Walk into Bob and Nancy Nixon’s garage, and you’ll get a whiff of the sweet smell of success.

It’s hard to mistake the saccharine aroma of chocolate confections. In the center of the room, just behind two industrial-sized tables, are two six-foot tall racks of trays—filled with hand-made chocolates. The walls are covered with shelves, housing wax and plastic molds, boxes of sugar, ribbons and cellophane bags. On the right wall is a curious contraption, quietly spinning a ribbon of milk chocolate in a constant stream.

This modest space is not where Trafton’s Chocolates was born, but it is now where the seven-year-old company turns out 30 to 40 pounds of chocolate treats each day. And businesses like the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City are among its customers.

Bob Nixon had the idea to start a chocolate company in 1995. He and his wife were at the Cincinnati airport on their way home from a trip to Florida. Nancy asked Bob to buy her something chocolate at the gift shop.

“I looked around and thought, ‘Everything here is not good and kind of expensive,’” he said.

When he couldn’t find a high-quality sweet for his sweetheart, he said a light bulb went off above his head.

“I wanted to find something to could do in retirement,” he said.

Bob started thinking carefully about the chocolate business. He and Nancy began making chocolates for friends and family members, but he knew next to nothing about the trade. He started with a simple theory: Even when times are tough, people want to eat chocolate.

“Everyone loves chocolate, and they love it all the time. It’s recession proof,” he said.

Over time, he’s come to see that some of his instincts were correct, while others were a bit off the mark.

“What I’ve discovered is an extremely competitive business,” he said.

“Chocolate is not offensive to any culture or religion. It offends no one,” he continued. “And now with so much emphasis on the health benefits, you can say that you’re caring for your clients’ health.”

The Nixons started Trafton’s Chocolates when they were living in a Virginia Beach condominium. The side-business quickly consumed their small galley kitchen.

“The first nine months, we never made a meal there because it was all chocolates,” Nancy said. Right before Christmas in 1998, she gave Bob an ultimatum.

“I told Bob if he wanted to have Christmas dinner and me, he would have to move his chocolates,” she said.

He transported the operations to a commercial kitchen on Jack Rabbit Road, shared with another confection maker.

“We were doing this part time at that time,” Bob said. “All we could do is share space.”

Trafton’s began in 1997 as a seasonal business—selling client gifts during the winter holidays and solid chocolate bunnies at Easter. (Trafton used his middle name for the business.)  When their daughter got married, Bob and Nancy started thinking about the bridal market. They created the chocolate decorations for their daughter’s cake—white chocolate seashells dusted with shimmering, iridescent sugar.

When a friend of their other daughter couldn’t find cherub chocolate candies to give away as wedding favors, their daughter offered her father’s services.

“We started doing some [wedding] favors around town,” Bob said. He thought they would do well in the spring when it was cool, but not in the summer. He was wrong.

“What was intended to extend our season has turned out to be 25 percent of our business,” he said. The seashells are now popular corporate gifts, especially for businesses in Florida and Hawaii, Nancy said.

“So many little things just fell into place and made things happen,” Bob said.

Today, the couple specializes in the seashells, filled chocolate candies, truffles and softball-sized candy-dipped apples. That’s what caught the Waldorf-Astoria’s attention. Billed as The Big Apple, the hotelier orders 20 to 30 of them each year to give away to clients. Another fan of the apples is Verizon. Wisconsin-based American Girl purchases boxes of two or four candies each to give to staff members. Other corporate clients include Papco, Inc., Merrill Lynch and the American Red Cross.

Whenever possible, the Nixon’s use Virginia ingredients, but the chocolate is Belgian. A combination of three cocoa beans balances the taste and insures consistent quality, Bob said. And unlike with large confectioners, Trafton’s chocolates are created by hand—one-by-one.

“Off-the-shelf candies are loaded with chemical preservatives,” Bob said. “You have to use quality ingredients to get a quality product.”

“We’re gourmet, handmade,” Nancy added.

The commercial kitchen worked for some time, but when the other tenant moved out, Bob and Nancy started looking for something else. That search took them to Cocoa Lane in Virginia Beach—a serendipity that was lost on them until just before they made their offer.

“We started looking for a home with the idea of it having a big enough garage” for the chocolate kitchen, Bob said. The street name “just kind of cemented the deal.”

A friend insulated the garage and added a dehumidifier, a must for a serious chocolate-maker. And then the couple set their sights on new equipment.

“We struggled along the first few years with equipment that was barely adequate for what we were trying to do,” Bob said. So, they went right to the experts in Belgium for a custom-made machine, the apparatus that continually spins chocolate. For a little less than $6,000, the machine makes light work of filling chocolate molds, though each candy is still made by hand.

“For what we do, it’s the Cadillac,” Bob said of the machine.

All in all, Bob estimates that startup costs have been around $50,000 to $60,000.

“That’s a pretty good investment,” he said.

In October, Bob finally retired from his position at the Post Office—seven years after he started his chocolate factory.

“To say I’ve retired is kind of a misnomer,” Bob said. “I’ve dropped down to one job.”

“He didn’t miss a step,” Nancy said. She still works part time as an LCSW counseling children and women in Virginia Beach.

“This is such a contrast from what I do” as a counselor, she said. “It’s nice to see people happy.”

The Nixons have hired a part time bookkeeper and use a temporary service for help with packaging during busy times. Bob would like to get the inventory up, but it’s hard to get ahead.

“They just go zip!” Nancy said. “That’s a happy problem.”

Eventually, he suspects he’ll have to find dependable help to make the candies, but he’s not ready for that yet. Training would take away too much time from his daily routine.

For now, Bob and Nancy are focusing on increasing business bit by bit. They are wary of quick growth.

“Ultimately, what I’d like to do is grow to the point where it makes sense to get out of the garage and into an industrial center,” Bob said. “I don’t necessarily want to be at Towne Center. I want to be in an out-of-the-way place. That creates demand, because it’s out of the way.”

Today, sales are almost completely dependent on their Web site, www.traftonschocolates.com.

Dollar for dollar it’s much more economical than retail,” Bob said. But a retail shop is not out of the question, though it’s not in the couple’s immediate plans.

“Controlled growth is the key,” Bob said. “The end game is to make it as profitable as possible and then sell it.”

Until then, their modest home is brimming with chocolate confections. And along the way, Bob and Nancy have learned a few things about chocolate, business and themselves.

“You realize that there are only a few things you’re afraid of—failure and success,” Bob said.

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