Topeka Business Hall of Fame | Nick & Terry Xidis
Photos by JEFF CARSON & JENNIFER GOETZ
Walk into Hazel Hill Chocolate and you’ll find two of this year’s Junior Achievement Topeka Business Hall of Fame laureates. Just don’t expect to find them in an office. Chances are, they’re either mixing fudge in front of the large storefront window or overseeing a specialty order. While neither Nick or Terry Xidis hail from Topeka, these entrepreneurs and partners — both in business and in life — have enjoyed a pretty sweet journey to the place they now call home.
A SWEET BEGINNING
The Xidis’ journey to Topeka took an indirect route. Terry, who hails from the west coast, grew up in Los Angeles County before spending her high school years in Washington State.
As a single mother, she cleaned houses to put herself through technician school, then landed a job with the Federal Aviation Association. Her responsibilities with the FAA required specialized training for radar processing equipment, which meant traveling to Oklahoma City for months at a time.
“I found myself living in Oklahoma periodically off and on for about three years,” Terry said. “It was hard at times, but necessary to further my career.”
With that advanced training, she became one of the first female technicians to work on the computers that process radar at air traffic control centers.
“All of the electronic equipment was in the basement,” Terry said. “There were no women’s restrooms down there. It really was a man’s profession at the time.”
Nick’s childhood experience was a little different than the one Terry had. Because his father worked for the government, his family never stayed in one place long enough for him to call anywhere home.
“I grew up everywhere. I attended 14 different schools by the time I graduated from high school,” Nick said.
After high school, Nick served three years in the military, then joined a church mission in British Columbia. He eventually found himself working for the FAA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which also required attending specialized training — in Oklahoma City.
“Terry and I were in the same class for six months,” Nick said. “Terry was the really good student at the front of the class, and I was the really annoying student at the back of the class.”
They started playing racquetball together, and thus began a sweet love story that continues to this day. However, like all journeys worth taking, it wasn’t always easy. They’d found each other in Oklahoma but their lives were thousands of miles apart. Nick and Terry spent two years in a long-distance courtship, and coordinated their training schedules so they could be in class in the same place at the same time.
“My phone bill was $500 a month,” Terry said. “Which at that time was practically a fortune.”
Nick proposed and Terry said yes. He put in for a hardship transfer so they could be together, but it wasn’t approved because they needed to already be married for it to qualify as a hardship transfer. The next time Terry took a weekend visit to see Nick, they got married in a small ceremony with five people in the room as witnesses, including Terry’s 8-year-old daughter.
“Eventually I received that transfer to Washington State,” Nick said.
A SWEET OPPORTUNITY
Fast forward six years and that 8-year-old daughter, Cara, was now a high school freshman who was placing at the top of every debate competition in Washington.
Then Nick received a recruiting offer from Sprint to work on a secret project in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I actually turned them down because I didn’t want to uproot this kid that was doing so well at something she loved,” Nick said.
At a parent-teacher conference a few days later, Nick and Terry mentioned how he’d passed up a job opportunity in Kansas City. Cara’s teacher told them they should rethink that decision because Blue Valley Northwest High School was one of the best debate schools in the nation.
“So, we turned around and I took the job. Sight unseen,” Nick said.
For the next seven years, they called the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park home. Nick worked for Sprint while Terry worked at home, taking care of their family of six kids.
“Then Nick came home one day and told me he wanted me to go back to work,” Terry said.
One of Nick’s colleagues owned a few candy shops that were struggling to make a profit. When he told Nick he was planning to auction them off, Nick offered to buy the candy shop in Odessa, Missouri.
“I couldn’t pass up that opportunity,” Nick said. “Candy making is my family’s trade. It is what my grandfather learned when he emigrated from Greece.”
In fact, Nick spent many of his younger years at his grandfather’s candy shop, learning how to make candy and talking to customers.
“I was a great help to them,” Nick said.
Terry scoffed. “Your playing in the candy store was more work than help.”
Before he bought the candy store, Nick assured Terry that he could handle the work. She wouldn’t have to add much more work to her already hectic life.
“Nick was wrong,” Terry said. “It didn’t work out that way.”
The candy store was located inside a mall. According to the terms of the lease, the store had to be open when the mall was open or face a fine of $100 per hour. Even though they hired employees to oversee the store, Terry would often get a call informing her that no one was at the store to open it.
“I would pack up my two little kids that I was homeschooling at the time and drive 45 minutes to open the store,” Terry said. “I actually spent quite a bit of time operating that store.”
A SWEET RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
In 2004, Security Benefit recruited and hired Nick to be part of a team that would spawn SE2, now known as Zinnia.
Nick’s move to the insurance industry came with a desire to move the candy store from Odessa to Topeka. He and Terry searched for an affordable storefront in a central location, and ultimately chose a spot in downtown Topeka on Kansas Avenue. They also gave the relocated shop a new name: Hazel Hill Chocolate.
In addition to the new name, which honors Terry’s grandmother, they wanted the shop to have a new brand identity. The couple worked with a local creative agency to develop a logo and color scheme that was worthy of Terry’s grandmother’s name. Business took off, and the Topeka community was quick to embrace the new chocolate store.
For Nick and Terry, the experiences they had along the way have made the journey sweeter. The store was successful but they knew they needed to keep an eye on the future. Research into industry trends showed that the future of the chocolate industry was moving toward premium dark chocolate. Nick retired from Security Benefit and threw his energy into exploring the darker side of chocolate.
