Folks around Leelanau County frequently ask what Mimi Wheeler has been up to since she sold Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate last spring to food conscious entrepreneurs Jody Dotson and Dc Hayden. The answer—she launched MimisChocolateBlog.com, where she writes about chocolate recipes, traveling the world (Mimi spent much of the recent grueling winter in Guatemala and Ecuador) and introducing her fine food to new friends, and grandkids.
As Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate celebrates 10 years in Leelanau County, it also fetes the new ownership of the business under Jody Dotson and D.c. Hayden of Traverse City, who acquired it from Mimi Wheeler on April 1. The ingredients of a successful business in Leelanau County would seem to include: a unique, high-quality product, community-minded entrepreneurial spirit, the ability to identify trends, a strong network of employees, like-minded business owners and customers, and a pinch of good luck.