With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, we figured it was the absolute perfect time to hit up KC’s most revered chocolatier, Christopher Elbow, for an interview. You know, not like he’s busy this time of year or anything, right? When we asked Elbow to come up five things we didn’t know about him, he was more than game. (Although he did admit, “This was hard!”)
1. I am a huge cat lover. We were never allowed to have cats growing up, so I got my first cat when I got to college. I had him for 20 years. Now we have two cats, Lola and Pedro. Lola is a part Bengal, sweet as could be. Pedro is an Abyssinian and is crazy! He literally climbs up the stone walls in our house.
2. My favorite food is—nachos. People often ask me what my favorite food is and they expect me to say something fancy. Nope. From nachos at the ballpark to gourmet versions, it is by far my favorite food. Borderline obsession! The best ones I’ve ever had were made by Michael Smith at his restaurant late one night.
3. One hobby I have outside of work is motorcycles. I like to ride them, take them apart, build them, read about them, go to motorcycle races. I wish I had more time to jump on a bike and just take off for a few days, but I guess I can save that for retirement.
4. I have a speakeasy in my office. It’s really hard to get an invite to this exclusive bar. I love cocktails and liquor, specifically rums. I collect rum and often bring back suitcases full of it from my travels. So when we built our new factory and offices, I created a hidden room and it is decorated in an “Old Havana, Cuba” theme. The menu is heavily focused on the daiquiri, which is my favorite cocktail. We have a thing called “desk daiquiris” for the end of a long day while we finish up work.
5. I almost didn’t become a chocolatier. I came so close to going back to school for architecture right before I started my chocolate company. I was tired of the restaurant life and had applied to go back to school for a degree in architecture. The opportunity to try starting a business for chocolates came up, and I told myself that I can take a year to see if this would work. Thankfully, it did!