VoyageMichigan
Jun 14, 2023
Quix is my family’s name and was also the name for “Chocoladehuis Quix,” which was our Belgian family business from 1947-1983.
At the time, there was no apparent...
Today we’d like to introduce you to David Quix.
Hi David, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Quix is my family’s name and was also the name for “Chocoladehuis Quix,” which was our Belgian family business from 1947-1983. At the time, there was no apparent heir who wanted to invest to modernize and continue the business. However, since my move to Michigan in 2018, I decided to restart the old family business as I believe there is an underserved market for high-quality chocolates.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As any new business, the biggest struggle was getting through the construction and build-out of the business in a timely manner. We started from a concrete slab in an empty building to what we have today. Once we opened, we were fortunate to launch our business in a very welcoming city. Small note to prevent future struggles: for Business continuity planning (think the next pandemic), we included a walk-up window on the street; this has also been very popular to help serve our customers with dogs.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We have about 40 traditional flavors of Belgian chocolates, about 70% is coated with dark chocolate. All our chocolates are handmade on-site using traditional Belgian recipes. We use quite a bit of color in our designs, and those are all hand-applied to each chocolate. Besides this, our most amazing feature that sets us apart is the possibility to really customize a chocolate for any event. We do so by using edible printing techniques to feature company logos, family pictures, or even a scannable QR code.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I foresee that people will want to have more honest, local products that aren’t mass-produced. I also think that customers will want to see more personalization in the way they shop and buy but, at the same time, want high-quality chocolates. I do not really try to follow a trend, but we aim to provide classic and delicious chocolates flavours that have and will continue to stand the test of time, coupled with friendly and great customer service.