MEETEETSE - As he gears up for another holiday season, Tim Kellogg's business, the Meeteetse Chocolatier, is prepared to meet the challenge of hundreds of gift orders for his handmade gourmet confections.

Since 2004, the Meeteetse Chocolatier has not only survived, but thrived, following slow-and-steady expansion of its various lines of fine chocolates, cakes, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and decorative truffles flavored with sage, coconut, Coors, or champagne.

Along the boardwalk of this mountain town, Kellogg still produces each chocolate by hand in a one-man kitchen - that's the only way he can make sure each chocolate measures up. Over the years, he's developed into a one-man production line, especially around Christmas.

"In December, I can put out between eight and nine hundred truffles a day," Kellogg says. "When I first started, I could only do two or three hundred."

Three years ago, Kellogg leased space for his business and operated only on Saturday afternoons. Now he's open seven days a week in his own retail building on main street, with two employees staffing the counter in what used to be the Broken Spoke Café.

"It was sad to see it go," Kellogg says of the legendary café. "I tried to work it in the contract that they'd have to make me breakfast."

Another move to rental space in the historic Meeteetse Mercantile allowed him to continue testing the market before buying his own place.

"I didn't have the skills in business to start with my own building. I started small and renting, and I could walk away at any time," he says. "I didn't go overboard from the start."

While building his business, Kellogg maintained his day job as a working cowboy on a ranch northwest of Meeteetse.  Even though he's making chocolates seven days a week now, he still carves out time for cowboy work.

"The two really balance each other out," he says. Some days, I'm in the kitchen and I think, 'I can't wait to get outside.'"

A cowboy chocolatier seems an unlikely combination, but it was the need for a new saddle that prompted Kellogg to begin selling his chocolates.

"I needed a new saddle, and my mom suggested making and selling brownies and truffles in Cody City Park during the (Fourth of July) Stampede," Kellogg recalls. "I didn't think they would go for it, but she bought the rental space, and I sold out all three days."

He repeated his success at the Meeteetse Labor Day celebration.

"I was worried about repeat business, but I noticed a lot of people would come by and say they had bought my chocolates in Cody. After that, people kept prompting me to make them for gifts."

From there to his own storefront, Kellogg estimates about 95 percent of his traffic is walk-in, and he gets many requests from those customers for chocolates for holidays and special occasions.

The chocolates are an easy sell, as they are made from the finest ingredients.

"I'm very strict about the ingredients. It's been a very expensive learning curve," he says. "I use premium Belgian and American chocolate, and a lot of organic ingredients to make sure it's better for my customers and for me."

His website, www.meeteetsechocolatier.com features his full collection of confections. Orders can be shipped from October through April, and may be made online, by phone (307) 868-2567, or at the counter, 1943 State Street, Meeteetse 82433.



Wyoming Business Report Correspondent Laurie R. Quade can be reached at news@wyoming.com.