Next Chapter: Mazur Café & Chocolate Lab
The most surprising changes can happen in the face of the unknown, especially when that change is based on necessity. For Hank Reid and Steve Mazure of Mazur Chocolates in Hackettstown, timing and circumstance aligned to bring together an unlikely yet perfectly paired partnership, tethered by a passion for new beginnings, the love of learning, and lovingly made artisanal chocolate.
For founder Steve Mazure, the thought of becoming a chocolate maker began simply as that: an idea.
Mazure, who has called Hackettstown his home since the age of 4, spent his post-college years living in North Carolina working in the fast-paced world of corporate real estate. By 2017, completely burnt out after 25 years in the business, Mazure knew he desperately needed a change—but he wasn’t sure exactly what. One spring evening, while leisurely walking his dog and letting his mind wander, a question suddenly popped into his head: “How is chocolate made?”
The gears of a new direction began to turn.
“Before I even Googled it, I came home and exclaimed to my daughter that we were going to start a chocolate company,” he says. “I needed a change, and this was the spark. Three months later, we moved back to Hackettstown and were off to the races, and I haven’t looked back.”
Mazure, who had always been a passionate home chef and avid cookbook reader, loved to experiment in the kitchen. “The more I thought about this new venture, the more it seemed like the perfect fit. I have a very active mind and a hard time sitting still,” he says. “There was so much to learn and it was immediately exciting to me. Everything from how the machinery worked, to the grinding and tempering process, to the different profiles of the beans—it was all new and complex, and I immediately fell in love.”
Mazure dove in head first, doing lots of research, connecting with different chocolate makers, and asking lots and lots of questions. He also joined an online entrepreneurial group that offered support in starting new small business ventures like his.
However, gathering the supplies and machinery needed for a beginning hobbyist to start making chocolate wasn’t easy. Many wholesale importers don’t cater to small businesses like his, so he had to get creative. He ordered samples of different beans that came in smaller-sized bags rather than the pricey 90- to 180-pound bags typically used by commercial chocolate operations. He even made some of his own equipment—including a machine resembling something you might see in wood shop class—a carved vertical wooden maze backed by plexiglass attached to a Shop-Vac used to separate the bean from the hull that the company still uses today.
“IT’S NOT JUST AN IDEA ANYMORE—WE’RE AN ACTUAL CHOCOLATE COMPANY NOW AND IT CONTINUES TO BE A FASCINATING AND HUMBLING EXPERIENCE.”
“When I started, I spent just under $1,000 for equipment and beans, just so I had something to work with,” says Mazure, who began working out of a commercial kitchen in Long Valley a few days a week. “I took it slow, carefully learning the chocolate-making process and forming as many connections as I could while working with what I had,” he says. By summer, only about three months after having the idea of starting a chocolate company, he was making bars and selling them at local farmers’ markets.
“I loved doing the markets and plan to continue doing them. It’s the greatest thing to meet and talk to people and be able to answer all the questions that I used to be the one asking,” he says, excitedly adding that now he buys those 150-pound bags, a few at a time.
The growing success gifted Mazure the necessity to seek assistance to continue moving things forward. One big leap was getting connected with his financial business partner Swavek Hekiert, who coincidentally grew up in the Mazur region of Poland (to which the brand name is an homage, as well as a play off of Steve’s last name), and the addition of Hank Reid, a seasoned chef and entrepreneur. As serendipity would have it, Reid’s connection to Mazure also came by way of facing major change.
Reid, originally from Woodbridge, joined the military right after high school and bounced all over the United States. From there, he went right into the food industry. His culinary journey, however, is far from the ordinary.
“I’ve always loved cooking, and remember helping my grandmother in the kitchen when I was very little,” he says. Reid got his first culinary career opportunity while serving in the military. One day, while Reid was stationed on a boat in Arkansas, the mother of the ship’s chef passed away and he had to take a temporary leave of absence. “We had two options: fly in a chef to temporarily take over, or have me do it,” Reid says. “On base, whenever we had time off I’d always be the one over the grill at cookouts or packing the guys lunches to take out on the boats—so I happily volunteered to take over as the new chef.”
After the military, Reid’s passion for cooking continued. He worked as sous chef for L’Apicio in Manhattan for 3½ years before moving back to Hunterdon County to consult with Oink and Moo BBQ in Somerville and Holmdel, eventually landing at Ironbound Farm and Cider House in Asbury.
