Weekly interest and loan rates | Home values Northwest stock contest 2004 | Consumer affairs

Snohomish County business
Bigger taste of Gold Bar on menu

By Jane Hodges
Times Snohomish County bureau

HARLEY SOLTES / THE SEATTLE TIMES, 2002 Dale Nelson offers samples and sells spreads and ciders at the University District farmers market in Seattle. He has begun to import cacao beans from Venezuela.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most e-mailed articles

GOLD BAR — The words "gourmet" and "Gold Bar" don't often appear in the same sentence.

But that could change if food entrepreneur Dale Nelson realizes his dream: He wants to turn this city of about 2,000 residents into a Mecca for foodies and artists.

From his Wolf Pack food-processing plant, which sits on 15 acres along the Wallace River, he can visualize guest cabins where visitors could rest after a day of shopping for works by local artists. He can see a 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot dining and conference hall that he wants to build on his property for seminars on food history and preparation, as well as for meals.

Nelson believes school groups and food professionals aren't the only audiences interested in touring his plant, which cans salmon to pickles to cider to chocolate sauce in small batches appropriate for local chefs and farmers. He also provides consulting services for them.

He already spends time educating visitors. On Monday, Nelson and plant co-owner George Wolf took a group of high schoolers from Everett on a plant tour, stopping to discuss varieties of chili powder and their use in sauces, and explaining how raw cacao beans are converted first to bitter chocolate and then to candy bars or truffles.

Nelson also continues to work with Seattle chefs — including Kathy Casey of Dish D'Lish, Tom Douglas of Etta's Seafood and the Dahlia Lounge, and Judy Fu of the Snappy Dragon, all of whom have used his plant to bottle their signature sauces and foods or to train their staffs — and with local farms that want to preserve summer crops as condiments.

But Nelson believes his $2 million-a-year business, which he will own outright by 2006, when Wolf retires, could play a broader role as a tourist attraction and learning center if the city chose to pursue more economic development.

Right now, his vision for turning Wolf Pack into an attraction is only an idea — one he has proposed to Mayor Colleen Hawkins and members of the city staff.

"I think the city should look at this, but I can't dictate that," Nelson said. "The planning side of this has to happen. I just told them I'd love to be a partner."
 
Hawkins said she's interested in seeing Nelson formalize his plans and added the city is investigating economic- development grants that might help make the idea a reality.

"Dale has helped to get this council thinking in a more futuristic way," Hawkins said.

While he works on establishing a board of directors and studies where to start on expansion, Nelson is continuing to diversify his business. Six months ago, he began working with Victor Florez of Monroe on a venture to import raw cacao beans from Venezuela, where Florez is from and Florez's brother lives.

He recently received a half-ton of cacao, ready for orders from chefs or chocolate makers at bakeries and confectioners, including Essential Baking of Seattle and about a dozen other U.S. companies that prepare chocolate from scratch. Three more tons are en route, Nelson said.

When Essential Chocolate, an offshoot of Essential Baking, is launched in Seattle next year, it may purchase beans from Nelson. Todd Kluger, the marketing director for Essential Baking, said he is evaluating beans from Nelson and other vendors.

Kluger said he had learned of Nelson's cacao-import plans because his company is considering processing chocolate sauces at Wolf Pack.

Kluger said locating a cacao-bean importer in the Northwest is significant, and, because cacao is an international commodity, that it's surprising a small food developer and processor such as Nelson was able to establish importing relationships.

"We're trying to preserve a craft (with chocolate making)," Kluger said. "I think what Dale is doing is fantastic."

Jane Hodges: 425-745-7813 or jhodges@seattletimes.com