Kent Coffee and Chocolate: 20 years old and still sweet

KENT — One of the mainstays of downtown Kent celebrated an important milestone this summer. Kent Coffee and Chocolate, opened by Sandra Champlain when she was 25 years old, turned 20 on July 4.The idea for the shop came to her on a visit to her mother, Marion, all those years ago. Champlain had graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and was working in the hospitality industry, sometimes cooking, sometimes in management. She even worked on the Mississippi Queen river boat. But, she said, she had a dream of opening a restaurant.“My mom used to be a flight attendant in the Air Force, back when the Air Force had flight attendants,” she said. “She said one of her favorite things, after the passengers were asleep, was to sit down with a Hershey bar and a cup of coffee.”She and her mother scouted out Main Street in Kent, watching the traffic patterns. The building that now houses her shop used to be a consignment shop. Located just feet from the main intersection in town, it seemed the perfect gathering place.Champlain said her favorite class in school was chocolate and that she considers it her specialty. “I felt the combination of coffee and chocolate would work because all year ’round people buy coffee, and in the slow winter months, there are a lot of chocolate-giving holidays,” she said. “We just went for it, and 20 years later, it still stands.”Champlain has found a successful business formula that has survived a singularly tough economic climate.“What’s worked for the past 20 years is the same good quality coffee from a local roaster, great customer service — people meet up at ‘the coffee shop’; we’ve had the same customers — and chocolate,” she said.And while the combination is a winner, Champlain isn’t just coasting on her success.“It’s tough in this economy,” she admitted. “But I’m committed to keeping it open.”Champlain said she is adding things to make her customers more comfortable — WiFi, new furnishings, a website where customers across the country can order her chocolate. She has also created a CD, “The Law of Chocolate,” that is part folk tale, part history lesson, part guided meditation.“The CD covers the history of chocolate, where chocolate comes from, how it’s made into what we know and love, the health benefits, chocolate’s role in the rain forest and a 15-minute guided meditation,” Champlain said. “You imagine your dream life and at the end you have to bite a piece of chocolate to activate it.”Kent Coffee and Chocolate is at 8 North Main St. Call 860-927-1445 or visit www.kentcoffee.com. “The Law of Chocolate” is available on iTunes and at www.amazon.com.