Chocolate Fountain Adds Decadent Touch to Events

JONI HULLINGHORST - Contributing Writer

Chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered marshmallows, chocolate covered cookies: what better special treats to compliment the ultimate special event? And this isn’t just run of the mill chocolate — this is warm, fresh chocolate flowing from a fountain. A lovely chocolate fountain. Picture three glorious tiers of delectable, dripping chocolate. Picture a table covered with fresh fruit, pretzels, or any number of yummy confections surrounding a three-tiered fountain of glorious cascading chocolate. If it’s hard to picture, it’s only because of all the people lined up in front waiting their turn to skewer a goodie and partake of the ultimate fondue experience.

Chocolate Spirits is the name of the company that supplies the fountains and an experienced operator. Proprietor Jan Langstraat’s two fountains are in hot demand for special events, be it a birthday, fund-raiser, private party, corporate event, or, of course, a wedding. “We use only Belgian chocolate,” he says. “There are others you can use, but Belgian is the best in the world.” The fountains utilize couverture chocolate, which is a chocolate that has 33 to 44 percent more cocoa butter than regular chocolate. Couverture is French for “covering,” and nobody covers things in chocolate better than the French, who use it as a coating for high-end goodies like truffles. A heating element inside the stainless steel fountain keeps the chocolate fluid and always ready for dipping pretzels, skewered fresh fruit, or any other delectable edible likely to approach even closer to nirvana with a coating of chocolate. Langstraat never pictured himself in the chocolate business.

A native of Holland, he started out in the wholesale cut flower business. Then one day in 1985, the adventurous Langstraat and a fellow Dutchman began a bike trip that would, according to plan, take them from Anchorage to Argentina. Naturally the trip didn’t go quite according to plan. “It’s been about an 18 year pit stop so far,” Langstraat says. Peddling an average of 100 miles a day and covering 22 states, they made it as far as Key West before Langstraat ran out of money. Taking advantage of a job offer from a fellow Dutchman, he backtracked to Utah to work in a campground; by that point he was so broke, he didn’t even have the $10 he needed to ship his bike. Eventually he returned to the cut flower business, this time in Carpenteria, California. There he met future wife Janice Tewksbury of Charlestown, New Hampshire. Langstraat and his wife moved around to accommodate his rising positions in the cut flower business. In 1994 they moved to The Netherlands, where Langstraat worked in international sales. By then their daughter had arrived, and in 1997 they moved to Keene with the idea of settling permanently in one place. Langstraat got out of cut flowers and into trucking, so that while he was on the road, his family at least got to stay put. Then last summer Langstraat’s world fell apart when Janice died.

Finding himself suddenly the single parent of a thirteen-year-old daughter, his days on the road as a trucker were clearly over. While living in California, Langstraat had befriended restaurateur Steven Giles. Giles originally aspired to be the Queen of England’s chef. Instead he wound up Giles lives in California and is the owner of the Sage & Onion restaurant, a Santa Barbara hot spot catering to clientele like nearby Montecito resident Julia Child. During a trade show in Montreal a few years ago, Giles became enthralled with one particular exhibit: a fountain of molten chocolate. He immediately contacted the manufacturer and secured the American distribution rights. Eventually Giles’ sideline surpassed his restaurant as he built The Chocolate Guy into a million dollar a year operation. Giles’ chocolate fountains have appeared on the Food Network and on the TLC program, “For Better or For Worse.” One even turned up on MTV during a visit to the home of L.A. Lakers megastar Shaquille O’Neal.

When Janice died, Langstraat contacted Giles and bought two chocolate fountains. He’s now the local source for chocolate fountain rentals. “I go to Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire,” says Langstraat. “I went recently to Hingham, Mass. A lady was looking on the Internet for somebody here and could not find anybody with a chocolate fountain in this area. So she came on Giles’ Web site, and he referred me to her.” The $395 minimum rental includes the fountain and enough chocolate to serve 200 guests; cocktail napkins, plates, and skewers; and an experienced operator, who keeps the fountain full and flowing. For an extra $2 per person, Chocolate Spirits will also provide the dipping items. (Clients who elect to provide their own are forewarned about what are dippable items. Foods like brownies or cakes that can crumble or slide off the skewers can clog the drains that keep the fountain flowing, though that doesn’t mean a person couldn’t spoon some fresh, warm chocolate over a slice of wedding cake.)

Weddings are the ultimate once in a lifetime experience. What could be more appropriate than celebrating one ultimate event with another ultimate experience, a fountain of cascading melted chocolate? Langstraat will be demonstrating the fountain at upcoming bridal shows. Just look for all the people lined up for samples.