Black Dinah Chocolatier to Speak

Steve Shaffer talks to Launching a New Venture Class
Thursday, January 26, 2012 - Straus Seminar Room

Steven Shaffer creates chocolates on an island six miles off the Maine coast - chocolates so special, the company made a recent list of the top-ten chocolatiers in North America. Shaffer, founder of Black Dinah Chocolatiers, will be speaking about his work and his business to College of the Atlantic's  Launching a New Venture class on Thursday, January 26 from 11:10 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. The class is in the college's Straus Seminar Room on the second floor of Turrets.

Shaffer will be talking to the class about his business experience, which also includes founding and running a small, highly successful computer company in California. As part of the conversation, he will discuss his ultimate goal of making the production facilities net-zero for carbon emissions - about the solar-powered kitchen he has recently constructed. He will also be talking about the wide range of skills necessary to being successful as a chocolatier, from repairman and plumber to CEO and salesman.

Black Dinah Chocolates have been shipped to every state in the United States and several countries. In 2011, the five-year-old company was named to Dessert Professional magazine's annual list of top-ten North American chocolatiers. Matthew Stevens, editor of the magazine - known as the bible of the dessert industry - said that for someone to be among the top ten she or he must do more than produce a superior product: "We are looking for chocolatiers who do something that elevates the chocolate industry." Shaffer will touch upon some of the ways he and his wife Kate Shaffer have succeeded in elevating the industry in his COA conversation.

For more information about Steven Shaffer's talk on Thursday, January 26 at 11:10 a.m. in COA's Turrets, contact Jay Friedlander at jfriedlander@coa.edu or 207-801-5716.