Well, you can tell im a successful chocolatier
Im a business man, no time to talk
Born on February 21, 1817,
Hes has been trying to be business man his whole life
But he failed multiple times
And you may see the bad times
But he kept trying to understand
And solved every problem
Whether he used what he learned
when he held the apprenticeship
Or when he used the experience he had
He always made the best chocolate
Ghirardelli had always been supported by
his parents and seven siblings
Trying to reach his goal of being
The best chocolate there is
Stayin on top, Stayin on top
He went from having a lot of stores that didn’t do well
too his company being the second
biggest baking brand in the US in 2011
He moved to different locations to
become as successful as he was
Like when he moved to california in 1849
Or when he he moved to San Francisco in 1852
Well now you see, Ghirardelli was an
admirable person that people looked up to
He never gave up, he was as smart as an
owl and Ghirardelli Chocolate's
revenue is $175.4 million because of his dedication
Achieving his goal, he retires from the company in
at the age of 75 in 1892, as he leaves it to his children
and then later passes away on January 17, 1894 in Italy
Ghirardelli’s Life Story
Introduction
Many people have a sweet tooth for candy and love chocolate, especially Domingo Ghirardelli’s chocolate. Ghirardelli’s company was one of the biggest baking brands in the U.S., and he was well known for his marvelous chocolate. Although Ghirardelli was not the first person to make chocolate, he was a big part of the chocolate industry, and his company grew to become one of the biggest baking brands in the world, many people enjoyed the sweet taste of his chocolate. However, He had many challenges and problems that occurred to him, for example, when a big series of fires burned both of Ghirardelli’s stores down. But he never gave up on his dream and kept going. He went from owning small shops that did not do well to being one of the best. There were times when Ghirardelli had to make changes in the sweets for it to be the best possible version of the chocolate. So because of that many people admired him for that and bought his chocolate not only for that but also because it was delicious.
Early Life
Domingo Ghirardelli had a very normal childhood, he liked playing outside with his friends, and he grew up to be a very successful man, and important to the chocolate industry. Domingo Ghirardelli was born on February 21, 1817, in Rapallo, Italy. Ghirardelli’s family was very large in people and there were 10 people in total. His dad was “Giuseppe”, and his mom was “Maddalena”(Tanya). And also Giuseppe was a spice merchant who carried and traded spice. Giuseppe and Maddalena had over eight kids including Ghirardelli. Joseph Nicholas Ghirardelli, Virginia Mangini, and five others. However, not much information is known about Domingo’s siblings as much as himself. Early in his life “Domenico held an apprenticeship” (Domenico Ghirardelli) at Romanengo’s chocolate shop which was a noted chocolatier in Genoa where he learned a lot of important things that would help him later on in his career in the chocolate industry. Ghirardelli learned things like how to make chocolate and how to make other sweet treats as well. His apprenticeship gave him a lot of knowledge and would become helpful to him in the future. That apprenticeship was his very first introduction to the confectionery industry.
A little while after that Domingo Ghirardelli moved to South America where he opened his first confection store which was the very first he opened. Also while living in Peru, Ghirardelli,””he learned how to speak Spanish”, and Domingo decided to change his first name from Domenico to the name he is mostly known as, Domingo Ghirardelli (Domenico Ghirardelli).
Beginning of Career
There were many things he did at the beginning of his career to get to where he was. Ghirardelli held an “apprenticeship at Romanengo’s chocolate shop” at an early age and that apprenticeship was one of the things that inspired Ghirardelli to keep going in the chocolate industry and make it far (“Domingo Ghirardelli, Candy Hall Of Fame”). In 1849, Ghirardelli left Peru after hearing tales about the gold rush and sailed to America to open his first-ever shop in Stockton, California where he sold “supplies and confections to local miners” (“Domingo Ghirardelli, Candy Hall Of Fame”). However, right before he opened the confectionery store, he had failed as a prospector, so he opened the shop. This shop was also one of many stores that Ghirardelli would open throughout his career. Ghirardelli’s first shop was so successful “selling chocolate, coffee, and dried fruit” that several months later he opened his second store in San Francisco (“Domingo Ghirardelli: Chocolate in the Golden State”). Domingo Ghirardelli had opened many stores and confectionary shops but although he had opened many, a lot of those did not do so well and some of them even had to be shut down. Domingo had learned a lot from the apprenticeship he held when he was younger. Some of the things he learned was how to make chocolate and other sweet treats. All of those things that Ghirardelli learned while he was young, helped him out throughout his career, and since he previously had experience in making chocolate he was able to create the chocolate easily.
