Glen Ishikata: A Chocolate Production Expert

If you are impressed with the creativity, quality and variety of products produced at Chocolate à la Carte, chances are Glen Ishikata's expertise made it possible for the company to manufacture them.

Born into a family of bakers, Glen was first introduced to food at an early age by helping his father bake in San Francisco. After graduating with a degree in Business and Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, Glen worked at a quick printing company. In three years he was responsible for increasing sales from $500.00 to$7 million.

But Glen eventually missed the food business and joined Cocolat, the hottest chocolate company in San Francisco at the time, as a purchasing agent.

After two years, Glen was promoted to Sales manager and helped develop the Dinosaur egg and other popular Cocolat retail products. As sales increased and production could not keep up with demand, the company promoted Glen to production manager.

When he sensed that Cocolat was about to be sold, Glen applied for a position at Chocolates à la Carte in 1992. "The timing was great," says Glen. "I needed to change positions and Chocolates à Carte needed a production manger. It was a perfect match!" Currently vice president of operations, Glen is in charge of production from the time the order is taken to the time the customer receives it. Since he joined the company, the production staff has tripled from 10 to 30.

Glen is also part of the new product development team and he was responsible for the creation of the successful Folded Linen Cup and the marbleizing of products.

" I really enjoy working at Chocolates à la Carte," says Glen. "The company is dedicated to making high-quality products and it is always moving forward developing new and exciting products." In the future, Glen will be expanding the in-house line artistic confections, and he is also in the process of creating new products for the retail market.