Suzanne Palmlund’s latest venture: refining family’s chocolate secrets
Although Suzanne Palmlund expressly forbade me from mentioning her age (the number was indeed surprising), the spunky chocolatier exudes a joie de vivre and sense of adventure that belies her earthly maturity.
After 14 years as a mental healthcare administrator, raising her three kids, and the passing of her loving husband of 35 years, she turned to innovating her grandmother’s fudge recipes just over a year and a half ago.
The delicious and popular variety of results can be found on her website and at Chocolate Secrets on Oak Lawn, just beyond The Shops of Highland Park.
“I never liked store-bought fudge,” Palmlund said. “So, I thought, why can’t fudge be elegant? Now, a year and eight months later, it sells out in three days. It’s amazing.”
She and her part-time helpers create fudge magic in the commercial kitchen upstairs at Chocolate Secrets.
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Palmlund has no employees younger than 30. She often employs those with full-time jobs who have a passion for confectionery — two bankers, a lawyer, and a travel agent.
“I didn’t realize how serious it is when, all of a sudden, you’re by yourself,” she said of her husband David Palmlund’s passing. “My biggest gift now is my girlfriends. I realized you have no idea where God is going to lead you. If you’re serious about your faith, you just let it go.”
Top-selling fudge varieties include dark chocolate with sea salt, chocolate dipped peanut butter, and nutty fudge laced with pecans, walnuts, or pistachios.
“I know that I have an excellent product, and I know that it sells. By her giving me the chance to have a case in her beautiful store,” Palmlund said of Chocolate Secrets owner Pam Eudaric, “I was able to prove that.”
A recent endorsement from friend and neighbor Chef Stephen Pyles came as a welcome addition to her growing accolades.
“He gave a dinner for six of his top chefs, and he put me on the menu,” she said. “His endorsement is huge.
“I know what I’ve done, and I’m very proud of myself,” she continued with a nod to the future. “For my next move, I don’t know. I’ve always thought outside the box, and I’ve always thought big.”
Corporate orders are on her wish list. TikTok videos teaching people how to make their own gift boxes of truffles, bon-bons, and fudge have been suggested by friends.
“It’s not brain surgery, but it is difficult in the way that I could show them how to do it,” she said.
“From birth to right now is gone; it’s in the past,” Palmlund said. “What we do today is the only thing that’s important — to try to be successful in what we’re doing today. Tomorrow? We don’t have a clue. But I love the idea of looking forward to it.
“‘The winds of change blow opportunity for the wise man,’” she recited her favorite saying with a grin, “and that’s me.”
