Bittersweet Goodbye For Cranford Chocolatier

Diane Pinder of Cranford has watched people go through many milestones in their lives. She's seen teenage girls go off to college and develop into young women.

"I've seen people have babies, people who get engaged and married," Pinder said.

And they are all people she met while working at her chocolate store, Donna Toscana Chocolate Lounge on Eastman Street in downtown Cranford. Pinder opened the store five years ago after switching careers from nursing to selling medical devices and then finally to chocolate-making.

So imagine how difficult it was for her to decide at the end of February to close the store.

"It was really hard to say goodbye to them," Pinder said.

But Pinder is hoping a new venture will allow her chocolates and the joy that comes from them to reach more people.

Pinder's company, Donna & Company, has joined forces with a growing central New Jersey restaurant group called Americana Hospitality Group. The group owns the Americana Diner in East Windsor, the Skylark Fine Diner and Lounge in Edison and the Colonial Diner in East Brunswick. Pinder's chocolates will eventually be featured in all of the diners as well as at events for Americana Hospitality's bridal and corporate clients.

"It's just one of those opportunities I just couldn't say no to," Pinder said.

Pinder said Americana Hospitality built her a kitchen at the Americana Diner. Pinder said it's the biggest kitchen she's ever had and it will allow her to experiment more with her chocolate-making skills as well as produce more chocolates.

Pinder said she knew that the alliance with Americana Hospitality would provide her with the resources to expand her business, and it became clear—quickly—that she couldn't manage her Cranford chocolate lounge if she went ahead with Americana.

"It didn't make sense to keep the store open because I couldn't be in two places at one time," Pinder said.

But don't despair all of you Cranford chocoholics. Pinder said she's in final talks with a shop in Cranford that's interested in selling her chocolates. She also will continue to sell her chocolates online as well as in stores in Montclair, Connecticut, Boston and Philadelphia.