Women Building Food Businesses, Part Two: Helping Teens Rock the Spectrum
Written by Jan Norris
Photos by Elizabeth Palace
In Jupiter, food is more than just a meal—it’s a mission, a memory, and in many cases, a woman’s work. A group of local women are building food businesses with deep roots and strong values. They aren’t just cooking or serving—they’re teaching, roasting, crafting, and mentoring. And they’re doing it with purpose. Meet the second in our series.
Valerie Herskowitz, The Chocolate Spectrum
Beyond the dazzling displays of chocolates and pastries at the Chocolate Spectrum in Jupiter, you’ll see a classroom where teens and adults are learning the job of chocolate making, cleaning, and interacting with others.
The twist to the story is that the setting is far outside the comfort zone of the workers, all who are on the autism spectrum, or are developmentally disabled.
“This has been a great experience for all of us,” says founder Valerie Herskowitz, whose autistic son Blake was the catalyst for the shop.
She opened the shop on Indiantown Road in 2016, “It was on my birthday,” she said. A trained pastry chef, she had been making cakes and confections and selling from her home since 2013.
There were few if any opportunities for autistic kids after high school graduation, so she created the shop to put Blake to work, and soon found other parents who wanted to give their children the same chance. Hers- kowitz began accepting others on the spectrum who had graduated high school.
A few years into it, the casual job program grew into a formalized apprenticeship program.
“It isn’t just teaching them about chocolate and pastries,” she said. “But more than that, giving them the experience and opportunity to get a job elsewhere.
Technical skills aren’t the only part of the program.
“We teach them much more than just the chocolate making, but customer service and social skills, interacting with others. We’re constantly training them for customer service.”
With only a few students at a time, the training program was successful, and she soon expanded it to include pre-graduates. “I realized later on, why not start training some of the teens instead of after they graduate high school. Start earlier.”
The program expanded, and more than 100 kids have come through the program.
“They have learned business and organizational skills on the job. Customer service, that’s big.
“We have five work skills that we teach: business communication skills, personal hygiene, stress management, customer service and organizational skills.
“We’re laying a groundwork for them to get a job elsewhere.”
The thanks from parents and other families with special needs children who recognize the unique opportunities come in every day.
The shop has become known in the community, and nonprofits as well as other businesses have bolstered her line of corporate gifts. They ship around the country through their website.
Along with growing the staff, she’s also increased her product line from truffles and chocolate dipped strawberries and pretzels, to cakes and pastries, and now, their hot item: the Dubai bar.
About 18 months ago, she also returned to high-end cake production and pastry work. “Ours are very gourmet oriented. We always had minimal baked goods — brownies, cookies. I started reading what people wanted on different platforms and found modern cakes decorated with sophistication — no Little Mermaid birthday cakes. We use a lot of chocolate.”
Customers can come in the shop and buy just a slice and sip coffee, too, though it’s primarily set up for take-out.
She’s hoping to find a larger building to grow the business.
“We’re trying to expand. We want more space, and we want to expand our training program.
“My older son joined the business. He’s a behavior analyst. He specializes in working with people with autism and those who need help with social skills.”
She’s researched a chocolate cafe.
“When I first started putting together the concept of opening a shop, I went to New York and saw what was trending. I envisioned a chocolate cafe like Max Brenner’s.
“I’d like to get back to what we used to do a lot of, events such as birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and classes. After the pandemic, we restructured the space just to make products.
But sales and support from the community are priorities.
“We still need support for our training programs. They are very expensive. Our format is a very low ratio of instructors to students. In order for that program to continue we need money.”
Herskowitz still does not take a salary. “All profits go to the training program.”
She’s still in “season” mode, with Easter and Passover just completed, and now Mother’s Day orders rolling in. “Then it slows.”
Just now, the popularity of the Dubai bar, a TikTok sensation, is boosting shop profits. It’s a chocolate bar filled with a layer of kataifi, or shredded phyllo dough, mixed with pistachio cream.
“They’re very decadent. They’re expensive to make,” she said, with costs of imported ingredients rising. She orders pistachio cream from Italy. “It’s the one I like best.”
But, she said, “We’re having a good time with it. We have the regular big bar, and we’ve made them into truffles.
“It’s selling very well, so I can’t complain.”
The Chocolate Spectrum, 6725 W. Indiantown Road, Jupiter
Phone (561) 277-9886
Website: thechocolatespectrum.com.
