Press

My Fair Ladies, All

Holly Would Countdown

The Highs and The Lowes of Home Ownership

Our pink house is featured in the current issue (May/June) of Wilmington Magazine. You can pick up a copy and check it out for yourselves at these locations. Or, visit our press page for a sneak peek. Seeing our home in print, as photographed by the talented Leslie Koehn, was both gratifying and motivating. One of my long-term desires has been to have a home that is featured in a national shelter publication like Country Home or Country Living magazine, so it was exciting to view this article as a harbinger of even bigger things to come. A definite high! My Mom was so proud she sent copies to dozens of our relatives and family friends.

But my vision of what this building can become is far from complete. I keep an extensive list of goals and desires, and many of them home-improvement based. Consequently, I viewed our house photos with a critical eye, making note of all of the projects we still have to complete. Realizing how far we are from achieving the true potential of this space has me hankering for a hardware-store shopping spree.

When I give tours of our home, I often tell visitors about my desire to have French doors in our bedroom that look out onto our "secret garden" space. I half-jokingly say: "The day you see us on the Food Network, you will know that I have French doors in my bedroom."  Here are just a few more of the home-improvement goals on my current desires list:

- Adding Crown moulding to our bedroom and to the small sitting room at the back of the house.

- Finding a way to mount the unusual headboard that I bought at an antique store more than a year ago. It's a massive, heavy piece that will look perfect in our Master bedroom - once we find a solution to display it. This is such a challenge, three different professionals have refused to take on the project. I'm not giving up, though!

- Restoring the old dresser in our powder room and painting it a shiny, ebony black.

- Building a library wall in the sitting room.

- Finding and framing old photographs of the building, from its days as a luncheonette.
- Framing the sepia photo of my favorite Parisian boulangerie (I want to frame it with wood that looks like the charred planks used to bake bread in the wood-burning oven this particular boulangerie still used).

- Installing goldenrod-yellow gingham roman shades that will offset the plaid curtains in the sitting room.

- Creating an outdoor room at the back of our house, reminiscent of those found in old French farmhouses or villas.

- Repainting the ceilings in every room but one.

- Moving our fence to match our property line.

Recipe for a Delicious Summer Novel

Place towel, bag, and cold beverages on a well-heated beach. Grease body generously with sunscreen; large black sunglasses optional, but recommended.
Assemble the following ingredients:

1 young, thoroughly modern heroine completely obsessed with the elegant screen legend Audrey Hepburn
2 evil co-workers blended with a pinch of Devil Wears Prada and a dash of Ugly Betty
1 fresh, saucy gay sidekick
1 hunk of a straight man with a large fortune, private jet, and good heart
Mix well. 
Next, add:
Several cups of witty dialogue
3-5 handpicked, exotic locations
A heaping teaspoon of sea and salt air
Top with old Hollywood glamour and lots of film references
Garnish with 2-3 twists of plot and a generous dollop of haute couture
Your delicious dish should look like this:


Enjoy!

You all know that I love a good read, and I read everything - from memoirs to fiction to business books to cookbooks to travelogues.  One of my favorite treats is digging in to a fun summer book that reads like a great romantic comedy. I tend to devour them in one or two helpings (kind of like buying a gorgeous chocolate cake and then eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner). This summer, I've already found a most scrumptious delight - Karen Quinn's new novel, Holly Would Dream.



There were many surprises in this fun, fast-paced romp, but for me, the greatest surprise of all was finding South ‘n France Bon Bons mentioned in the book! That's right - our bon bons are grouped right in there with New York's high society, exclusive "in-crowd" restaurants, and fashionistas who dress better than the girls from Sex and the City. I mean, can you get over it? I can't! Want to read a great description of Holly Would Dream and the bon bon excerpt?

South 'n France featured in Fortune Small Business Magazine

Don't miss our recent feature in the "Where I Work" section of Fortune Small Business Magazine entitled Surrounded by Chocolate!

"'An old diner we converted into a bonbon factory-and a home-has defined how we run our business, and our lives. By Charlene Dupray, Wilmington, NC As told to Malika Zouhali-Worrall'"

To view more of our recent press mentions, click here!

