CHOCOLATE THDER.

• Author: LEWIS, PETE

THE MERGER MANIA SURROUNDING DURANGO'S ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY HAS SETTLED DOWN, AND THE COMPANY'S GONE BACK TO BUILDING ITS BRAND

When it comes to following your dream, sometimes it pays not to listen to everything you've been told. Frank Crail is living proof.

In the late 1970s, Crail was running a successful software company in southern California but dreaming of a very new lifestyle.

"We wanted a large family," Crail said. "We love kids, and we wanted to raise them in a small town."

Crail and his wife set their sights on Durango, whose small-town charm, sense of community and scenic surroundings seemed to fit the bill. But earning a living in Durango was another story.

"Being in high-tech, you always think retail would be fun," Crail said. "So I literally walked up and down Main Street, and asked everyone I met what they thought the town needed."

The overwhelming answer to Crail's query was that Durango needed a car wash.

"I just didn't see myself operating a car wash," Crail said. "One person I met, however, said she thought the town could use a candy store."

Today, Crail, 58, is the father of seven children, and chairman and CEO of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ NM:RMCF) with about 230 stores in 40 states, Canada, Guam, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory yearly sells about 2 million pounds of Rocky Mountain Mints, Gems Boxes, Peanut Butter Buckets, Rocky Mountain Medley Gift Baskets and the like, and, in his own words, Crail is "as happy as a kid in a candy store."

Crail's understanding of human nature is at least as responsible for Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory as any appreciation of fine chocolate.

"Almost any business can do OK in Durango in the summer because of the tourists," Crail said. "The problem is the rest of the year. I researched the chocolate business and learned that the winter months, because of the holidays, are the busiest time in the chocolate industry. I figured the tourists could carry a chocolate store through the summer and, if the product was good, it could survive through the winter."

Crail knew nothing about making chocolate, so he sought out an independent chocolate maker in San Diego. He told Crail his plan was crazy, but Crail again chose to disregard conventional wisdom and convinced the chocolatier to supply him with product.

On Memorial Day 1981, Crail and two partners opened the first Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on...