CLAREMONT — When Mona Changaris began using maple syrup as a sweetener for her vegan, organic chocolate bars and caramels, she thought it made sense to be in New England, the heart of the country’s maple syrup producers.

With helpful direction at the state level, Changaris — whose business Amore di Mona was in Kentucky at the time — had several New Hampshire cities to choose from including Dover. But it was the efforts of Planning and Development Director Nancy Merrill that brought Changaris to Claremont.

“Of all the ones we looked at, Nancy was the one who called the most,” Changaris said. “She would ask me, ‘what is it going to take to get you to come here?’ and I said, ‘I guess you are doing it.’ Nancy is the reason we came here.”

In 2016, Changaris bought a vacant two-story early 19th-century brick building not far from the city’s downtown square.

“This building had the look I wanted,” she said recently while standing in the production area surrounded by mixing machines, a refrigerator and steel racks for the finished product.

Merrill said the approach that brought Changaris to Claremont is that same one her office uses with any business expressing an interest in Claremont.

“We do, do that,” Merrill said. “I know she was looking at a couple of different places and we explained how Claremont would be a better place. We provided information and kept up communication.”

Initially planning to make only her Mountain Maple Chocolate in Claremont, Changaris eventually decided to move the entire operation here. Though the square footage is slightly less than hoped for, Changaris said “we will make it work.”

As of late June, Changaris said she was continuing to move production equipment to Claremont and going into the fall will be looking to hire packaging and production people.

The process to move north was partially interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive interior renovations are ongoing, but Changaris did begin making and shipping chocolate from Claremont in December to specialty shops around the nation.

“I can’t keep up,” she said about the demand. “It has increased dramatically and my customers are calling.”

The vegan chocolate business was created out of necessity. Changaris, a self-described “chocophile” who studied geology in college and had a career in corporate real estate in California’s hi tech sector, started a special diet dessert company with food artisans and health practitioners in Louisville, where she was born and raised. The company made cakes, cookies and pastries for consumers like herself who had food allergies and wanted gluten free and vegan items. But a problem arose when Changaris could not find a chocolate for the icing that met the company’s strict standards of being 100% free of milk, soy, dairy, cane sugar and a variety of nuts.

“I went all over the world trying to get it and I couldn’t find it with the attributes I needed,” said Changaris, who over the years had enrolled in a number of cooking schools in the U.S., Canada and Europe for the “fun” of learning about her passion for food. “Then I thought, I have the people here with the capacity so we will just do it ourselves.”

With the help of a biochemist, a vegan chocolate with the desired texture and taste was created after several years of experimenting. When customers began asking for the chocolate only, the company, with the expertise of French trained chef Lauren Allen, began a line of chocolate bars, caramelas and truffles sweetened with agave nectar. Changaris credits the company’s success to those who have worked alongside her while testing and developing the chocolate.

“I was very fortunate in that I have very talented people,” Changaris said “From inception in 2011 everything we have created has been common allergen free. This is what we are best known for and always have been. Given that we do not use milk, egg or any other animal products such as honey we are additionally plant-based/vegan. Also, our products are low-glycemic because we use agave nectar and maple syrup as our natural sweeteners.”

One afternoon in early May, Changaris demonstrated some of the production process. As a mixer blended cocoa solids and butter, she emphasized that room temperature and product integrity are the two most important aspects to ensure a consistent product.

“If you don’t have the right temperature and humidity in the room, don’t even bother. Especially when you are doing something like caramels in the summer,” she said. “It is hugely difficult. I am constantly watching what the dew point is. So the environment is the most important factor.”

Second, Changaris said, is the integrity of the products to ensure they are as advertised on the packaging and company website.

“It has to be for us to be 100% confident it meets the common allergen-free criteria,” she said.

To achieve that confidence, the business regularly tests its purchases.

“Everything we buy, we have a chemist test it, especially if it is something new,” Changaris said. “So every time we buy something, we ask, what is in it? Where is the COA (certificate of analysis). We need to see the chemistry to make sure they are still complying.”

The chocolate solids are from Belgium, the cocoa butter from France and the maple syrup from Bascom Maple Farm, an organic producer in New Hampshire.

Also important, and unique, for Changaris is the packaging, which she designs herself using ideas from what she may see in a museum during her travels to Europe.

“I am always looking for design elements that make sense and we can utilize in what we do,” Changaris said, adding that visiting museums is a priority when traveling.

While it may have taken a little longer than first anticipated to bring Amore di Mona to Claremont, Merrill said Changaris is getting established in exactly the way she wants so the end result meets the standards she has set for her company.

“She has put it together and though it has taken a while, she knows what she wants for her products,” Merrill said.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.