Published June 2002

Rose Hill grows its business, chocolate line

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

From its shop in downtown Mukilteo, the Rose Hill Chocolate Co. sells international flavors along with a taste of Puget Sound decadence.

Within the 500-square-foot shop, Dutch licorice, Australian licorice and Spanish gummy candies share space with local brands such as Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream, the Mukilteo Coffee Co. and Thomas Kemper.

And then there’s the chocolate, which combines such international treats as Valrhona chocolate from France with the local confection-making skills of Mukilteo resident Jack Bateman.

When he first opened Rose Hill with wife Barbara Fariss-Bateman two years ago, Bateman had little experience making chocolate, so the shop mostly carried chocolates from other companies. But that began to change as Bateman started attending chocolate-making courses at the Barry Callebaut Institute in Montreal.

“Learning to temper chocolate itself was one of the biggest hurdles,” said Bateman, who was a “Mr. Mom” and merchant seaman before he and Fariss-Bateman decided to start Rose Hill.

Now, the shop’s display case holds custom Rose Hill creations, from Mint Chocolate Swirl Fudge and Passion Fruit Truffles to Bangalore Spice, a white-chocolate confection flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander and other spices that Bateman’s wife “dreamed up.”

“That’s the fun part,” Bateman said of creating new recipes. Next up for the shop: Bordeaux Chocolate, a white chocolate with molasses and maple.

“We’ve had a lot of people request it,” Bateman said. “It’s a candy that See’s makes. ... At the last class I took, there were several other people who had requests from their customers for it, so the instructor of the class and the students reverse-engineered it and actually came up with what I feel is a much better recipe.” Customer feedback has influenced other offerings at Rose Hill as well.

When the shop first opened, the brand of ice cream it was serving met with a negative customer response, so Bateman and his wife looked for a new ice cream source.

“We had heard about Snoqualmie, so we called them up, and they brought samples over. My wife took one taste and went, ‘Oh, that’s it,’ and we switched over, and there’s just no comparison,” said Bateman, a big fan of Snoqualmie’s Coconut Almond Joy ice cream.

While Bateman makes the chocolates and oversees the shop, Fariss-Bateman studies possible additions to the candy selection, such as the gummy candies from Spain.

“Research — that’s my wife’s bailiwick,” Bateman said, adding that she also maintains Rose Hill’s Web site and buys the Valrhona chocolate that goes into his creations as well as a line of Valrhona chocolates that Rose Hill carries — the only outside line of chocolate to be found in the shop.

“We tried German chocolate. We’ve tried Swiss chocolate. We’ve tried other brands of French chocolate, and we’ve tried American chocolates and never found anything that tastes as good as Valrhona or works as well. ... Unfortunately, it’s also the most expensive,” Bateman said.

Rose Hill’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction appears to be paying off, though, as the company continues to see steady growth, both in shop sales and Web site orders, Bateman said. This spring, Rose Hill began providing Arnie’s Restaurant with chocolates for customers who want to mark a “special occasion” with a heart-shaped box of sweets. During the first month, Rose Hill supplied about 150 boxes.

If present growth trends continue, it won’t be too long before a larger facility is in order, he said, which is why increased marketing is one of his goals for the near future, along with continuing to live up to the Rose Hill pledge of “extraordinary service; uncommon quality.”

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