One Chic Mama Gifts South 'n France Bon Bons to Lucky Reader

South ‘n France Has Gone to the Dogs

Pet owners get to decide what their dogs eat. Kibbles ‘n Bits, Alpo, dog bones, table scraps, steak tartare - a dog's diet is only as good or as varied as his humans' tastes. An unsuspecting relative of mine once ate (and thoroughly enjoyed) the remainder of a can of dog food his wife had saved on a plate in the fridge. He thought it was pate!

If the roles were reversed and dogs were in charge of choosing our diets, what would they have us eat?  Dog Living magazine answers that question with their regular monthly column People Treats. It seems that the pups of Dog Living have truly divine taste; dog is god spelled backwards, n’est-ce pas? Their People Treats pick of the month: South ‘n France gourmet chocolate bon bons.

Click here to read our recent Dog Living magazine feature! Or, visit our press page to see where else South 'n France has been mentioned.

No Man Is An Island, But Is Foz Really Like Gilligan’s Island?

Ladies Who Launch - These women entrepreneurs seize control of time, future

C’est si bon bon

Featured in The Core, supplement to The University of Chicago Magazine, May/June 2007, Vol 99, Number 5 

Through creative marketing and serendipity, Charlene Dupray traded her business suits for a wacky hat and the title of “Charlene the Bon Bon Queen.”

It wasn’t long ago that Charlene Dupray, AB’94, was living the life of a high-powered young professional in New York City. As a recruiter of bilingual employees for international corporations, “I worked 60 or 70 hours a week, in a business suit every day,” she recalls, “but I just didn’t feel fulfilled.” So Dupray and her husband, Frenchman Pascal Siegler, then maitre d’ at A-list restaurant Daniel, decided to start over in her hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. “We knew that we would be leaving behind those big paychecks and coming down here with no paychecks and a very limited nest egg on which we were going to start our company.”

The company, originally intended as an upscale event-planning service, has evolved into South ’n France, a chocolatier specializing in hand-dipped bon bons that marry the confectionary traditions of France and the American South. The bon bons were created as a marketing tool to promote the planning service, but soon became so popular that they overtook the business. The original four flavors—coconut, chocolate chip cookie dough, fudge brownie, and peanut buttah (a family recipe combining crunchy and smooth peanut butters with finely chopped dates and cherries)—made their official debut at the Carolina Chocolate Festival in February 2006, and in September won Best New Chocolate Product at the 114th Philadelphia National Candy Show.

Although South ’n France has been in the candy business a short time, its story begins in 1993 with a University of Chicago study abroad program. Dupray, who had fallen in love with France during a quarter in the countryside her freshman year, decided to spend her third year in Paris. Within five days of her arrival, she sought out a cabaret in which to utilize her singing skills, but finding her chosen venue was closed, she wandered into an ice cream shop where Siegler was working. “I was fortunate enough that on my very first try I found the cabaret where I ended up singing for an entire year, and little did I know I would also find my husband,” she says. The pair wed in 2001.

Although geography forced the couple’s relationship to move slowly, their company has done quite the opposite. When Dupray signed up for a booth at the Carolina Chocolate Festival last year, South ’n France wasn’t even in business yet. “We didn’t even have any real company signage,” she remembers. “I said, ‘We’re going to look like the Girl Scouts, standing next to a bake sale table.’” By recruiting family and friends, they were able to produce 16,000 bon bons in three weeks, and Dupray came up with a creative marketing gimmick, donning a crazy pink hat with a cake on top—a relic from her cabaret act. It worked like a charm and South ’n France sold 6,000 bon bons the first day.

In 2007, the company added pistachio and cookies ’n creme to its roster of flavors, but expansion is not a priority. “When you’re Baskin-Robbins, it’s okay to have 31 flavors,” Dupray contends. “But when you’re ‘South ’n France who? Bon bons what?’ you don’t want to overwhelm people with too many choices.” For now, the company is focusing on its current product line and special services like singing telegrams and bon-bon-making parties, where clients experience firsthand the laborious candy-making process, including putting the bon bon dough on a small needle and hand-dipping it in chocolate. “When the public sees that little round bon bon,” Dupray says, “they can’t imagine what went into it.”