A sweet second act

WAUPACA – It started in the kitchen, learning to bake with her grandmother, and it led her to the launch her own chocolate shop that honors her passion for fine chocolate and her love of chickens.

Chocodoodledoo! LLC opened in downtown Waupaca this July and Emiley Stevens, owner, said that the community has been very supportive.

“It’s been wonderful. The people in Waupaca have been very warm, very welcoming,” Stevens said. “There were a lot of people that said they’ve needed a store like ours in Waupaca for a long time.”

Stevens was raised on a farm in Illinois where she took care of chickens at a young age, a task that inspired her store name.

Her background is in workforce education development, an industry she worked in for several years in Washington State; however, the high prices of living in the state and rising crime drove her to move closer to home.

Stevens and her husband decided to return to the Midwest, landing in Antigo in 2021.

The move led to her husband getting a severe case of Covid-19, where he was hospitalized for just under six months, a month and a half of which he was in a coma.

After originally launching ChocoDoodleDoo as a mobile business in Washington in 2017, Stevens chose to restart the venture in Wisconsin following her husband’s “miracle” recovery from Covid-19.

“In 2017, I decided I wanted to do something for myself, I was getting tired of working for somebody else and I really wanted a change,” Stevens said. “So, I decided that it needed to be something I was passionate about, something I really loved and enjoyed.”

Pursuing her career as a baker and chocolatier at this time was a strategic choice, as it provided the flexibility to return to her passion for chocolate while allowing her to stay home and care for her husband during his recovery.

Stevens said she owned a shop in Antigo where she sold her chocolate treats, but she had to close when the economy in Antigo began a bit of a decline.

Stevens and her husband started doing some research on locations and where the best spot to open a bakery and chocolate shop would be and Waupaca came out on top.

Opening in July, Stevens started selling her baked goods, some home décor and gift items, but namely her chocolate treats.

Stevens said they also offer items like cakes, pies and cheesecakes, and they take special orders for baked goods as well.

Stevens said her shop sells items made throughout Wisconsin, and about 80 percent of the baked goods in the store are homemade by her and her husband.

Starting mid-September, Stevens said she will be starting classes on chocolates, as well as olive oils and vinegars.

She is also setting up a chocolate viewing station, where customers can watch a chocolate enrober, or a chocolate waterfall, coat treats in chocolate.

Stevens said her long-term goal is to directly source cacao beans and make chocolate from scratch in the store.

The shop is closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, as well as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday’s.

More information on new items, classes and new offerings can be found on their Facebook page at ChocoDoodleDoo, LLC.