RI Chocolatier Wows With Artisanal Creations - and Looks to Boost Business in 2022
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Warwick native Douglas Tella didn’t set out to be a pastry chef and chocolatier.
He went to the Berklee College of Music for drums; he then studied orchestral percussion at Rhode Island College.
But now, it’s his masterful, artfully-crafted molded bonbons that have Tella anticipating officially launching his own candy line, expected to debut in 2022.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The goal is to eventually get my own little storefront and focus on these artisan chocolates,” said Tella of the sweet delicacies that can be eaten in “one or two bites.”
And the cocoa concoctions? According to his Instagram account, flavors include such innovative creations as lemon lavender and honey mandarin, apple cider caramel and walnut praline, and more.
But before you even take a bite, it’s the vibrant casings that catch your eye.
“It’s all chocolate — the bright coloring is cocoa butter that’s tempered fat-soluble food coloring,” said Tella.
And to make the chocolates? It’s a complex, multi-step process, according to Tella.
From Pilgrim High to Percussionist to Pastry
"I’ve been in restaurants since I was 14,” Tella, a graduate of Pilgrim High School, told GoLocal.
He said he balanced working on his music education and then teaching with also being a culinary chef, and then started focusing on desserts -- and pastry -- in his 30s. He went back to school at Johnson and Wales.
“I went to work at Bacaro as a pastry cook, then Terrazzo in Smithfield, and then was at Agawam [Hunt country club] as their executive pastry chef,” said Tella.
Currently, Tella is the Pastry Chef at Ella’s in Westerly.
“The executive chef, Jeannie Roland, has gotten numerous awards,” said Tella of Ella's. “It’s her dessert menu; I’ll run several dessert specials [each night].”
Tella said it was at an intensive workshop with another top chef -- Melissa Coppel -- in Las Vegas where he honed his bonbon skills, which he said he will soon be offered for retail sale at Ella’s, and hopefully, then online.
Currently, he sells sixteen-piece sets featuring eight different flavors, and his customers generally come to his Instagram account via word-of-mouth.
For Tella, who makes the creations in his temperature-controlled kitchen at home (as allowed by state law), the process is a step-by-step — and day-by-day — endeavor.
“It’s actually a three-day process,” said Tella, who said making the bonbons is “kind of like painting a house.”
“So there’s the ingredient prep, and then the actual [color] application takes five minutes,” said Tella of the “multiple super thin-applications” of cacao butter coloring that produce the luminous shells.
And between each application of coloring?
“You have to wait 24 hours,” he said.
“After the new year, we’ll start selling them at Ella’s, and eventually, I hope to get an LLC and get a brand going,” said Tella, who said he plans to set up buying and shipping online, first through Instagram and then eventually a dedicated website.
Tella said his “Sugarcraft Artisan Chocolates” line should officially launch early in 2022.
And if you’re looking for a last-minute Christmas gift of his chocolates — you might want to look ahead to Valentine’s Day.
“Right now I’m pretty limited in terms of product,” he said. “But I plan to have a lot more to offer by then.”
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