Business Editor's Notebook: Loon Chocolate finds golden ticket at the Factory

For the debut of Loon’s production space and retail shop at the Factory on Willow, he embraced it.

“If there is ever a time to cash in on that analogy, it’s an invitation to our chocolate factory,” Watson said a couple of days before Thursday’s event. “I just worked with my artist who did all of our packaging, and she whipped it up. We wanted people to kind of shake their heads and be like, ‘What is this?’”

For guests who received one of the oversized tickets by mail, it was a chance to sample Loon’s high-cocoa content chocolate and treats whipped up by Wild Orchid Bakery and the Bearded Baking Co. that incorporated Loon’s “bean to bar” chocolate into cupcakes, doughnuts and other desserts.

The sweets table also included paper cones packed with cheese, cured meats, nuts and other savory items by 603 Charcuterie, which shares space with Loon in the retail shop located within the event center at the complex.

The Factory on Willow, developed by Jeremy and Liz Hitchcock’s Orbit Group, includes apartments and Airbnb units. It also houses a food truck park and soon will be home to a micro-distillery. Thursday’s event was dominated by millennials, who sipped local craft beers while they dined on all that chocolate.

“It’s a new type of concept for the area,” said Watson, a New Hampshire native who moved to Manchester from Milford four years ago. “To be on the ground floor of that is just an exciting opportunity for me.”

Watson started Loon in 2018 at a commercial kitchen space in Derry and later moved to Hanover Street. He had been looking for room to grow since 2020 and visited the Factory project when it was still in the demolition phase.

“I just revisited back in May of 2021, and I met with Liz Hitchcock and explained what we were looking at. We started to talk about what the space would look like. And it just became an exciting opportunity for us,” Watson said.

Watson financed the move to the Factory with savings but notes that the Orbit Group covered finishing work usually covered by tenants.

“They’ve really helped us fulfill this massive step in our journey forward,” he said.

Liz Hitchcock said Watson and Loon fit the vibe Orbit is trying to create at the Factory.

“We’re looking for a very curated group of people to go into the space, and he was perfect,” she said by phone Friday. “We love people who are passionate about what they’re doing.”

Making candy

Watson employs a full-time chocolate maker and during busy seasons has three more employees to help with production, which includes wrapping the chocolate bars the company sells for $9 each online and in its retail shop.

About 70 percent of the company’s business is wholesale, primarily to boutique shops like the Terracotta Room and Cafe la Reine, both on Elm Street. During the pandemic, the company enjoyed a spike in online sales.

When Watson launched Loon, the business was producing 12-pound batches about every other week. In its new space, Loon has the capacity to produce as much as 600 pounds a week.

“Right now we do anywhere from 150 to 200 pounds a week,” Watson said during a phone call. Meanwhile, his chocolate maker, also named Scott, was readying a new batch of chocolate.

“Just as I’m talking to you he’s weighing out a batch of Haiti chocolate that we’re going to be making starting this afternoon,” Watson said. “It’s 72 percent dark chocolate from small organic farms in Haiti.”

While lead times for ingredients have gotten longer during the pandemic, Watson’s biggest pipeline challenge has been securing the glass whisky bottles for Loon’s elixir kits — a do-it-yourself way to infuse chocolate into alcohol.

“I was calling three suppliers every Monday for four months, and every Monday I would get ‘Not yet. Call us next week. Not yet. Call us next week,’” Watson said. “One of them finally was able to find an alternate product that came from France that I was able to secure and get us through the holiday season. But quite honestly we’re right back to ground zero again trying to secure those bottles.”

Help along the way

Watson has received business advice from members of Merrimack Valley SCORE, a volunteer organization made up of retired executives. For the past three years, Dick VerEecke, a former IBM executive, has served as his mentor.

“It’s just been a great resource to rely on, even if I’m throwing one of my crazy ideas up against the wall and having somebody with 40 years of financial experience get me grounded again and remind me of some of the other considerations I need to consider,” Watson said.

Loon also has benefited from government business aid during the pandemic.

“Without the city, state and federal funds, we would have been a little footnote in history,” Watson said. “I’m very grateful. Hopefully we will be able to pay those forward at a later date.”