The menu at the Craverie, a café/ chocolate shop that is the newest business venture by the Kohler Co., has two sides. One side says, “indulgence,” and the other side says, “lean.”
On the left side of the menu are the Craverie’s indulgences, including a variety of chocolates, pastries, sandwiches, desserts and gelato. Those items are targeted for people who want to treat themselves.
“People deserve the occasional indulgence, and when they do, it should be top quality,” said Jeff Breit, manager of the Craverie. “A lot of times people who are health conscious will decide not to eat something because they think it won’t be worth the calories. If it’s in here, it’s worth the calories.”
On the right side of the café’s menu are the Craverie’s lean items. They include breakfast items, soups, salads, sorbets and desserts that all have less than 210 calories and less than 150 milligrams of sodium.
Even though they are healthy choices, the lean items at the Craverie, created by chefs at The American Club, are still delicious and high-quality, Breit said.
“You shouldn’t have to have less quality in the product that you get (when ordering healthy food),” Breit said. “With this menu, you don’t. The quality of the (lean) product and variety of tastes and texture is extraordinary.”
Just like every major new innovation that the Kohler Co. does, each detail of the Craverie was carefully scrutinized by Herbert V. Kohler Jr., the company’s president, chairman and CEO.
“This café is really a new idea in the presentation of food,” Kohler said. “Depending on where you are in life, if you are really fitness-focused, if you are reluctantly aging, like me, I’m going to the lean side. But if you’re young and vigorous and can burn the calories, that left side is marvelous.”
The creation of Craverie began about four years ago when Kohler decided the world needed a better “turtle” chocolate treat. He put The American Club chefs, including director of culinary arts Ulrich Koberstein, to work on the project. Hundreds of samples later, most of which were sampled by Kohler, they created a new “Turtle,” which they called “Terrapin’s” because Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestle S.A. has trademarked the term “Turtle.” The creation of the Terrapins also led to the launch of Kohler Original Recipe Chocoates.
Now Kohler Co. has a store in which to sell the Terrapins. And chocolate is the star of the show at the Craverie. When customers walk in, they see a display case that looks like those used by jewelry stores, expect it is filled with chocolates. The middle of the café looks like a French bistro and the back is similar to The American Club with comfortable furniture, a fire place and a view of Wood Lake.
The Craverie is located in the Shops of Woodlake at 725D Woodlake Road, Kohler.
If it is successful, the Kohler Co. may open more Craverie locations.
“Let’s see how this one does,” Kohler said. “If it does what we think it can do, we will take it out.”
