“If you ever start to feel inadequate at what you’re doing, don’t let that stop you.
Ranny Starnes is the co-owner and head chocolatier at Choco Bella in Florence, SC. She develops and designs new chocolate bonbon flavors and makes them by hand with her team.
Interview
Transcript
Randy Starnes
Date: Aug 30, 2024
Haley Hansen 0:00
What is your name, where are you from, and what do you do?
Randy Starnes 0:00
Randy Starnes. I’m originally from eastern North Carolina, a small town called Ahoskie, North Carolina. I currently live in Florence, South Carolina. I have been here for about 17 years and I’m the co-owner of Choco Bella, a small Belgian-chocolate shop that also sells gelato in downtown Florence.
Haley Hansen 0:00
Can you tell me your official job title?
Randy Starnes 0:22
I’m a chocolatier.
Haley Hansen 0:24
Can you walk me through your typical workday, maybe what you did yesterday or last week?
Randy Starnes 0:31
For our bonbons, hand-painted, colorful pieces made in molds. It is usually a five-day process, and our production is broken up by day, very structured: every Monday we do the same thing, every Tuesday the same thing.
Randy Starnes 0:52
Monday is our big day and the longest and most artistic part, our painting day. We use colored cocoa butters that behave like paint, except they’re solid at room temperature. So, we heat them in small increments to liquefy and keep them warm. We use airbrushes, paintbrushes, gloves, and lots of techniques to get different designs for each flavor.
Randy Starnes 1:23
Tuesday is shelling day. Once the paint sets overnight, we coat the molds with a thin layer of chocolate to pipe fillings into. Sometimes we also make caramels that day. Wednesday is filling or “ganache” day, when we create all the different ganache’s. Thursday is free-for-all: we put the bottom layer of chocolate on the bonbons to seal them and crack-and-dump. Either Thursday or Friday, depending on the volume. That is our schedule for every week.
Haley Hansen 2:08
How did you wind up working in that field?
Randy Starnes 2:11
I grew up in food, my family owned a restaurant, so I’ve been in food and beverage since childhood. I always worked in front of the house, majored in Hospitality Management in East Carolina, and managed fine-dining restaurants through college. After relocating to Pennsylvania, I co-ran a deli, needed benefits, and took a part-time job at Starbucks, which led me into coffee management. Eventually, corporate life burned me out, and with two small kids I needed better quality of life.
A friend told me about Dolce Vita- a wine-and-chocolate bar in Florence, adding coffee. I launched a coffee shop. Their chocolatier (now my partner, Marvin) intrigued me, so I asked to learn chocolate. After a one-day crash course, I dove in following chocolatiers on Instagram, reading forums, experimenting with colors. That led us to open Choco Bella in November 2020, right in the pandemic, with investment from Dr. Keith and downtown-renovation grants.
Haley Hansen 7:58
Oh, wow. The timing is crazy.
Randy Starnes 8:01
Yes, the pandemic delayed equipment and plans. Once we opened, I taught myself airbrushing cocoa butter and took the three-month École Chocolate online program: videos, tutorials, tasks, lots of tempering practice. It filled the gaps proper chocolate and cocoa-butter tempering, troubleshooting, the works.
Haley Hansen 9:17
What was the biggest adjustment or challenge when you started Choco Bella?
Randy Starnes 9:23
Timing really COVID-19. Opening cafés is familiar to me, but the pandemic added unknowns: social distancing in our 750-sq-ft shop (only three customers at a time), supply-chain delays, and wondering if Florence would support $20 boxes of chocolates or $5–$7 gelato. It was scary, but the community rallied around local businesses, which was a blessing.
Haley Hansen 11:12
If someone wants a role like yours, what skills should they acquire?
Randy Starnes 11:19
First, curiosity about food. Experimenting with flavors and having a good palate are essential. Also, creativity if I were not making chocolate, I’d be painting at home. Pastry-school training can help with recipe science, because chocolate work is precise and math-heavy. Above all, keep learning; after six years I still learn every week.
Haley Hansen 13:32
Any organizations or programs in South Carolina you would recommend?
Randy Starnes 13:43
I can’t speak to pastry schools; I didn’t go that route but there are many online chocolatier programs with live classes and minimal startup costs. Everyone begins by hand-tempering chocolate; you can upgrade to a tempering machine later.
Randy Starnes 14:30
Pastry school might have sped me up, but I tend to explore and find my own path.
Haley Hansen 14:53
Advice for students pursuing creative or culinary careers?
Randy Starnes 15:02
Stay creative and curious. Failure, especially in recipe development, teaches you to succeed. Learn the rules so you can break them. Work in food service to see back-of-house reality; it’s repetitive and physically demanding, so be sure you love it. Programs that place students in kitchens for short stints are great for trying it out.
Haley Hansen 18:07
Anything else you would like to add?
Randy Starnes 18:10
You know, like I said, we love what we do. It is a labor of love. But if, if you truly love it, which we do, it makes it worth coming back here every Monday painting and shelling. When it gets to the point where it is in your customers’ hands, and they light up, that is what it is all about for us.
I’m mostly back of the house now, but I get that reassurance from the customers when they are like, oh my God, my daughter loved this gift and was such a great gift. Or these chocolates at the wedding, everybody was oohing and aching so that is what it’s all about. Sharing our passion through food.
