do in Santa Cruz where there is no humidity.

When cooking chocolate at home got out of hand, the Mackenzies spotted a sign shop on Soquel Avenue for sale. They bought the property and planned to renovate the building, but it burned down before they could start work. So they built from scratch.

Thelma designed the shop, giving it an English cottage look familiar to her husband. City officials told the couple they could have any even number up to 1498. They picked 1492, the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and came up with a sailing ship for their logo. Look closely at the sail and you’ll see the letters “C” and “T,” which stand for Colin and Thelma.

The shop opened in 1984. Thelma immediately began winning awards at the retail confectioners’ convention for her innovations. She was one of the first to develop a hollow chocolate egg for Easter, putting special confections inside.

The second generation of the business started by accident.

Once again, Thelma got the ball rolling. She needed some help at the shop; her husband asked his medical assistant to pitch in. Before the new employee showed up, Thelma predicted her son and the new hire would marry. She was right.

Ian and Mary Rose Mackenzie have been married 18 years. They live around the corner from the chocolates shop.

Their first date involved a bet on the Super Bowl: 49ers vs. the Miami Dolphins. The Coke can with the game score on it sits in the office at the shop, a memento of the occasion.

Running the business

Mackenzie, wearing an denim apron sewn by his Mum, detailed how the shop has changed over the years.

A machine called a “one-shot depositer” has revolutionized the business. It cut labor by 70 percent. Before, five people would spend four hours to squeeze chocolate into 100 molds—kind of like milking a cow. Now it takes 45 minutes.

Mackenzie is sold on the equipment and serves as the sales representative in America.

In 1992, he went to “candy school,” an intensive program in Pennsylvania where he learned from experts in the business, including teachers imported from England. Returning home, he spent a month working on a caramel recipe before he found a way to make it creamy but not too sticky.

That led to a top-selling product, Cruz Crunch, a combination of chocolate, peanuts, Rice Krispies and caramel.

Ten years ago, the shop created a chocolate banana slug, in honor of the mascot at the university campus in Santa Cruz. It’s not anatomically correct, but it’s popular at the campus bookstore and “the university buys hundreds at a time,” Mackenzie said.

As immigrants, he and his dad also kept a close eye on currency. The one-shot depositer, for example, is a Swiss specialty not manufactured in America, so exchange rates apply.

“When the dollar hit an all-time high, we went on a buying spree,” Mackenzie said, recalling how one euro could be had for only 85 cents. Now it takes $1.19.

His Mum always had ideas for new products. When she proposed a pregnant pig for Valentine’s Day, her son was skeptical. It was a best-seller.

Like any other family that runs a business, the Mackenzies have had to work out their differences.

One turning point came in 1992. Mackenzie, who had completed his college degree at San Jose State University four years before, found a 50-50 arrangement with his Mum wasn’t working. A solution appeared when Thelma decided to step back from the business to spend time with her newborn granddaughter, Megan.

Another big change took place seven years ago when Mackenzie’s wife, Mary Rose, began working at the shop full time. Here’s how they divided up their duties.

“She’s the boss at home, and I’m the boss at work,” Mackenzie said.

He wasn’t sure it made sense to set up a Web site to sell chocolate, figuring it would only attract customers from out of the area. The site was launched in November, and two of his largest Web customers are from Santa Cruz.

“I’m shocked,” Mackenzie said. “People are into convenience. Point, click, deliver.”

Even though the business sometimes requires working seven days a week, he sees family advantages.

“I got to see my kids growing up,” he said. “They never had a minute of day care.”

Instead of hiring a baby-sitter, he put up a playpen at the shop. They learned to entertain themselves while their parents worked. And because they lived within walking distance, they could always stop in for a piece of chocolate—as long as they brushed their teeth.

Thelma, who is 73, retired three years ago, but still keeps her hand in, helping assemble Easter baskets.

Whether the business will be run by the third generation remains to be seen.

Given his own initial reluctance to work for his Mum, Mackenzie is leaving the decision up to his children, although he’s noticed his daughter is “incredible with customers” and more than held her own in December.

If the Mackenzie children pursue other passions, customers may have to get their chocolate fix elsewhere.

“I don't think we'd ever sell,” Mackenzie said. “It is our last name.”