Sep 11, 2016 5 min read

Vicki Zotis married a really sweet guy. So sweet, he slept in a chocolate box as a baby, was the son of a candy company owner and became a candy maker extraordinaire himself.

“If you open his veins, chocolate will come out,” she said of her spouse, Nick.

For nearly 80 years, the Zotis clan ran Belmar Candies in the Pittsburgh area, eventually opening a factory and about a dozen retail outlets. Then in the mid-1990s, the business shut down.

But that didn’t stop chocolate from continuing to course through Nick’s body – or prevent Vicki from discovering it was in her veins as well.

Since 2009, she has owned and operated Victoria’s Fudge-a-licious, an online endeavor through which she also sells sweets to local stores, at farmers markets and festivals, and to groups for fundraising. Nick, who also has a full-time job with Fed Ex, is back to making delectable desserts as operations manager.

Now, for the first time, Vicki will have a retail store. She plans to open a Fudge-a-licious shop Sept. 20 in Peters Township, at 522 Valley Brook Road. It will be in a 600-square-foot space adjacent to It’s New To Me consignments and about 25 strides from the Montour Trail.

“I’m very, very comfortable with having my own store,” she said last week, while doing a little prep work in what is shaping up as a tidy shop. “I’ve thought about a storefront for several years, but haven’t been able to find the right location that is not a strip mall. Rents can be outrageous there.”

She said her Valley Brook lease “is affordable” and renewable every six months. Vicki plans to hire two part-time employees.

Fudge, of course, is the signature item. It comes in 10 varieties, with others likely on the way. For the first two or three years, that was the only product Nick made at the Fudge-a-licious kitchen in the West End of Pittsburgh.

The Upper St. Clair couple then expanded their offerings, which include chocolate-covered strawberries, popcorn and marshmallows; peanut brittle; toffee; gourmet pretzel rods; and candy apples.

“Every so many months, we’ll have a new selection,” Vicki promised. “We’ll always have free samples.”

She is well-versed in this business she married into, learning from a spouse who is a third generation candy maker. Nick’s great uncle started Belmar Candies in Pittsburgh in 1917, then sold the business in 1955 to his nephew, Constantin “Gus” Zofis – Nick’s father. Gus ran it for about 40 years before filing for bankruptcy.

Gus Zofis, who died in 2013 at age 89, had an interesting early life. He was a native of Greece who, as a teen, was arrested near the beginning of World War II by Italy’s military police. Gus was sent to a concentration camp in Italy, escaped, was caught, and escaped again, fleeing to Rome, where he found refuge until after the war ended.

Gus made it to the U.S., then to Pittsburgh, where he worked in a candy store different from the one he would buy. He lived in Mt. Lebanon and eventually had four children, Nick being the youngest. All of the siblings worked at the Belmar factory on Painters Run Road in Upper St. Clair.

Nick is the main candy producer at Fudge-a-licious’ West End kitchen, and draws on his lengthy experience.

“He’s the brains of the operation.” Vicki said. “He has the recipes in his head. My husband is the hardest worker I’ve ever known.”

Actually, there haven’t been many days of leisure since this couple married young. After years with Belmar, Nick now toils in the kitchen in addition working a full week as operations manager at FedEx’s new hub in Evans City, Butler County. Vicki, a Baldwin High graduate, worked in an orthodontist’s office for 34 years before retiring, and has been diligently growing a business for the past seven years.

Oh, and there was that other job along the way: nurturing two children who are now adults.

Fudge-a-licious is Vicki’s child now, and it may be heading into its formative years. She sells her wares at about a dozen stores in the region, including Bedner’s Farm Market in Upper St. Clair, Janoski’s Farm in Clinton and five of the six Coffee Tree Roasters in the region.

Vicki does only one farmers market – the Original Farmers Market on Route 50 in South Fayette Township on Monday, Wednesday and Friday – because chocolate is highly perishable in the heat. Then there are the festivals, three of which are happening within a month of the store opening: the Canonsburg Bavarian Oktoberfest (Friday through Sunday); Franklin (Pa.) AppleFest (Oct. 7-9); and Fort Ligonier Days (Oct. 14-16).

The Fudge-a-licious shop, at least initially, will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Sunday and Monday will be production days. Vicki may tweak those hours based on the season and volume of foot traffic.

These are busy times, but sweet times for the owner.

“This is pretty big for me,” Vicki said. “If this is as far as it goes (location-wise), I’ll be pleased.”