Concocting Chocolate Fantasies Teaches Real-Life Work Skills to the Disabled

Trays of toffee. Gobs of wild cherry fudge. Clusters of chocolate-coated peanuts. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

From its small, unassuming shop on Elm Avenue in Carlsbad, Archer’s Confectionary is doing more than fulfilling the fantasies of chocolate lovers. It is giving retarded adults an opportunity to work in the real world.

With its quaint lace curtains and lavender country-rose wallpaper in the front, the shop belies the fact that it is a fully functioning factory, involved in all aspects of candy making, packaging and selling. As Valentine’s Day approaches, the staff is rushing to fill heart-shaped boxes with chocolates appropriately designed for the season, as well as maintain the retail store.

Archer’s is the newest venture undertaken by the North County chapter of the Assn. for Retarded Citizens, an agency that provides vocational service programs for people with developmental disabilities. Among its other North County businesses, ARC runs a ceramics company, a doughnut shop and two thrift stores.

The confectionery, which opened in December, is staffed by ARC clients being trained to enter the mainstream work force. The candy shop is now operated by two regular staff members and six ARC clients, with plans to add two more clients.

Debbie Ross, a soft-spoken, bespectacled woman with graying curly hair, is the ruling force behind Archer’s. In her white laboratory coat splotched with chocolate, the 64-year-old Ross oversees daily shop operations and keeps detailed records on the progress of the ARC employees.

The job of shop manager seemed tailor-made for the former elementary school teacher who used to own a wholesale candy business. Ross joined ARC in September, when a friend told her about the agency’s plans to buy Runzo’s Chocolates in Carlsbad.

“I was looking to open a candy store of my own when I heard about this project,” Ross said. “I called ARC and said, ‘You need me.’ For me, it’s a welcome adventure.”

Ross likes the enthusiasm of her ARC workers and said that their energy is what keeps the shop going. Often, Ross finds, she can’t keep pace.

“This is their place. They just are very involved. Besides that, they just love it here,” she said.

“They come in, they put their lunch pail away, get their apron, and there they are, ready to go,” she said. “There is nothing I have to do to say, ‘Well, come on. Let’s get down to work.’ ”

A typical work day might find Dennis Erie, a 44-year-old with Down’s syndrome, in the back room chopping chocolate for the chocolate-coating machine. Terry Stetler, 31, who also is developmentally disabled, works diligently in the kitchen, rolling mint candy centers into balls.

Rex Workman, a 31-year-old with cerebral palsy, keeps the shop clean. John Goss, 47, helps with packaging, and warmly and enthusiastically greets customers.

Like an Old Friend

Although Archer’s is the new kid on the block, it has been welcomed into the community like an old family friend. Ross said the customers are glad to have a candy store back in the neighborhood, especially since the store stood vacant for a year after former owner James Runzo’s death.

“More and more people are getting to know what this place is,” she said. “We don’t make a big show about it being a training facility, but if there is a little confusion, or if John hasn’t already told them, Madeline (an assistant) steps in and explains what’s going on. People are quite happy; they think it’s great.”

Always looking for alternative businesses, ARC chose the candy shop because it was ideal for its North County clients. A cost study showed that the ARC clients could do 90% of the work and at the same time learn to be more self-supporting.

“We look at their productivity, social behavior problems, all the things that are normal for a normal worker,” said Mike Alcamo, director of the North County ARC. “The clients are paid wages based on their productivity level. For many, this is their first real work experience . . . the eventual goal is to have them self-supporting,” he said.

‘You can teach anything if you know the subject, so I can teach chocolate-making just as well as anything,” Ross said. “I can set up a task for them, but I have to monitor it. With everything they do, we have to be on top of it.

“Let’s say we’re folding boxes . . . maybe we’ve folded 10 boxes and, all of a sudden it doesn’t come out right. I have to be there to put them back on track. It’s like John says: ‘Everybody makes mistakes, nobody’s perfect.’ That’s what it’s all about, just bringing ‘em back.”