Jonathan Grahm of Compartes - A Chocolatier's Budding Career!

Jonathan Grahm of Compartes Chocolatier in Brentwood, California, is only 22 years old and has already been featured in Bon Appétit, Los Angeles Times, Saveur, Food & Drink, Los Angeles Magazine, Zagat Survey, the Connoisseur's Guide, The Sun, and Angeleno Magazine.  And according to Bon Appétit, "A well kept secret among lovers of candy."  Well, not for long! It looks like Jonathan Grahm is on a serious mission to let his secret out.  He has already won the hearts of celebrities Jessica Simpson, Marcia Cross, Faith Evans, Teri Hatcher, Jack Nicholson, Vin Diesel, Nicolette Sheridan, Nicole Kidman, Dustin Hoffman, and Justin Timberlake. Back in the 50s, Compartes had a celebrity appeal when Frank Sinatra bought the glace fruits as gifts; and Jonathan has been improving on that tradition.

Jonathan Grahm took over the shop three years ago and has radically changed the ingredients and the look of the store. But just like all budding entrepreneurs, this chocolatier took things farther than his own co-owner parents could have imagined— Compartes got a makeover! At Jonathan's insistence, and his desire to have his store reflect his chocolate and personality, he turned to A&E's Designing Blind to give it a fresh new look, and ever since then Jonathan hasn't looked back. The store's been in business since the 50s, and my family bought it eight years ago. I grew up watching the process.

This was a traditional candy shop, and my family was disinterested.They gave me the opportunity at 19 years old to do my own thing with it. I really turned this chocolate shop to reflect my personality and travels and passion for arts. Before, it was very traditional, big pieces, sugary, etc.

It's called a chocolatier?

I changed the name. Before, this place was like a candy store. We made chocolate, but there were stuffed animals, gift baskets, it was like a mom and pop old school candy shop. We had tons of different candies that we didn't even make. We had gummy things and malt balls and stuff. I wanted to make things myself.

You turned this shop around drastically. I saw the before and after pictures of your shop. It's literally a 180-degree turnaround.

I really wanted to redo this brand and turn this into something that reflects me and reflects what I want with this company. This store was a tanker—it wasn't doing well. Something had to be done to update it, modernize it, and appeal to new people. Chocolate is becoming so popular. People are willing to pay the difference for me to experiment with flavors and use higher quality chocolate. So I really did everything over.

How did you learn how to do all of this?

What I did here at Compartes is merge food and art together to create edible artwork by having these beautiful patterns and different flavors. My mom took me to so many great restaurants when I was younger. I traveled a lot and experienced different cultures. We went to Venezuela all of the time. [Those experiences helped me.] I use Venezuelan chocolate. I figured I had this opportunity. I could choose to make an hourly salary, keep it the way it has gone on for 56 years, or I could try to do something bigger, better, and more interesting, and make a future for myself. I went to UCLA at the same time. I am working on my BA, and now I'm starting to take business classes this semester for the first time. I learned so much about myself, what I am capable of, and just the business world in general.

Tell me about your art background.

Ever since I was young I wanted to be a singer. I didn't have the best voice, but I always participated in musical theater and I always took art classes. I am left-handed, which some people attribute to being artsy. But I have always been a little different from other people—a little more advanced. I hung out with older kids, and instead of playing with cars or swords, I drew. I got pushed up a couple of grades in school. I also studied foreign languages, so I speak three languages. And really, my mom pushed me very hard when I was younger and it really paid off. My family has a winery called Bonny Doon Vineyards. I was able to meet great chefs and go to food events.

Jonathan had to figure everything out on his own. He claims that Google was a great help. The search engine allowed him to develop his recipes and ideas.

I am always on the Internet researching. I get all kinds of cookbooks. I want to put out my own cookbook for chocolate—for people like me who don't have culinary training, and to teach people how to make different chocolate recipes at home. People study pastry for years, but there are really simple ways to do it, also.

I was very impressed with the celebrities who have bought your chocolates and used you to cater their events. Can you name a few more that you have been working with?

We did Marcia Cross's wedding, and we will be doing her baby shower. We've done events for the Oscars, the Golden Globes, all kinds of different events in Hollywood. I just got asked to do Justin Timberlake's party. So I get all these requests and I am blown away still. The only person that I would like to try my chocolate is Miss Ellen Pompeo, aka Meredith Grey from "Grey's Anatomy." Please call me up. I heard that Faith Evans, who's my favorite singer and who I've liked since I was ten years old, was at the same event I was at. My eyes lit up and I was just shaking. I went up to her husband and I said " I just have to tell you, I am in love with your wife." He just smiled at me, hung up his cell phone and said they would come and talk to me. I said, "Please ... I have so much chocolate." They came to my booth and Faith chatted with me for thirty minutes. There were cameras following her. They told her she had to move to the next booth, but she made them wait while she chatted with me and tried my chocolate. We even talked about our weight loss secrets. Imagine, I followed her my whole life and I met her through chocolate. It's just amazing to me.

