116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
This Marion small business employee has been making chocolate for 20 years
Meet Kathie Schlotterback, one of the people behind The Marion Chocolate Shop’s beloved treats
Feb. 8, 2026 5:30 am
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MARION — Kathie Schlotterback didn’t seek out the chocolate life — the chocolate life found her.
Schlotterback was a stay-at-home mom of two in 2006 when her second cousin hired her to work part-time with the chocolate business he’d purchased two years earlier. Schlotterback only worked eight hours a week at first, wanting to stay flexible so she could still volunteer at her kids’ school.
“It was something I was going to do just a little bit for a few hours a week, something for me to do,” Schlotterback said. “I think I grew to love it more than I realized at that time”
Two decades later, Schlotterback is a familiar face at The Marion Chocolate Shop and the employee with the most treat-making experience. The products Schlotterback helps to make are sweet, but so are the relationships she’s built during her career.
Schlotterback said customers regularly chat with her and her co-workers about their lives. They don’t just hand over the money and run — Schlotterback knows some patrons by name, and is treated to pictures of their vacations and families.
“We sort of joke that we're kind of like a bartender or a hairdresser,” said Schlotterback. “They come in and you just listen sometimes to what they have to say, and I love that part of it.”
Schlotterback is so well-known at the shop that she and co-worker Tracy Grapes have been repeatedly asked if they own the business. That honor belongs to Ben Davis, who purchased the business from Schlotterback’s relatives in 2021 and officially transformed it into The Marion Chocolate Shop.
Schlotterback started with the business when it was still The Chocolate Shop. Operations were originally split between a production site in Atkins and a retail site in Marion until 2009, when everything was consolidated in Marion. Some of Schlotterback’s early responsibilities included making caramel filling and the Sidwell fudge ice cream topping the store sells.
When the store’s owners needed more retail support, Schlotterback turned to Grapes, another mom she knew from volunteering. Schlotterback said the two have worked together for so long they can each pick up where the other leaves off.
The only individual at the shop Schlotterback has worked with longer than Grapes is a chocolate machine that’s been a part of the business for 30 years. The machine has a lot of power in company decision-making, Schlotterback said.
“We might feel like we’re gonna to run a certain thing and the machine’s like, ‘Nope, I’m tired today,’” she said, laughing.
Now, Schlotterback’s contribution to the chocolate process is centered around the additives. She chops up fillings like toffee or creams that Davis prepares, then decorates them as they come out of a chocolate enrobing machine. Schotterback said the chocolates’ presentation really matters to her because they’re often gifts customers are splurging on.
Schlotterback said two men recently visited the shop on the same day for a box of chocolates. One was younger, and wanted something to celebrate his 30-day anniversary with his girlfriend. The other was looking for something to give his wife of 52 years.
“We get to be involved in special events in people's lives,” Schlotterback said. “It matters to people, it makes a difference to other people, and that is heartwarming for me too.”
The good influence expands beyond the customers — Schlotterback’s family gets to reap the benefits of her profession, too. Schlotterback said she raised her kids on good chocolate, and it spoiled them — “you can’t give them just anything,” she said.
Her grandson is on the same path to future chocolate snobbery. At 4 years old, he can already recognize “Grandma’s chocolate” — his name for The Marion Chocolate Shop treats — in his Christmas stocking.
Even after 20 years, there’s no sign anyone’s tired of being a chocolate beneficiary. Once, for fear of being boring and predictable, Schlotterback decided to get her father something other than chocolate. His response? “Where’s my chocolate?”
“So needless to say, I'm not doing that again,” Schlotterback said. “Birthday, anniversary, Valentine's, everything. They get the chocolate shop chocolate.”
Even though it wasn’t planned, Schlotterback’s become a recognizable part of Marion’s community. The first Halloween she worked at the shop, she handed out chocolates from the shop to trick-or treaters. One whispered to his mother, “Mom, it’s the chocolate lady.”
She’ll never forget that, Schlotterback said.
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