There can be few things in life so sinfully sensuous as the smell of chocolate - rich, warm, sweet chocolate. When I arrive in Dublin's Herbert Lane to meet Catherine Melvin and Geoff Caird of Chocca Mocca Chocolates, the whiff is the first thing to strike me and I'm bowled over. This is the nerve-centre of a small bustling business that is run with huge efficiency and great success; it seems an added bonus that it smells like Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory.
"When I was six or seven, I found this little girl's Communion money on the ground and brought it back to her parents who owned a sweet shop. They took me behind the counter and told me take anything I wanted and for some reason I asked for a mini Flake bar. I fantasised for years about returning with a shopping trolley - I was a complete sweet addict!" laughs Catherine. "Now it's our year-old daughter Finn who is beginning to realise that her parents make sweets for a living - my four-year-old nephew already boasts about it at school."
Catherine may have had a lifelong commitment to chocolate, but their company is relatively young. The couple - both under 30 - began in 1993 with one product and lots of enthusiasm and now offer nine different products, with more in the pipeline. These are not the type of chocolates left in the box long after Christmas has ended - who could refuse real strawberries in cream? Coffee beans covered in first white then dark chocolate? Toasted almonds dusted with cocoa? Chocca Mocca has gone unashamedly for the gourmet end of the market and their product and packaging reflect this. Old fans will be more than familiar with their brown paper bags tied neatly with ribbon, but you should now look out for the new slick ivory packages tied with a twist of black gauze.
It all sounds extremely well researched, which it is - now. When Geoff and Catherine started out, they had no idea how well their first product, a chocolate-covered coffee bean, would sell. The pair, both marketing graduates, were just back from a couple of years of travelling and working in Australia, London, Hawaii and other parts of the US, where they picked up the bean idea. "We arrived back in Dublin in November and thought we should really catch the Christmas market. We had no time for market research, we just headed out to retailers with a bowl of beans in one hand and a few packs in the other, and offered them the chocolates on a `try 'em and buy 'em' basis - and they did," laughs Geoff.
Starting their own business was a logical step for both Cathy and Geoff - both their fathers worked for themselves. "We were both well-used to the stresses and strains and ups and downs of starting up on your own." They had both had previous jobs which only served to show them that they were not suited to large corporations and bureaucracy, while being their own bosses suits them well.
"Most of the time," laughs Catherine. "If the money and effort and energy you've invested in your business doesn't pay off it is your responsibility. But I think you get used to that kind of pressure - we're really not so worried any more." Like many small manufacturers, it all began in the kitchen at home, rolling the coffee beans by hand. The couple now work out of a small mews behind Herbert Street, with about 50 per cent of the manufacturing work done by a firm in Britain.
"It gives us more time to concentrate on what we really enjoy which is the marketing and product development," explains Catherine. "We're really passionate about the business."
"In fact it's sometimes very difficult to remember we're running this as a business. Particularly when we first started, we'd almost want to know who had bought each pack to see if they went to a good home," says Geoff.
Christmas is obviously their busiest time, with last year's seasonal activity especially frenzied. Their daughter Finn was born in November at exactly the same time as a huge Christmas promotion and Geoff's first year exams for a post graduate degree in marketing.
Geoff says, "We could be very flexible. Apart from the daily work, a lot of the business is Catherine and myself discussing how to do something, so in the last year we've had a lot of those discussions over three o'clock feeds or the washing-up," points out Geoff.
The couple first met at a party 11 years ago, despite living on the same road in Glasnevin for years. Since then they have studied at the same college, travelled together, and now live and work together. I ask them how they manage the inevitable pressures of constant proximity.
"We usually agree on most things but just come from different angles," muses Geoff. "Of course, you can't separate work and play quite so much - particularly as my sister Jane also works here with us - but it does make it so much better when you're celebrating some business success and you're sharing it with the people you love."
"I think we're getting much better," says Catherine. "I mean we've had some blazing rows, who hasn't? But our rows now aren't really about falling out, they're about getting things done."
The future is looking rosy for Chocca Mocca. There is a whole new range in development and they are beginning to look seriously at exporting. So where do they see themselves in 10 years' time?
"I think what we'd like is for Chocca Mocca to be still going - globally! With us pulling the strings from down on Hare Island in West Cork, running it by email from the beach or something. This is an adventure and we're on it for the long haul but we do want to do other things too, like write and paint and express ourselves a little more creatively." Catherine looks questioningly at Geoff and he grins and agrees. They seem entirely content, happy as - well - two kids in a sweet shop.