“I loved working at Ironbound—it was so different and much less stressful than working in the restaurant industry of New York City. I’d get to walk through the farm and choose from an amazing selection of fresh produce to creatively prepare and develop recipes with. I had the time of my life,” he says. “But then, Covid hit.”
The farm shut down temporarily and Reid had to re-evaluate his next move. He continued his consulting work, and even started a private catering business. Like Mazure, he began focusing on his connections in order to help shape his future.
Steve Mazure and Hank Reid
WHILE CHOCOLATE MAKING IS AN ART, THE QUALITY COMES DOWN TO WELL-SOURCED INGREDIENTS—AN AREA IN WHICH MAZURE AND REID DILIGENTLY DO THEIR HOMEWORK.
In 2021, with the help of Heikert, Mazure purchased the brick-and-mortar home of Mazur Chocolate. However, he soon realized he needed help from someone well-versed in the food industry to assist filling out the 50-page health department application. His architect referred him to Reid.
“Not only did he help with the application, the next thing I knew he was up on the roof with a sledgehammer helping with the build-out of our new space,” says Mazure. “Not long after, I said to him, ‘Why don’t you stay and make this your full-time job? Ever wonder how chocolate’s made?’”
“The chef in me instantly said ‘yes,’” recalls Reid.
Reid, who now serves as the director of operations, is just as enamored by the process of making chocolate as Mazure.
Though hailing from opposite corners—artisan and businessman, right brain and left brain—the two have proven to be the perfect pair.
“When things go wrong or we can’t figure something out, we put our heads together and things always turn out pretty smooth,” says Mazure. “It’s not just an idea anymore—we’re an actual chocolate company now and it continues to be a fascinating and humbling experience.”
While Mazure and Reid essentially serve as the “face” of Mazur Chocolates, the two make it clear that this endeavor is made possible by a collaborative effort.
“There’s a lot of fingerprints that went into this, from architects, to our café counter tops and furniture that was made locally, to the support of many friends and connections we’ve made along the way,” says Reid.
To both honor and foster that collaborative spirit, their café ultimately serves as a community space to keep those connections going, and regularly features open mics and public events. What’s more, you can sip on a delicious latte or a thick, rich cup of drinking chocolate while peering in through a huge viewing window into the chocolate factory to watch the magic of chocolate making unfold before your very eyes.
From seeing the beans get crushed between two granite wheels, to the tempering process, to the chocolate being poured into molds and wrapped in thick gold foil—it’s a true feast for the senses.
While chocolate making is an art, the quality comes down to well-sourced ingredients—an area in which Mazure and Reid diligently do their homework.
“From the beginning it was critical that the beans were fair trade,” explains Mazure. “I review all of the annual transparency reports to know exactly where the beans are coming from, and how much their workers are getting paid,” he says. “It’s important because that represents the company we are trying to put forward,” says Mazure.
Flavors range from beans from Belize (which are fruity and tropical with notes of banana) to the Dominican Republic (with raisin undertones) or those from Ecuador (smokey and earthy, with hints of rum, whisky, and tobacco).
While some beans are roasted to different temperatures depending on their acidity or the desired flavors, a 72 percent bar is their golden ticket.
“It’s the perfect balance of bean, cocoa butter, and sugar so that you can best taste the fruit flavors of each bean,” says Mazure.
“It’s pretty amazing to experience all of the characteristics that come through with the same recipe proportions,” he says. “People are blown away all the time.”
In addition to single-origin chocolate bars, they also do milk chocolate of varying percentages, white chocolate, and some with add-ins like coffee, chili, or cardamom.
While Mazur Chocolate’s brick-and-mortar location only opened in March 2023, they have big plans in store.
“We’ve invested in all new equipment including a new grinder and tempering machine from Italy, and soon we’ll be able to make enough to start stocking shelves,” says Mazure. Their new rig will eventually allow them to make several thousand bars a week as they enter the wholesale market and Reid says they’ve begun actively seeking specialty store accounts.
For now, you can find their delectable chocolate fresh from their café, at small local gourmet markets in the Northeast, or at local establishments such at Mama’s Café Baci and James on Main in Hackettstown, Basil Bandwagon, or in the decadent chocolaty pastries of Summit House.
Or, if you press your nose up against their viewing window hard enough, you may even be treated to a private Q&A and hands-on tour.
“We love having people ask us questions and showing them what we do,” says Mazure. “It’s the thrill of learning something new, and it’s contagious.”
Mazur Café & Chocolate Lab
106 E Moore St., Hackettstown
908.269.8064
mazurchocolates.com
(Also at Sparta, Blairstown and Hackettstown Farmers Markets)
