Gorant Chocolatier’s Miller: Keeping Brand Alive
Joe Miller, owner of Youngstown-founded Gorant Chocolatier, is coming back strong. For more information, visit its website.
What are some ways your business is rebounding from the effects of COVID-19?
Our business is continuing to recover from the shutdowns that hugely impacted our retail stores and private label manufacturing. On the retail side, we had to quickly adjust from retail to web and curbside-only options, all during our busiest season of the year. We were forced to temporarily close our location on 224, since the plaza housed non-essential businesses as well.
Both of our stores are back open now, but things are slow going, with very soft sales. Summer is our slower season, so we are just trying our best to encourage gift giving and sweetening people’s days with chocolate! During Easter, we did fall short of our normal sales volume, but the support and love we received from our customers locally and across America gave everyone a sense of renewal. So many heard we were in trouble and placed orders, just to help us out and keep the Gorant brand alive. It was heartwarming, and it provided our staff with extra motivation, as they worked tirelessly under unusual circumstances.
On our private label manufacturing side, most of our customers also put a hold or reduced their purchase orders. We’ve worked with them to maintain relationships and are doing our best to help them recover as well. We are also quickly developing new business relationships, all with an effort to focus more on healthier chocolate options.
What’s been the reaction from customers so far?
Most of our customers are extremely patient and kind. They were grateful we had options to provide them with to uphold their traditions during Easter. They have also been grateful for our staff, and they remain very gracious and respectful of our situation.
What impact has the outbreak had on you personally?
COVID-19 has had the largest impact on our business and our 18-year-old son, who was a senior in high school. From a personal side, we have not experienced any illness in our family, but our son’s graduation and banquet all became virtual, making the last part of his high school experience very unusual, but memorable.
What advice are you sharing with the people you love?
When COVID-19 first presented itself and we were forced into shutting down, we were extremely worried about how we were going to survive. Easter is our biggest retail season, and though we didn’t come out ahead, we certainly worked through, as a team, some tremendous obstacles. We found a renewed sense of spirit as we saw just how much our community values our brand and business. We also found a new spirit of team work. Gorant is better now. We are still working through unusual circumstances, but it is forcing us to be leaner and also work toward our goal of providing healthier alternatives, such as sugar-free chocolates. We are also releasing soon a Keto-friendly dark chocolate peanut butter (fat bomb) in the third quarter.