Dipping fruit into chocolate

Inwood-based business makes kosher treats

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Prunes are not many people’s favorite fruit, but the fresh aroma emanating from the ones on a tray in the huge walk-in refrigerator of Fruits In Chocolate, an Inwood-based business, attracted the possibility of a taste.

Sampling chocolate, while being guiding around the roughly 20,000-square-foot plant on Inip Drive by co-owner and CEO Josh Aryeh, 30, was also enticing a reporter to try the fruit/dark chocolate combinations that include apricot, coconut, cherry, cranberry, blueberry, raspberry and wild berries and tropical fruits.

Originally established as Chocolography, the kosher chocolate printing business begun by Lawrence resident Morty Davis, 88, in the 1990s, has morphed into Fruits In Chocolate, making kosher fruit snacks covered in dark cocoa. There are also heart-shaped chocolates for Valentine’s Day, including milk chocolate and truffles.

“Each order is made and picked fresh,” said Areyh, a Lawrence resident, as he led a reporter into the refrigerator and then toward the plant floor, where employees hand-checked the fruit and the individually wrapped packages before they are placed in a larger bag. There is a room within a room that separates the milk chocolate (dairy) products from the non-dairy fruit-chocolate products, as required by the Orthodox Union, which provides the company’s kosher certification.

Chocolate Boss by Miriam is the printing business, overseen by Miriam Solkowitz, who helped the business get back on its feet after the Bayview Avenue plant, also in Inwood, was severely damaged in Hurricane Sandy. “This is like a family-run business, Morty is like my grandfather,” said Solkowitz, the strategic sales manager who has worked there for five years. “We value our customers.”

Solkowitz, a graduate of the Parsons School of Design, said she loves the creative end. Her business sense found salespeople Judy Rubin and Noah Rosen and product developer Max Naumov, who Areyh said are key employees who have “truly helped the company reach the level that we’re at today.”

The company moved to the Inip building three years ago. Up to 30 people work in Inwood and about 300 full- and part-time sales reps across the U.S. Orders are also taken online, and Areyh said that he is working with people in Israel, Dubai and Kuwait about selling Fruits In Chocolates in those countries.

Products are sold to wholesalers and retailers, including gift basket companies, hotels, bed & breakfasts and diners as well as kosher supermarkets Gourmet Glatt and Seasons, Toddy’s Appetizers in Cedarhurst and Jùs by Julie, a blended juice and health food company with eight stores, including one in Cedarhurst, and Bed, Bath and Beyond.

At full capacity the workers and machines help to pump out between 10,000 and 20,000 bags per day that includes nine pieces during a regular eight-hour shift. “We could go to automation, but here the employees work as a team, along with the machines,” Areyh said. The orders are hand picked and packed for accuracy.

Devora Stern, a store manager for Jùs by Julie, said that Fruits In Chocolate meshes with the smart, healthy and clean eating philosophy and lifestyle that he company supports. “It’s just a very convenient product that is able to satiate people’s cravings in a small portion,” Stern said. “It sells well, and we have people coming in just for the chocolate.”

To order Fruits In Chocolate online go to www.fruitsinchocolate.com.