The NEW Entrepreneurs

Village Buzz Coffee and Tea

"Nick has been my mentor," says Jennifer Mulchandani. "Thanks to him, I have fallen in love with coffee." The 33-year-old mother of two, a former nonprofit manager, plans to open Village Buzz Coffee and Tea in the Cherrydale area of Arlington County in August.

She wants it to be the region's first coffee bar for parents that is truly kid-friendly. It will have a fully equipped play area and special programming, some geared to kids, some geared to parents. "I have wanted to open my own business for years. I tingled as I wrote my business plan," says Mulchandani.

DeLoache Chocolate

Annapolis residents Joanne and Philip DeLoache left well-paying corporate jobs because they wanted "to invest in ourselves" by building a "creative and fun" business, says Joanne DeLoache. "I wish I'd done this a long time ago." She was 38 when DeLoache Chocolate debuted in 2004; her husband, Philip DeLoache, a 2002 graduate of Ecole Chocolate, a professional school of the chocolate arts in Vancouver, B.C., was 49.

The couple decided on the chocolate business because entry costs were relatively low. They mortgaged their house to raise $200,000 to lease and fix up a small factory. Philip spent six months developing a small, square truffle. Made of dark French and Belgian chocolate, the truffle has a soft, cognac-flavored center and is decorated with iconic Maryland designs such as crabs and sailboats. For corporate customers, DeLoache can transfer company logos. The couple also produces a drinking chocolate with an intense flavor that is consumed in espresso-sized portions.

Last year they sold nearly everything they made, grossing $100,000. "Growing is the only way to make money," says Joanne.

DolceZZa Argentine Gelato

When to leave their day job is a question that bedevils many first-time entrepreneurs. After 2 1/2 years in business, gelato maker Robb Duncan, 34, co-proprietor of DolceZZa Argentine Gelato Cafe, will leave his software consulting job this spring.

"To grow, the business needs more from me," says Duncan, who studied gelato making in Buenos Aires with a master ice cream maker. His wife and co-proprietor, Violeta Edelman, 27, will soon graduate from American University, freeing her time, as well, for the gelato shop on Wisconsin Avenue. To keep things going, Duncan and Edelman took in a third partner, Dimas Rodriguez, who began as their ice cream master.

DolceZZa's gelatos and sorbets are made with fresh ingredients, less sugar and half to one-third of the fat of traditional ice creams. Twenty hotels and restaurants, including the Ritz-Carlton, now feature DolceZZa products. The partners have been approached by a developer to open a second retail store in Bethesda in 2007.

But the going has not been easy. Duncan and Edelman say they lost about $60,000 of their initial investment to a contractor. They were saved by their second contractor -- Duncan calls him "our angel" -- who worked without pay so the shop could open. The couple is still paying off that debt. And when they were about to open -- months later than they had hoped -- they discovered that their Argentine equipment required upgraded electrical lines.

"Until Pepco could convert our service, we had to bring in a generator and run a line to our machines, which cost $6,000," says Duncan. "We went into this blind, like stepping off a cliff," says Edelman. "But I can't say that we are sorry."

Ultimate Seasonings

Information technology specialist Julie Ndjee, 33, a native of Cameroon, turned her interest in food into Ultimate Seasonings, a business that last year grossed more than $500,000.

When her daughter, Neilly, was born, "I realized I couldn't spend two or three hours in the kitchen. I needed to find a way to make Cameroonian dishes in 30 minutes or less." Using no preservatives or artificial ingredients, Ndjee began experimenting, making the dense, spicy vegetable-based sauces of her native land and freezing them. Soon she was looking for a manufacturer.

Ndjee and her husband, Albert Ndjee, 35, an American-educated lawyer born in Cameroon, sold their Columbia house and started the business in 2003. They tapped into an enthusiastic market of immigrants and their children, who are interested in what Julie calls "gourmet African food."

Almost immediately, their sauces were picked up by Giant Foods, Kroger, Whole Foods Market and other chains along the East Coast, and they are expanding into Chicago. The couple was forced to find a new manufacturer when their first one could not keep up with demand. Now the couple is expanding their line to include frozen dinners that Julie hopes "will make African food more mainstream." And last year, the family, which now includes 7-year-old adopted daughter Leila, bought a new house in York, Pa.

CurrySimple

Mike Moran, 29, grew up in Bethesda in a house with his mother, grandmother, sister and few frills. Moran was energetic, entrepreneurial and not very interested in school. By the time he was 17, he was more or less managing a restaurant, he says.

During the next 10 years, Moran got to know the food business inside out, working as waiter and bartender in Washington and later in Atlanta, where he lives now. He kept dreaming up ideas for new businesses that somehow never jelled. While working at Surin, one of Atlanta's most successful Thai restaurants, he fell in love with the food and the people. He'd listen as customers complained that it was impossible to make Thai food, especially the curries, at home. Then he met Nimitr Harimtepathip, known as Lim, a Thai national living in Atlanta who is a member of one of Bangkok's best known restaurant families.

Together, the two created CurrySimple, a line that includes curry sauces and other products made in Thailand with fresh, authentic ingredients that are adapted to American tastes. Red, green, yellow and masaman curry sauces have gone into production in Thailand, as well as syrup for making Thai tea and sauce for pad Thai, the popular noodle dish. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the ready-to-heat products, which are sold in sealed packets.

Moran, who owns the American end of the business -- his business partner, Lim, owns the Thai operation -- is doing a slow launch and for now, CurrySimple products are available only on the Internet, where they have started to generate some buzz. "I told my cousins on Christmas Day that I was going to revolutionize Thai food in America," says Moran. "They thought their crazy cousin was sounding off again, until I cooked them up a batch."

Freelance writer Michaele Weissman last wrote for Food about dining at your office desk.