Finding a career that satisfies your sweet tooth

As Godiva’s Master Chocolatier, Thierry Muret has one of the sweetest jobs in the world. We chatted with him as he gave us a sneak peak of the Ultimate Dessert Truffles Collection, a new line in mouth-watering flavors like Crème Brulee, Chocolate Lava Cake and Tiramisu. So how can you get to develop chocolate for a living like he does? Here’s his advice:

Get educated: The typical path involves culinary, pastry and confectionary training, plus an apprenticeship, Muret says; however, he took an entirely different route. “I started not in the food industry at all. I started as a chemist, and my sister said, ‘Would you be interested to open a chocolate shop?’ I said, ‘Yes, but I don’t know absolutely anything about confections,’ and she said, ‘Well, learn.’ I studied and then I came here in the States, opened my shop and then Godiva noticed me.”

Be passionate: “If you’re just doing it to be a star, it doesn’t work — you need to really love the material,” he says. “And coming from chemistry, I had that scientific background that allowed me to understand what was going on when I was working by hand, and I really fell in love with the complexity of chocolate making. You need to fall in love with what you study. A lot of people think that making chocolate is very easy. It isn’t. It’s extremely complex. This is a job that requires you to be on-site for at least 10 hours a day.”

Study your customers: “It’s all about knowing your consumers [and] knowing their expectations. Right now we are working for the Mid-Autumn celebration, so a brand new mooncake collection with five pieces will come out. I have a chef working on that here, but I contacted a chef in China to really see if we are into the expectation of the Chinese custom.”