Storyline Chocolates is a family-owned business founded by Michelle Augustyn and Michael Ouimette, a dynamic sister and brother team.
Michelle Augusytn is a Co-Founder and Chief Storyteller at Storyline Chocolates. The company is a passion project inspired by years of working in the health and human services sector, obtaining a doctorate degree, and then an encore career as a Business Advisor with the CT Small Business Development Center. Add in a healthy obsession with chocolate, travel, and a dream of being a published writer since childhood. It has taken three years to create Storyline Chocolates. Using all of my knowledge and experience from my day job, attending E’cole Chocolates online Chocolatier Program, and crafting a compelling story which invites more stories.
Michael Ouimette is a Co-Founder and the culinary creative behind Storyline Chocolates. With over twelve years of experience in the restaurant industry, he worked his way up the ranks to Restaurant Manager and Trainer. He is also the three-time champion of the annual family cooking competition. Mike has fully embraced the tempestuous nature of chocolate, mastering the art of tempering, and recipe creation. In Storyline Chocolates, he focuses on pushing the boundaries of flavor and mouthfeel to create a sensory experience that matches the moment in the story where readers are prompted to taste our fine bars. Mike is our proud Chocolate Juggernaut.
Our mission is to delight our customers and educate, inspire, and help other social entrepreneurs create impactful businesses, so that together, we can be a catalyst for positive social change.
We invite you to escape into flavor and savor the story!
Co-Founder & Chief Storyteller
Michelle Augustyn
What Inspired the Chocolate Stories?
For me it was during a late Spring getaway with my husband to Cape Cod when the seasonal shops and restaurants had reopened in the hopes of a robust summer season, and before other tourists jam Route 6 to the Bourne Bridge. I had been feeling restless in my day job as a Business Advisor for the CT Small Business Development Center. The job is so rewarding; I get to help people start and grow their businesses. However, the gnawing desire to launch my own business weighed upon me.
In my daydreams, I imagined owning a bookstore as I find bookstores, a vital third space in our society, so inspiring. And yet, the idea is completely impractical at this time of life. We had heard about a fine chocolatier in Cape Cod that we needed to try; Sequesset Chocolates. Our new year's resolution that year was to sample fine chocolate from all over the country which required us to stop into any and every chocolate shop that we found and sample their confections. It was a very tasty resolution.
While Chequessett Chocolates was closed the day we visited, we did find their chocolates for sale in a gift shop. We also visited another well-known place in Orleans called Hot Chocolate Sparrow. Mmm…so much chocolate.
As we later walked along the beach, enjoying our delicious treats with a cup of tea in hand, I wondered how I could prolong the chocolate tasting process past those first bites? The idea then came to me, what if I paired chocolate with a story and created a tasting adventure? Byways to Montague is the first story in our Chocolate Stories series with twelve more planned.
We invite you to escape into flavor and savor the story!
Co-Founder & Chief Storyteller
Michelle Augustyn
