Rosie’s Confections, an ethical chocolate shop in Winooski, continues to grow
Illustration by Reed Nye.
Emma Rose, 23-year-old, CEO of Rosie’s Confections in Winooski says she wants to expose the chocolate industry, and hopes to be a staple for selling and educating consumers about sustainable chocolate as her business grows.
The shop has a wide selection of not only chocolate, but other sustainable sweets, coffee, tea, pastries, and CBD products.
Illustration by Reed Nye.
Rosie’s Confections is a young business that started in the midst of the pandemic. With businesses’ everywhere beginning to shut down, they had to be creative in getting their name and product into the world.
“I created an online website and I've been shipping chocolates nationwide since. And then we also were lucky enough to get into the Burlington farmers market and the St Albans farmers market so for the whole summer season, where we were able to actually like be in front of our local community which was my goal,” said Rose.
Rose also hosts The Cocoa Pod Cast where she interviews people who work in the chocolate industry from each step of production. Interviewees include cocoa farmers, chocolate makers, journalists, activists, and more.
The podcast has a healthy mix of chocolate consumers and chocolate industry professionals. It is available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify.
Rosie’s Confections is a family business. Cella Rose, Rose’s mom, is the CFO, handling the finances, Lydia Rose, Rose’s younger sister, runs the shop, and Cassandra Rose, Rose’s older sister, runs the farm where the CBD is grown.
The idea to start a family business was her father’s. His plan was to build a CBD business because the plant’s medicinal uses were believed to have helped him enter remission from cancer according to Rose.
Rose took initiative to design the business’ 30,000 sq. ft. commercial kitchen, located in St. Albans. The building consists of several rooms that all serve different purposes.
There is a lab room, for CBD extraction, a cleanroom, for formula testing and packaging, offices, a kitchen, and a hallway where the hemp is ground.
“When I first got started, it was mostly about CBD and like you know, creating a line of edibles that were not full of corn syrup and like gross additives,” said Rose.
Once she started to learn about the practices and corruption within the chocolate industry, she explained that she wanted to be a part of the solution, and could do so by selling to and educating consumers.
Illustration of Rose by Reed Nye.
Rose attended Bishop’s University in Quebec to study music, when she worked for a French Bakery called Saveurs Gourmandises. During her third year of work, she became the main pastry chef.
“Big scale production is what I learned the most there,” Rose said. “How to streamline things.”
The main difference in how the shops are run is rooted within Rosie’s Confection’s mission of transparency. All of the decisions Rose makes are not according to price, but ethical consumption, which requires them to have to plan ahead, Rose said.
Upon her father’s death, the family dealt with their grief by making his dreams of having a family business come true.
Rosie’s Confections had a soft opening for Valentine’s Day 2020, and up until their grand opening of Easter Weekend, the shop was open on weekends.
“We didn't have any of the build outdone in the store we have now, like, literally like camping tables. It looked like a bake sale,” said Rose.
Their grand opening was on Easter Weekend, where they hosted an egg hunt along the River Walk in Winooski. The event also promoted Rose’s three-week campaign, “The Save Chocolate,” where the shop was able to educate the families that came and sell their products.
For Halloween 2021, Rosie’s Confections participated in the UVM Bored’s Candy Shoppe Event. To match the Willy Wonka theme, they gave out ethical chocolates, hot drinks, and fresh cocoa fruit for sampling.
