Story and photos by Tom Lindfors
Submitted by Amanda Connelly, SCEDC
HUDSON, WI – This is an interview with the St. Croix County Economic Development Corporation’s (SCEDC) 2024 Small Business of the Year winner “Knoke’s Chocolates & Nuts” owner Dave Knoke.
“If someone else can make a better box of chocolates then buy it, because I think mine are awfully good.” – Dave Knoke
Founder and owner of Knoke’s Chocolates & Nuts, Dave Knoke, is exceptionally proud of the homemade confections and nuts he has been making, tasting and selling for more than 20 years from his shop on Locust Street in Hudson, Wisconsin.
Even though he admits he has always had a sizable sweet tooth, Knoke did not start out his entrepreneurial journey as a candy man.
Raised on a cattle farm in Lancaster, Wisconsin, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin River Falls in 1988 with a degree in animal science. When the company where he worked as a livestock purchasing agent decided to move west in 2003, Knoke made a hard left turn and joined his wife to help operate her 600 sq. ft. penny candy and ice cream shop in downtown Hudson.
“I’d got my belly full of the other job,” he said.
Knoke acknowledged his life in livestock was lacking. Inconsistent sales and being at the mercy of circumstances frequently beyond his control left him wanting.
Just the opposite was true of the candy business. He found himself drawn to the process of making candy and in particular creating a finished chocolate product.
“I enjoyed that,” Knoke said.
In 2005, Knoke bought out his wife’s share of the business.
“I officially became the sole owner in 2005. That’s when I started making things for myself and really went to town,” Knoke recalled.
Knoke had the foundation for a successful entrepreneurial run: a deep respect for hard work earned on the farm, a desire to learn fostered at UWRF, an aversion to failure and an abiding commitment to make something of himself.
Success almost always includes some component of luck. Knoke’s came in the form of a connection facilitated by a fellow tenant at his first store on Locust Street.
Tom Smith, owner of The Confectionary in DeKalb, Illinois, would turn out to be a mentor to Knoke.
“He got me hooked on making it, selling it and getting something done every day,” Knoke recalled.
But maybe the most important piece of advice that he shared was, “If you’re going to make this work, you have to start making your own candy.”
Heeding Smith’s counsel, Knoke strove to make his candy and in particular his chocolate, synonymous with his identity. It would come to be the taste customers would remember and put Knoke’s Chocolates & Nuts on the map.
The Chocolate – Between milk, dark and white chocolate, Knoke goes through 35,000 pounds a year. The raw chocolate is shipped in 50 lb. blocks. From there it is melted, tempered and made into specific confections from caramels and toffees to pretzels and turtles.
Chocolates have specific “personalities” including taste, texture, aroma and color as well as melting point and varying degrees of viscosity.
Knoke’s success starts with his base chocolate. It is made by Peter’s Chocolate, a recipe perfected in Switzerland in the 1880s and first made available in the United States in 1903.
Early on, Smith shared some of his recipes with Knoke to help him get started, a number of which he still uses today.
Another tip Smith shared, make it possible for people to see the process, to watch the maker at work, see the love he puts into his candy.
Tariffs – Even before the recent uncertainty caused by tariffs, Knoke was dealing with steep increases in the price for chocolate. He has seen the price double from $3 per pound to more than $6 in just a few years. Analysis by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit of the Office for National Statistics shows that chocolate prices have increased by 43 percent since 2022.
Knoke explained that the majority of cocoa comes from farmers in Africa and South America. The Cacao trees which provide the beans from which cocoa is made can take five or six years to mature and begin producing beans. A healthy tree may produce for as many as 20 years before it begins to decline, but the trees are susceptible to disease and represent a risky investment when compared to other crops like corn or soybeans.
“A blight or disease can impact the trees, so farmers are deciding to cut them down and choosing instead to grow different agricultural crops like corn or soybeans,” Knoke explained. “Their land is also increasingly in demand for housing development.”
Occhetti Foods brokers the different nuts Knoke uses in his recipes. While the peanuts and pecans are grown in the U.S. the cashews, which he purchases by the pallet, come from Vietnam. Right now, according to the broker, “cashews are off the board.” Knoke’s six-month contract is up in August. He will not be surprised if tariffs increase his cost.
Kowalski’s chain of high-end markets in the Minneapolis area informed Knoke they would be passing recent price increases along to customers.
“That might be the new norm,” he said.
Knoke fears tariffs on aluminum may impact the tins he uses to package his sweets for the holidays as well.
“Hopefully by July we’ll have a better idea of what’s going on,” he said.
Replacing the custom packaging he imports from China is proving to be a bigger challenge.
“I’m not even calling them,” Knoke said. “I’m having a hard time finding someone to make substitutes here in the U.S. It just might not be as fancy.”
“It’s all making me a little nervous,” Knoke said.
Next week in Part II of “Sweet Tooth: Knoke’s Chocolates & Nuts – An interview with Dave Knoke” you will learn about the company’s customers and plans for the future.
Just the Facts: Knoke’s Chocolates & Nuts, Dave Knoke – Owner. Formed: 2000. Address: 218 Locust St., Hudson, WI 54016 – 715-381-9866. Website: knokeschocolatesandnuts.com. Employees: 20 – Sq. ft. 5,750.
