Photo courtesy of Easy Street Images.
Six years ago, Sarahbeth Marshall was a registered dietician from Aubrey. Today, she still fits that description, but add business owner and chocolatier, who operates Yelibelly Chocolates right here in Southlake.
"I started selling [chocolates] in 2009, but it was really just a hobby –bra sidejob at best," she said. "I was still working full time as a registered dietician. Thebrhobby of making chocolate for friends and local sales just got to be too big. Ibrhad people requesting more weddings, corporate gifts, holidays ... I just had tobrmake that decision as to whether I keep it as a hobby or go full board with it.brI went full time in 2013 and last year we moved into a proper storefront."
The storefront is located at 2364 E. Northwest Pkwy., Southlake. She chose Southlake due to a partnership with Delicious Cakes, a custom wedding cake company. After meeting with the owners, both parties agreed Marshall could use the retail space to sell and showcase her chocolate masterpieces. The two businesses share the kitchen area.
Now, Marshall is looking to move to the Southlake, Grapevine, Keller area with her family.
"Aubrey was fine when I was a registered dietician, but I'mbrloving the area here and we decided it would be better for our family if we movebrdown here," she said.
We were able to catch up with Marshall (or "Yeli" for short) in this business spotlight Q&A.
Southlake Style: What are your future plans with the business now that you're up and running down here?
Yeli: I really hope to expand the lines of chocolate and confections I offer. I really just started with making truffles (flavor-infusedbrchocolates). I’ve expanded to do more novelty type items like chocolate-coveredbrOreos, candies, and expand those lines to more offerings both in candy andbrchocolates.
I foresee myself in the next couple of years either outgrowing thebrspace we're in now or taking over the whole store. We're already moving cakesbrout of the way to put chocolate in the retail area now. I hired my firstbremployee now too, which is exciting. I look forward to hopefully by the end ofbrthe year to hire someone to share the duties to make chocolate with me to allowbrme to do the office/business work and develop new flavors and operate thebrbehind the scenes stuff in the kitchen too. I'm getting to the point where I'mbrgoing to need someone to assist with all of that. Those are my goals for thebrnext 2-5 years.
SS: Can you talk a bit about you, your nickname, and your history with belly dancing?
Yeli: From my previous work, as a registed dietician (I have a masters inbrnutrition), I started my career doing research and development work – menu planning, new foods forbrcompanies, spending time in the kitchen working on new meals for different companiesbrI worked with. There’s a lot of science associated with making chocolate. Withbrmy background, there was an easy connection made in making good chocolate.
Ibrstarted taking belly dancing classes just for fun. I was looking for a newbrworkout at the time. I found I was good at it, so it expanded to years ofbrdancing for fun. I've been teaching classes, workshops for other dancers, I've been in a numberbrof competitions, and done DVDs that are belly dance related.
When we were coming up withbrthe name for my company, the first place that ever sold my chocolate was a studiobrthat I was teaching at the time. Yeli is a name I use when I belly dance – it's morebrexotic than Sarahbeth – and it fits the culture. While I was teaching, thebrstudio I was working with helped me come up with Yelibelly Chocolates. It has abrfun ring to it, it stands out, it's unique. A majority of people I run into, even my family, call me Yeli. It helped me build the tagline: "Flavors that makebryour belly dance."
Making chocolate was a lot of fun as a hobby but my husband and family saidbrthey saw the hobby becoming too big. They encouraged me to try this out fullbrtime and see what happens.
SS: Nutrition and chocolate - it's a bit contradictory, isn't it?
Yeli: I’m definitely a dietician that signs the "all foods can fit" mentality.brI think everything is good in moderation. There isn’t a thing you can’t enjoy. If you enjoy abrfood, you can enjoy a food with diet and exercise (balance).
I didn't just wantbrto make bars of chocolate. I wanted to make one that gave you an experience sobryou were satisfied with one piece; so you don't need to eat more (like eating abrwhole bag of M&M's). You feel satiated/content that you had this chocolatebrexperience and are satisfied with it. That's also how I balance it as a dietician.brI expect people to enjoy a box one piece at a time, and not devour the whole thingbrbecause you don't feel satisfied by just one piece.
SS: What is your favorite holiday or event to prepare chocolates for?
Yeli: That’s a hard one! I always keep two regular collections inbrmy store and change up the third collection often. The third collection isbrwhatever holiday is coming up. My favorite is hard to say. I just love, inbrgeneral, changing them up. For St. Patrick’s Day, I did a beer-infusedbrcollection. I took some local beers like Ugly Pug (Fort Worth) and infused thatbrinto the chocolate. My Mother’s Day collection will be a lot of floral infusedbr(rose, lavender); something that says spring, feminine, floral ... for Mother’s Day.brI love the change I can do throughout the year and it’s exciting to come upbrwith new collections all the time. I always love finding new things to offer everybody too.
SS: Talk a bit more about the Grapevine Chocolate Festival. You won in 2010. Have you won any other awards?
Yeli: Chocolate related, no. That’s the only time I’ve been in abrcompetition though. 2010 was the first and last time I’ve been apart of it. I am participating in the 2015 festival. I’m hoping to develop a new flavor that will wowbrthem the way I did in 2010. I won with my habanero-infused truffle – it's a littlebrbit of a spicy chocolate. I won "unique" and "best overall truffle" that year.brRight now I’m in research and development in the kitchen over the next few weeks to see what the flavorbrwill be this year for the festival.
SS: Anything else you'd like to add?
Yeli: One thing that helps me stand out from other chocolatiers inbrthe area are not just the flavor profiles but also how I decorate mybrchocolates. I'm constantly developing new décor to go on the truffles and chocolate-covered Oreos. I pride myself on wedding favors, special events, corporatebrgifts ... things like that. I have a lot of fun changing the décor on thebrchocolates to match what customers are looking for.
When you buy from month tobrmonth, the decorations will always be different. I put a card in the box tobrshow what the chocolates are, but they may look completely different from onebrproduction to the next. It makes it a lot more fun so it doesn't always appearbrto be the same chocolate each time and the flavor and look of it is differentbrwhen you're trying my chocolates.
For more information, visit yelibelly.com, call 817-789-5563, or find Yelibelly on Facebook and Twitter (@yelichocolate).
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Photo courtesy of Easy Street Images.
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