Posted on 29th Jun 2010 @ 1:04 PM

Julie Ganong said there are two things people need in life – money and chocolate. Ganong and her husband Alan Mons have combined those two things from past professions to form an innovative business called Chococoa Baking Company (and café).

Chococoa’s claim to well-deserved fame is “The Whoopie,” a mini whoopie pie – a product that is this year’s hot item, according to the website epicurious.com (a site for people who love to eat). Ganong said: “This year it’s the mini-whoopie that has come into vogue.”

The mini-whoopie took off just as Chococoa opened its bakery and café on the corner of Winter and Washington streets in Newburyport. Ganong, who used to do marketing full-time for The Provident Bank, said that it took Mons and her two years to get The Whoopie to market. Last year they found the space on Washington Street that had just what they needed – a production facility (bakery). They share the bakery with other entrepreneurial bakers.

Said Ganong: “We help promote (the other bakers) as well, with the goal of promoting Newburyport as a strong culinary destination for specialty foods, along with our great restaurants.”

On Feb. 1, The Whoopie was being featured on the website The Daily Grommet, an online marketplace that every day tells the story behind a product (or what they call a Grommet). It was the first Newburyport company to be featured on the site, and Ganong said: “This helps us go national!" One of the things Ganong stressed is that, no matter what happens with the company, Newburyport will always be the home of The Whoopie.

The whoopie pie is a “New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition,” according to Wikipedia. To Ganong, it is pure New England.  She grew up in Maine munching whoopie pies and used to bake them with her grandmother. Now, she said, she is making “a sort of grown up version” that can be paired with dessert wines and even beer. She said the raspberry whoopie goes well with Belgian raspberry Lambic beer.

Mons comes from a culinary background so Ganong said: “He understands how all of this works and he understands the resources and what needs to be done.” His lifelong dream was to develop a new culinary product. One day he heard former chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan saying that it wasn’t so much about creating a new product, it was about improving an existing product. Inspired to baking by his mother, Ganong said it was amazing how they came from different spots to this one product. Ganong added: “We both have a passion for really good food.”

The pint-sized pies are made with premier chocolate, organic butter, local free range eggs and essential oils, as opposed to extracts. Chococoa not only makes the mini treats for sale individually or in packs of three, they make entire cakes made of individual pies. Ganong said they already have six orders for wedding cakes, for next year. The Whoopie, in assorted flavors, can be found not only in the café but in other locations around the city.

The pies are great for people who want a satisfying treat but do not want to overindulge. The big clients are caterers, who Ganong said love the size because they can be easily picked up and eaten - caterers don’t have to cut them up first. “We have re-invented the whoopie pie,” she said.

P.S. The art on the walls of the café is for sale by the artists. Chococoa takes no commission on the sales.

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Originally published by Newburyport Business, Gillian Swart, Feb. 12, 2010.
http://www.newburyportbiz.com/features/biz-profiles/258-chocolate-wishes-and-whoopie-pie-dreams