Wow! You took what was given you and you "milked" it. Let's talk about your process. What is involved in actually creating your different flavors of chocolate? Tell me what you have to do.

My most popular item is the truffle. I melt down the chocolate, infuse it with cream, and I put in a flavor. Now when I use a flavor, I use an all-natural puree of a fruit. A lot of times, my inspiration will come from just tasting different things. I went to a Thai restaurant one day, had a salad filled with a lot of different ingredients. There was mango and basil in the salad. I rubbed the mango into the basil. It tasted good together. So the next day I went to Whole Foods, bought a mango and some basil, put it in a blender, put it in the chocolate, and then of course I perfected it and turned it into a truffle. I'm really into 3-dimensional stuff like the wasabe ginger—that happened by accident. I was looking for a Thai sauce with spicy peanuts and went to six Asian markets. I couldn't find the spicy peanut sauce, but I saw this can of wasabe instead. So I thought about what goes with wasabe. And in sushi you get the wasabe and the ginger. So, I took the powder of the wasabe and put it in the cream—that way the cream turned into a wasabe cream. I added melted chocolate and there came the truffle.

In a society of health conscious and weight conscious people, how does a chocolate company thrive?

It's hard. I'm in LA and everybody wants to be thin. Everybody comes in here and thinks chocolate is fattening. But look at me. I am thin! I eat chocolate all day, so that is really a myth. The things that are fattening and bad for you are the sugary parts of the chocolate. So a huge chunky piece of English toffee, or a Texas size turtle with tons of caramel and sugar are much worse for you than three truffles—that's dark chocolate and cream. There's nothing really bad in that. Cocoa content is really important in chocolate. That's the health benefits. So our chocolate is about 70-75% cocoa content. A crunch bar is about 20% cocoa. There's a big difference in the two. What they make up for in the cocoa content, they add things to it like cocoa butter, sugar, fats ... waxy ... ours are not waxy. It is an uphill battle in LA to sell chocolate. There are certain celebrities who are afraid of chocolate because they think it's bad for you. But I am the poster boy for chocolate and ladies and gentlemen, chocolate is not fattening because I would be the Goodyear blimp. Everything in moderation ... I lost 72 pounds when I started working here and developing the recipes. But I lost weight while still developing the recipes and eating a lot of chocolate, which tells you that chocolate is not fattening.

Highest High
When Bon Appétit magazine called me up and asked me for samples. Two hours later, the editor called back and said, "This is the first time in our history that nobody has had a negative remark to say about the chocolate. You should be so proud of yourself. We are picky and you passed everybody's test." Also, when Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson's producers called me to make chocolate with them for Valentine's Day. At the time, it was the height of the newlyweds. I went to their home to do a private chocolate-making session with them. That was definitely a high.

Lowest Low
I sent a box of chocolates to a favorite celebrity friend [who shall remain nameless]. She opened the chocolate box and she said, "I don't do frou frou chocolates like these. She closed the box and handed it to her friend without tasting them." Another low has been battling with my parents to let me be a partner. It's taken me three years to convince them to make me part owner with everything that I have put into it. I want to benefit from this as it continually grows. It took reality show cameras when we did our makeover. I expressed to the producers of the show how sad it was that my family wouldn't make me part owner in this business. As part of the reality show, they presented me with this contract that said I would be a 33% owner in March 2007. It just warmed my heart. I was so thankful. But it was a long hard battle. I worked so hard for this, and I came in day in and day out. This is my life.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I hope to have more Compartes stores, a cookbook ... just do more with my career.Wolfgang Puck, Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, etc., so many people have been able to be successful in the food industry, and I'm 22 and starting a lot younger than any of those people.

So hopefully five years from now I can have a cooking show on Food Network and hopefully be a household name.   I'm not trying to be a star; I just want to expand my career and expose people to all the different possibilities of mixed media.   That's really what I do:   mix entertainment, art, culinary, everything together between the packaging, the look of the store, and the chocolates themselves.   I feel like I am bringing something to the table that hasn't been done before.

What advice would you give to another budding entrepreneur who wants to start his or her own business?

The best advice is to follow their dreams, and sometimes we don't know what our dreams are, and sometimes it takes life to evolve for us to actually see what they may be. Always take advantage of any opportunities you are given, and be humble. As successful as my shop is, I have so much gratitude for everybody who's gotten me to where I am and helped me through the process. And it's even the little things that I am grateful for, including all of the wonderful people who I met along the way. I love the fact that I get to talk to my customers—that I know them on a first name basis—and that I know their favorite chocolates. My advice is to always stay humble and look toward the future. Never let things get you down, because I have had my share of upsets throughout my career, which has now been three years. But I don't let things get me down because I know what I want, and my eye is on the prize. We can do whatever we want, and I really do believe in myself. Sometimes I get doubtful, but it's important to know that there is always tomorrow.

Interview by Kaylene Peoples

Watch the Video:

Download the plugin

<<Back