YELLOWKNIFE - A French chocolatier based in Ontario is going national - and he is starting with Yellowknife.

Marc Forrat, of La Chocolaterie Forrat, is in the process of finalizing a deal with two Yellowknife women to open a chocolate shop here.

Leanne Tait holds truffles by La Chocolaterie Forrat - souvenirs from a week spent at the distributor's shop in London, Ont. Though a deal is yet unsigned, Tait is "85 per cent sure" she'll be opening a shop full of chocolate delights in Yellowknife. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

Leanne Tait and Claudia Richea will partner as owners of a chocolate shop that will exclusively sell Forrat's chocolate.

"There's an 85 per cent chance we're going to do this," said Tait. "I'm very positive about it."

Yellowknife does not have a shop dedicated exclusively to selling chocolate creations, she said, though it's the perfect place.

"I think Yellowknife is a city that loves its luxuries and things made in the North rather than bringing them in," she said.

Tait has been passionate about chocolate for years, she said.

"No one will be surprised that I'm getting my little chocolate shop," she said, laughing.

She has tried several times to get Bernard Callebaut, the famed Belgian chocolatier in Canada, to agree to granting her a distributorship.

Just when Tait was getting discouraged by that company's lack of interest, she saw Marc Forrat make an appearance on Dragon's Den - a CBC television show that gives entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their idea to rich potential investors.

After a particularly exhausting day at work, Tait said she returned home and sat down at her desk. She caught sight of Forrat's information, which she had jotted down.

"I thought, 'Oh, what the heck,' and the rest, as they say, is history," she said.

She and Forrat began to correspond in the fall of 2006. Now Tait is aiming for a store opening this fall if all goes well.

The shop will emphasize the truffle, which is Marc Forrat's signature creation.

"The truffle is the crème de la crème of chocolate," said Tait.

Reached at his chocolaterie in London, Ont., the 35-year-old Forrat was mixing chocolate for 780 truffles as he spoke on the phone and was enthusiastic about the plan.

"We are bringing back the times when chocolate was really about passion and love and goose bumps and sexy and sensual ... all those things that are hard to find nowadays," said Forrat.

He decided to bring his sweet creations to Yellowknife because of the demographics and because Tait was an ideal partner, he said.

"We think there is huge potential in Yellowknife," he said.

The plan, he said, is to see the Chocolaterie Forrat name become "little by little an icon in the chocolate industry."

The store will belong to its Yellowknife owners. He, however, will be the exclusive supplier.

The stores with his name attached will be an experience, he said, not just a place to buy chocolates.

"We don't think about our customers as wallets," he said, "We think of them as 'My god, come here and let me share with you what my passion is.'"

The chocolate ingredients will be shipped from Europe and then assembled at the Yellowknife shop, said Forrat.

Tait recently went to London to learn chocolate-making techniques from Forrat.

"I spent a glorious weekend playing in his chocolate shop," she said with a laugh.

The Yk store will employ at least one full-time and one part-time employee, added Tait.