Passion for chocolate led to reopening of Honadle's Fine Chocolates in Hartville

Formerly in IT, Bob Hohenadel, owner and head chef at Honadle’s Fine Chocolates in Hartville, has a passion for chocolate. It’s in his genes. 

His grandfather opened Honadle’s in 1928. The chocolate shop was closed for years until the younger Hohenadel reopened the business in 2005. Until 2019, Hohenadel worked part-time in the chocolate business while still working his IT job. 

Hohenadel opened the retail shop at 1138 W. Maple St. in Hartville in 2019. His wife and three kids also work at the shop.

“A timeless tradition … taste the difference,” is the motto the Honadle team follows, and it shows in the care they take when making chocolate. 

While in the shop on a crisp fall morning, Hohenadel was excited to show off the shop. He mentioned his love of chocolate and how it has grown over the years. The excitement showed on his face when talked about reworking recipes over the years and exciting things he has in the works.

I caught up with owner Bob Hohenadel to learn more about his love of making chocolate and running the retail and wholesale business.

Q. How’s business since you opened the retail store?

A. “We are overwhelmingly blessed with the community acceptance of our retail store. It has been exciting to make new friends and get reacquainted with standing customers alike. In addition, our online and wholesale businesses have continued to expand.”

Q. I see the spelling of the business is different, but similar, to your last name. Why the difference?

A. “When my grandfather started the business, he went with a more phonetic spelling of our name for the store. Also, back in the ’20s and ’30s, signs were charged by the letter, so the respelling saved money.”

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Q. I see there’s quite a long history of chocolate making in your family. Why is it important for you to continue it?

A. “Even after our retail stores closed their doors in the 1980s, my father continued to make chocolate for close friends and family every Christmas. Over time, it became important to make sure the tradition continued. I hated the idea that our family legacy would fade away, so I started learning, using the original recipes and techniques. It awakened a passion for chocolate making in me, and I’ve since put my own spin on the chocolate recipes while staying true to who we are.”

Q. What do you offer? What are some of your most popular items?

A. “We offer a whole variety! Many of the staples you’d expect at a chocolate shop, like Pecan Snappers and Peanut Butter Meltaways. But we also offer some of our own spins, like our Fine Rockin’ Energy Bar (which has peanut butter, granola, flax seed and cocoa nibs covered in chocolate) named after my son-in-law, Chris Finefrock, or the David Delight (which has homemade marshmallow between graham crackers and a whipped chocolate) named after my son. Any of our named family pieces are big sellers. Brittany Bars, Kristy Krunch, Casey Crunch and KaRaspberry Creams, to name the rest of them!”

Q. I see you have a family recipe. Can you tell me more about that?

A. “Honadle’s recipes were created over the years and stored in several binders, folders, note pads. I obtained all the original recipes. Using these as our guide, we began to make each recipe new and improved. 

“I created a new recipe book a couple years ago reflecting this effort. Some examples of our changes are as follows: All margins were replaced using whole, pure butter. Vegetable oils have been replaced using pure coconut oil. Food colorings have been removed. Flavors, such as orange and lemon creams, are made with pure flavoring oils, and we hand-shave the fruits’ zest for more flavor and color. I developed a method by which we use whole-powdered fruits to make raspberry and blueberry creams. The method causes these creams to burst with flavor and authentic, rich color.

“We are currently in the process of replacing all corn syrup in the original recipes with pure tapioca syrup.”

Q. I see you sell at other locations. Can you tell me more about that?

A. “We wholesale to many local shops in the area, including Hartville Kitchen and Bakery, Krieger's, Wolf Creek Winery, Nauti Vine Winery, Trail Mix Peninsula in Boston Township, Buckeye Meats and Ohio Tea Company − just to name a few! Our full list, which is most up-to-date, can be found on our website: honadles.com.”

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Q. On your site, it says you (Bob) still make every piece of candy by hand. Why is that so important to your business?

A. “We believe that small-batch, freshly made chocolate is the only way to go! We keep a very small inventory of finished products. This does put stress on the operations, especially during the holidays, but we believe it is worth the effort so that our clients receive absolutely fresh-made confections from Honadle’s.”

Q. Anything else you’d like to share?

A. “I would not have been able to accomplish this dream to restart our family legacy without my faith and the amazing support of my wife, Sheryl, who currently is our designer and organizes our day-to-day operations. 

“Our children and their spouses have also been a critical support to the success of Honadle’s. They represent the fourth generation of the family legacy, and all bring very strong talents and vision. 

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“Currently, my daughter, Brittany, serves as our GM and manages the front of the house, plus our social media. My daughter Kristen manages the web business and is our editor for all marketing and general communications. My son David is our go-to chef to help tweak recipes to bring out an amazing balance of our confections. 

“Chris, Kristen’s husband, constructed our display counters, put down our retail floors and brings unbridled energy to help us get any job accomplished. Casey, Brittany’s husband, has offered his talents in numerous painting jobs and performing very important maintenance jobs. Kara, David’s wife, is our artist offering beautiful hand-drawn signs and finishing touches on gift sets."

Honadle’s Fine Chocolates is at 1138 W. Maple St. in Hartville and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit honadles.com.