Gifts That Come In Many Forms: The Five Star Truffles Story

One of the easiest ways to show someone you’re thinking of them during tough times is by giving them a gift. And whether it’s from Mamma Leone Bakery in Miami, Insomnia Cookies in Providence, Rhode Island, or Five Star Truffles in San Francisco, if your friend has a sweet tooth and lives in a nearby neighborhood, we’ve often got you covered on DoorDash. 

Chocolates aren’t the only thing we can help you give. You can make anything into a surprise delivery, even poultry feed from Tractor Supply, the largest rural lifestyle supplier in the United States, which just joined us on DoorDash! Just choose ‘Send as a gift’ at checkout and follow the instructions.

However, for small, one person owned businesses like Five Star Truffles, doing more than, or even just covering their costs, was no easy matter when the pandemic hit. Adding DoorDash to his set of business tools helped owner Santos Euan expand his customer base at that critical time. And, as he explained, the other big factor was the support of his community: “Being able to offer pick up and delivery with DoorDash changed the game. Then my landlord certainly helped with the rent. But what also amazed me were the individual donations by customers. 

“One man came in and bought just two truffles, but gave me a hundred dollars. I said that was too much and he said no, he wanted to share, and help me stay in business. A doctor came in to buy chocolates, she made a donation. Some paid $20 extra, some $10, some $50. In the end, between being able to offer pickup orders easily, and with the support of people like this, I was able to stay open and pay my bills.”

Santos has in fact been open every day, for the past 17 years, only closing for a few hours, if he has a doctor’s appointment. He’s driven by a love of making chocolate inherited from his mother, who taught him how to make it in their home city of Oxkutzcab, in Yucatan, Mexico. 

Notwithstanding her teaching, Santos believes firmly in the French method of truffle making. Like all baking or candy production, there is at least as much science as art to this craft, and Santos happily spends many hours perfecting his 25 different flavors. However, the chocolate truffle’s origins are most often attributed to a very unscientific accident.

The legend focuses on an apprentice to a French celebrity chef in the 1920s, who was making pastry cream. It’s said that he accidentally poured hot cream into a bowl of chocolate chunks, rather than the bowl of eggs. When he took the bowl and started to stir, the chef noticed an emulsion forming, bonding the liquid and chocolate. As that mixture hardened, he discovered it could be worked with his hands into a lumpy, walnut sized ball. The truffle was named after the valuable fungus that it was then said to resemble.

Walk into Santos’ store on any day and you’ll typically find him in production in his kitchen, perhaps putting the truffles through their final roll in cocoa powder. On this visit, he was working on caramel, the hardest flavor to make, and currently the second most popular in store after dark chocolate: “The problem is keeping the combination of ingredients at exactly the right temperature: sometimes it takes up to eight hours, and it’s tricky. But I make what the customers like!” Making third place, by the way, are Santos’ hazelnut confections.

Five Star Truffles has survived the Great Recession and even the pandemic in part because of Santos’ singular devotion to this one form of chocolate making. But, from the beginning, there’s also been an element of stubborn determination to prove his idea, which many other entrepreneurs will recognize: “When I first started, my brother thought I was crazy! He said: first you don’t know how to run a business, secondly you should be closer to your family.” 

Santos also had two partners early on, but eventually found it better to manage everything solo.  And with DoorDash, even though he operates in the Castro district with pretty heavy foot traffic, delivery offers people in every one of the city’s neighborhoods the opportunity to indulge their sweet tooth.

The chocolatier has also passed on his entrepreneurial drive to some of his six children. He proudly tells me of a son who owns and runs the number one barber shop in Oxkutzcab, a daughter who is opening a hair salon, another daughter who is opening a pastry business, and another son who runs a party equipment rental business.

I asked Santos how he keeps going, carrying the weight of his business’ success on his shoulders alone: “I’m very good at saving money. But I like to make it as well. DoorDash helps me make more money, and I think it’s the most popular place to order from me online, because it’s the easiest to use.”

Valentine’s Day and the holidays are typically busy periods. But companies that are starting to ask or require employees to return to the office are also leaning into ordering sweet treats. It’s seen as a way to recognize the adjustment their staff are making, on day one. 

Whether to these offices or homes, Dashers head out from Santos’ store all around San Francisco most days, and he loves his customers ordering for pickup just as much: "I can’t thank the community enough for being there for me during the leaner times. Even on the quietest day, this is what keeps me going, the love I get from my regulars, who keep coming back for my little treats.”

I hope you’ll keep following, as I continue my journey meeting entrepreneurs who are finding ways to unlock success, online and off. In the next edition, I’ll introduce you to another San Francisco based entrepreneur, Olia Rosenblatt of Mishka. Her candy-like, healthy dog treats are proving such a hit, that she’s opened a second store in the city’s highly competitive Ferry Building, and has her sights set on delivery much further afield.