Let your sweets do the talking

Bret Wengeler was on a long, lonely road trip back home when he had a sweet idea: The Spirit Lake man wants to personalize chocolate.

Wengeler invented a home candy-making device called the Sweet Talker, which he hopes will hit the production line in a few months and retail for under $20.

"When I was a boy, I loved 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,'" the 50-year-old said. "What kid wouldn't love to have his own chocolate factory?"

Wengeler said it's easy to buy a candy bar, but if you want one with a personal message on it, you have the motivation to make it yourself.

"It's one thing to give a girl chocolate - but how many more points are you going to get if the chocolate is made especially for her with her name?" he said. "Believe me, it works. On my first date with my wife, I gave her a candy bar with her name molded into it. Now we're raising a family."

Wengeler said he has given co-workers and friends the device as a gift.

"They go nuts," he said of the recipients' reactions.

Wengeler worked as a juggler for Silverwood Theme Park from when the park opened in 1988 to 2011. In the winter, he performed on cruise ships and other venues.

"I invented the Sweet Talker several years ago, but I never did much with it because I was performing and traveling from ship to ship," he said.

On a trip from Minneapolis to North Idaho, the breakthrough idea came to Wengeler after he dabbled with several designs for making instant and customizable molds with simple, easy-to-find and safe materials.

"What if a vacuum former could be modified so that all the materials could be used over and over again?" he said he remembers thinking during the trip. "And what if the force of the vacuum was created using a simple,mechanical means?"

Instead of using heat to soften plastic, elastic sheets are used with the Sweet Talker to personalize chocolate. Each elastic sheet can be re-used as many as 12 times.

In the candy-making process, self-sticking letters are placed onto a vacuum bed and a locking collar is set. A vacuum is created by pressing tabs.

"You can use different fonts and font sizes or even make your own designs," Wengeler said.

The device, which is about the size of an 18-ounce peanut butter jar, makes a chocolate bar 3.75 inches long by 1.75 inches wide. A name, message or logo for the mold is determined by the user. The thickness varies by how much chocolate you pour into the mold.

"Down the line, I'd like to develop different-sized machines, but I wanted to start simple," Wengeler said.

Wengeler said he now has the time to devote toward the device since he's no longer taking his juggling act on the road.

Wengeler said he stopped juggling "because it gets to the point where people don't want to see a middle-aged guy as a juggler."

He got a "real job" in Coeur d'Alene with Liberty Tool and Manufacturing, where he operates injection mold machines.

Wengeler has lined up Liberty to mass produce the Sweet Talkers.

"When my boss (Edmund Ziegler) saw one, he said, 'I want to make it,'" said Wengeler, adding that he and Ziegler are partners in the project.

Wengeler recently launched an online Kickstarter campaign that ends on Dec. 21. He hopes to raise $50,000 to pay for the tooling necessary to mass-produce the Sweet Talker. The entrepreneur can not contribute to the campaign.

"Kickstarter has a well-established way of getting funds to the entrepreneur," he said. "They are diligent in vetting the projects that are launched on their service."

As of Tuesday, the project had 15 backers and $1,479 in pledges.

Wengeler was required to get a business license and a business account into which the funds will be deposited should the campaign be successful.

Visitors who get on board with the entrepreneur can choose to support the project by pledging funds with a credit or debit card. The funds are not charged to the card unless the project meets its funding goal.

"Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing approach," Wengeler said.

People can pledge between $15 and $31 and be among the first people to receive the device, plus get it at a price discounted from the retail cost. For example, if you pledge $31, you'll receive two Sweet Talkers and free shipping. For more on the device or how to contribute, visit www.thesweet-talker.com.

If the campaign is successful, the first recipients should receive their devices in time for Mother's Day. If it's not successful, Wengeler will have to launch a new campaign in the future and try again.

Wengeler admits the holiday season may not be the best time to launch a fundraising campaign. If it's not successful, he said he'll try again another time.

Wengeler's curiosity with making products started as a youngster. He watched his mother, the owner of a craft shop, go through the laborious process of making latex molds for casting plaster figurines. After days of building a shell, there wasn't a way to change the design.

"I wondered if there was a faster, easier way," he said.

Wengeler hopes to change chocolate as we know it with the Sweet Talker.

"Chocolate bars have been around for more than 100 years and have stayed basically the same since the time of Teddy Roosevelt," he said. "This will help me get in touch with my inner Willy Wonka."

Sweet Talker Central

• For more information on Bret Wengeler's Sweet Talker personalized chocolate maker, visit http://www.thesweet-talker.com.