If you've ever been to an elegant banquet where dessert consisted of mousse or ice cream or berries served in a delicate chocolate shell, chances are you've tasted one of the delicious products made by Rena and Richard Pocrass.

Their California-based company, Chocolates à la Carte, produces creations ranging from festive Valentine's Day suckers to chocolate novelties topped with the logos of such corporate clients as Print, Ford Motor Co., and IBM. They've made Chocolate saxophones for a dinner for president Clinton and chocolate sunglasses for an event honoring actor Jack Nicholson.

Mostly, they create desserts that some of the nation's top chefs pass off as their own, or they create elements that chefs use in their own desserts--like white or dark or marbleized chocolate shells in shapes such as cups, tulips, swans, magnolia leaves, and seashells. The company's 4,500 customers include hotels, resorts, country clubs, airlines, cruise ships, and premier restaurants.

A former chocolate-shop owner, Rena Pocrass, 50, started the business in 1986 with one product in seashell-like design. She had great contacts from her retail experience, and business took off immediately.

Rick, 56, has his own executive-search firm, but he saw that Rena's business had greater potential, and he and his wife became partners. "What I saw us If Rena called on 10 chefs, every single one saw her," says Rick. "No one ever refused to let her in the door to show her product."

Perhaps things were going just too smoothly for Chocolates à la Carte. That changed on Jan 17, 1994, when the Los Angeles area suffered a devastating earthquake. The epicenter, at Northridge, was just about five miles from the company's location in Sylmar. Ceilings fell in, interior walls split apart, and products, computers, and shipping materials were thrown to the floor. A major piece of equipment was crushed when the next-door tenant's storage racks hurtled through a wall.

The pocrasses had no insurance or cash reserves to rely on. But "to fail was unacceptable," says Rena. The jobs of 45 employees depended on the success of the business.

The most immediate challenge was to "minimize to our customers the severity of our damage," says Rena. The products are sold with the understanding that each chef will claim they were made totally in his or her kitchen. "For a chef in New York to tell an affair that their dessert finale was canceled because of the earthquake in California would destroy that image."

Long-range challenges included repairing the building and replacing damaged equipment without a source of capital. Employees sprang into action. Customers were contacted and assured that shipments would be made on schedule. A power generator obtained by the company's subcontractor, an Orange County confection firm named Van Der Meer, made the phone system and computers operational by the second day. Production was moved to Van Der Meer (which has since merged with Chocolates à la Carte.)

To promote sales, a letter was sent to a mailing list of 17000, affirming the company's readiness to ship products despite earthquake damage.

Longer-range efforts included arranging with suppliers to stretch out terms of payment and securing a $155,000, 10-year, low-interest disaster loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration to purchase equipment.

"Because of the earthquake, we are actually healthier," says Rena. Sales increased 27 percent in 1994. The company entered into an agreement with a French chocolatier; Valrhona, to intergrate Valrhona's chocolates into Chocolates à la Carte's holiday designs.

And the Pocrasses say they received "letter after letter and many phone calls from grateful customers for not letting them down." The goodwill they won, they say, is "unreasurable."

When disaster strikes, says Rick, you have to keep a cool head, think things through, and take action.

You can't go into a "victim mode" adds Rena. "Put one foot in front of the other; and you will come out of it."

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