“For a year and a half, my focus was on how to source and make specialty chocolate,” Nick said. “Finally, in 2017, after much trial and error, we launched our single origin specialty chocolate.”
A SWEET REWARD
After the launch, Hazel Hill Chocolate began entering candy making competitions at the international level.
“Lo and behold, we won a few,” Nick said. “People started to talk about Hazel Hill Chocolate. I guess when you win 10 of those competitions, you start to get your name on the map.”
The shop has taken home countless awards over the years. Of these awards, Nick said he’s proudest of the Gold Medal they won at the 2020 Northwest Chocolate Festival, for the Sea Salt Caramels he made with their son, Daniel. The Northwest Chocolate Festival is the largest handcrafted chocolate competition in the world.
“I don’t have a favorite because I don’t like to compete,” Terry said. “It just adds too much stress to me. I would take criticism way too hard.”
Nick said that participating in candy making competitions benefits the shop in two ways: earning marketable attention for the Hazel Hill brand, and providing valuable feedback. The judges at these events are some of the most accomplished experts in the industry, so their opinions on ingredients, techniques and flavors are key to a better end result.
“We enter these contests so we can get better. In this specialty area, we are trying to be among the best in the world. You don’t get there without feedback. You don’t get there without a lot of trial and error — more error than success sometimes,” Nick said.
A SWEET EXPERIENCE
Nick said it’s the craftsmanship that makes it fun for him to get up every morning and go to work at the chocolate shop. That craftsmanship is evident in every bite of Hazel Hill’s single origin specialty chocolate.
The velvety soft texture might be expected, but the subtle notes of fruit and mild heat that form as the chocolate melts on the tongue are a delightful surprise. Nick credited this to the Maya people of Guatemala and Belize.
“For the Mayas, chocolate is a drink, not a food,” he said. “We tasted a variety of drinks that they make with cacao and different spices. We bought cacao, red chilies, cardamom and other spices from them and created a specialty chocolate based on the flavors we encountered.”
The final product took months to refine. Nick brought the ingredients back and began making small 2-to-4-pound batches of chocolate, using different ingredients, temperatures, roasting times and techniques until he found the perfect recipe.
“When we launched our specialty chocolate from northern Peru, we spent nine months and 150 pounds of cocoa refining tiny batches,” Nick said. “It takes a lot of time and patience, but that trial and error is the difference between something great and something extraordinary.”
It’s but one of several unique flavor combinations that Nick has dreamed up in the kitchen.
His latest creation is a single origin, coffee-infused chocolate for a collaboration with PT’s Coffee.
Once Nick perfects a new batch of specialty chocolate, the shop hosts a tasting event where customers can explore the depth and complexity of chocolate. It’s the type of experience that chocolate connoisseurs actively search for.
Even though all six of their kids have spent time in the store, only three of them have been on payroll. Daniel, their youngest son, still works in the store today with other longtime employees that Nick and Terry call their adopted family.
A SWEET BUSINESS
Employees begin making chocolate and candies at 9:30 in the morning, and welcome visitors to stop by and watch the process. The best time to watch them make something is between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. That’s when Nick can be found in his apron, wielding a giant spatula that he uses to cream the fudge on a large marble slab. It takes an expert with incredible stamina to mix the sugar crystals until they’re creamy — which is why this step of the fudge making process falls to Nick.
“We don’t have a schedule as to when we make specific items,” Terry said. “We make notes each day as to what we need and make it accordingly.”
During the Christmas season, they can be found making candy and packaging the chocolate for gifts late into the evening. The shop’s basement, where tiered shelves line the walls, houses their packaging operation. The shelves are empty now that the seasonal rush is over, but will start to fill again in September when the next rush begins.
Terry said that it can be overwhelming to manage the sheer quantity of orders, inventory and supplies.
“That is why I don’t sleep well for several months,” Terry said. “I have too many things swirling around in my head that I know I need to get done.”
But even the best project managers sometimes find themselves running out of sugar, or in Hazel Hill Chocolate’s case, toffee.
“I ordered 400 pounds of toffee from our supplier this last holiday season, but we ran out the first of December,” Terry said. “So, we had to make our own to fill that demand.”
A SWEET COMMUNITY
Nick credited the support of Topeka’s community for the success of Hazel Hill Chocolate. Their loyal customer base, supportive business relationships and strong word-of-mouth advertising keep the candy business thriving.
“We wouldn’t exist without the support of our community,” Nick said. “Our business thrives because other businesses order from us and collaborate with us.”
When Hazel Hill opened its doors in downtown Topeka, it turned into a ghost town at 4 p.m. when the government workers went home for the day. Now that numerous stores, restaurants, and the Cyrus Hotel have opened locations downtown, it’s almost impossible to find a parking spot in front of the store — and foot traffic has seen rapid growth.
“We have lived in several different places, but Topeka is our home,” Terry said. “The people here are wonderful. Our neighbors are unbelievable. We support each other. You couldn’t ask for a better place to live and work.”
A SWEET FUTURE
While Nick and Terry aren’t looking to make any immediate changes at Hazel Hill, they’re starting to consider the next leg of their journey.
“What’s next for us? Retire. Do a mission. Travel to Greece and to Scotland,” Nick said. “We don’t have a set timing in place but we want to make sure that when we do decide to leave the business behind, we leave it in good hands.”
Nick and Terry own the building that houses the candy store, and live upstairs. No matter who is running the store, it’s likely they will be around to help with the transition.
“I am sure whoever takes it over will want to make changes, but hopefully they do it slow,” Terry said.