Significant Accomplishments
There are many reasons why Domingo Ghirardelli managed to be successful and his company became one of the most famous in the world. Sometimes his good traits helped him achieve things, but it wasn't always as it seemed, he had many obstacles to face in his career but he avoided those obstacles and made the company what it is now. One of the reasons is that when Ghirardelli held the apprenticeship when he was younger he was very interested in the process and enjoyed making sweets a lot. Therefore, he got curious and decided that he wanted to continue in the chocolate industry and try to make it far and become wealthy. His curiosity led him to accomplish many great things like earning large amounts of money by opening different shops in Peru and other places too. However, Ghirardelli had to go through many big obstacles to get to where he was. One big obstacle he had to go through was “a series of fires” that “destroyed both of Domingo’s stores” and that forced him to salvage both of his shops, but he rebuilt them to open Cairo Coffee House (Domingo Ghirardelli, Candy Hall Of Fame). However, the shop didn’t go too well, so he opened another shop called “Ghirardelli & Girard” and in 1852, the company imported over 200 pounds of cocoa beans. This was also the shop that soon became the well-known Domingo Ghirardelli’s chocolate company (Domingo Ghirardelli, Candy Hall Of Fame). Even though some of the shops did not do so well Ghirardelli did not give up and kept on trying. His company kept on growing every year as more people started to hear about the company, and his company kept on expanding, and more people started to hear about his company and buy his chocolate. By the 1880s Ghirardelli’s company was importing more than “450,000 pounds of cocoa beans a year” (Domingo Ghirardelli, Chocolate in the Golden State). Domingo Ghirardelli had many ups and downs throughout his career but he kept going, and because of his dedication his company kept growing and became one of the biggest and most famous chocolate companies in the world.
Legacy
Domingo Ghirardelli positively impacted the world by making new chocolates that are more enjoyable to people. His ways of making chocolate attracted many people because of how good it was and how it was made, and since kids liked and enjoyed the chocolate, it did very well. In 2011, Domingo’s company was the #2 biggest baking brand in the U.S. and that's when people began to start the “Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival” to celebrate chocolate and raise money for nonprofits (Domenico Ghirardelli). When an employee who worked for the company found out about a way to ''more intense flavor” of the chocolate it helped the company, and because of that change, people could better enjoy the chocolate (Domenico Ghirardelli). When people found out about the new way that Ghirardelli made his chocolate, it affected the chocolate industry greatly, and more people started to use it. Because of the number of times, Ghirardelli moved the company, like when he relocated the company and moved to the corner of Greenwich and Powell Streets which helped more people find out about the company and his chocolate (“Domingo Ghirardelli, Candy Hall Of Fame). Ghirardelli did many things throughout his career to improve the company, and that also changed the way chocolate was made, how the chocolate industry worked, and even made making chocolates more popular and better for people. The personality trait that he possessed that made him great was that he never gave up. The reason why this made him so great is because since he had many challenges that affected him, he didn’t just give up. Ghirardelli kept going and found ways to solve the problem. The thing that makes Ghirardelli admirable is his dedication. Ghirardelli started with small shops that were not very popular, and he made his way up and tried very hard to accomplish his goal. Ghirardelli’s dedication to making chocolate and becoming successful is what makes him someone to look up to. Ghirardelli retired from the company at the age of 75 in 1892 and left the company to his sons. Then two years later on January 17, 1894, Domingo Ghirardelli passed away.
Work Cited
“Domingo Ghirardelli.” Candy Hall Of Fame, candyhalloffame.org/inductee/domingo-ghirardelli/.
“Domingo Ghirardelli: Chocolate in the Golden State.” National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, 1 Dec 2009, npg.si.edu/blog/domingo-ghirardelli-chocolate-golden-state.
“Domenico Ghirardelli: Italian of the Week.” Sons Of Italy Blog, 14 Feb 2015, osia.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/domenico-ghirardelli-italian-of-the-week/.
Singh, Tanya. “Domingo Ghirardelli Birthday & Fun Facts.” kidadl, kidadl.com/famous-people-facts/domingo-ghirardelli.