It would be difficult to find a more highly educated pair of chocolatiers. Alison Gerlach was an undergraduate in math and economics at Cornell and received an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jason Gerlach studied government at Cornell (where the two met), received a law degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Master’s in Public Policy at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW.
Their mutual love of food brought them together and now forms the basis for Allie's Edibles. Alison has always been an avid amateur chef. “I got a mock marriage proposal from Jason during the first meal I made for him,” Alison laughs.
They found that they both loved restaurants and finding new little food shops with artisan products, especially candy shops. Alison confesses, “I would call my sweet tooth epic,” and Jason adds, “I’m not as bad as she is but I can definitely put away good sweets!”
Professionally, they pursued careers that would seem to have little to do with making chocolates: Jason with multi-national corporate law firms and Alison as a consultant to Fortune 100 consumer packaged goods firms and consulting with entrepreneurs on starting, optimizing and building new businesses.
Alison worked in Europe for a while in the 90’s and fell in love with European chocolates. She began experimenting with blends and developed her own chocolate recipes. At holidays her chocolates became much-anticipated gifts for family and friends. The response to her peanut butter candies were “so over-the-top” that colleagues advised her to start her own company.
A self-described “entrepreneurial addict,” Alison says, “I’ve worked with and assisted creative people for my whole career, but this is the first time I’ve started a company in which I created the products. Every recipe is one I have developed, driven by my own love of the flavor.”
After their second child was born they decided to focus their complimentary business skills on Alison’s Edibles, though Alison still does some consulting (“I love the teaching,” she says.)
The couple decided not to follow the trend towards very dark chocolates and exotic flavors. “Our philosophy is to keep the flavors simple, pure and classic. We are very particular about not straying from the flavors, so we don’t use a lot of different ingredients in each candy. They are handmade, hand cut and hand packed.”
Jason sums up their business and their life: “This is the most optimistic business I’ve ever been in. Even people who could be perceived as competitors are supportive. We’re having a lot of fun. “
Alison adds, “My mother encouraged my love of cooking. She’s very creative and a very good cook. This is the first company I’ve been involved with where my mother understands what I do!”
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