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After six months of negotiations, Brian Pelletier signed a lease this morning for his third Kakao chocolate store, this one in the Centene Shops complex in the 7700 block of Forsyth in Clayton.
Niche and Pastaria were the first tenants in the Centene space, Tani Sushi Bistro told Relish last October they were moving to 7726 Forsyth, 2 doors east of Pastaria. Kakao # 3 will be located just to the east of that.
Pelletier informs Relish the 1250 square foot space has 17-foot ceilings and is only half a bay wide, both of which present a design challenge.
Enter SPACE Archtecture + Design. The long narrow, area will be softened with reclaimed wood shelving, plus “waves of wood” (a la Franco) and “metal hanging elements” to mitigate what Pelletier called a potential “cold, industrial, echo.” (Remember the butterflies that hung from the ceiling at Monarch 2.0, the ones that fluttered when the HVAC system kicked on? They were also designed by SPACE.)
Although there will not be any chocolate production in Clayton, the Forsyth store will sell all the same chocolates as the Kakao locations in Maplewood and on South Jefferson, but espresso, coffee, and ice cream sundaes will get added to the mix here. The ice cream will be made by Serendipity, the ice cream toppings by Kakao. (We tried to convince Pelletier to make his own waffle cones, you know, just to generate additional grab-and-go sales. We at least got him thinking. )
The new store will open earlier than the other stores and stay open later, to capitalize on the potential dessert business, given the increasing number of nearby restaurants.
The Clayton store is expected to open in May, missing one of the biggest candy holidays, Easter Sunday. Pelletier says molded eggs (above left) will be popular this year, and there’s always lop-eared bunnies (above right) and bunny ears, available in in semi-sweet chocolate, milk, white, and white with strawberry. Until the new store opens, a selection of Kakao's chocolates (including Easter eggs and bunnies) is available to Claytonites at Sips, a few blocks west at 7818 Forsyth.
If early morning beverage sales are strong, Pelletier says a breakfast menu is also a possibility. All well and good, but it’s hard to beat a hot cup of Kaldi’s and a few squares of Kakao's salted caramels.
