Epiphanie Chocolate

It wasn’t enough for Debra Fleck to simply eat chocolate. She had to learn how to make it, too. Completely self-taught, after years of practise, her artisan, French-style chocolates are no longer the centre of a passionate hobby but a thriving full-time business. She and her husband John opened Epiphanie Chocolate in 2009 in the historic Brigden Block in Connaught.

“I’ve always loved chocolate,” says Debra. “I come from a family of chocoholics. If a dessert or candy wasn’t chocolate, then it just wasn’t acceptable.” As a high school teen, she skipped school to attend a chocolate-making demonstration at a local mall. She was hooked. Despite completing her business degree while on a fastball scholarship at an American university, her love of chocolate ultimately took over. “I chased after what I was passionate about,” she says.