Fancy Pants Chocolates, which set up shop in Brainerd in 2002, celebrated 20 years of business on Saturday, and the first 20 customers received a free box of chocolate.

Baking chocolate was just a hobby for Nancy Williams until friends realized how good it was and asked her, “how come you haven’t started a business?” So with a little research, she went all in, and Williams has been at it for 20 years now.

Fancy Pants Chocolates has 70 different desserts and makes almost all of their chocolate treats homemade at the shop. Williams says their milk chocolate is imported from Belgium and their dark chocolate is from Columbia. She also says no preservatives are added to their chocolates.

Williams also employs two young women as chocolatiers and teaches them skills beyond the job.

Williams says she couldn’t have done it without her sons and thanks her family and the community for supporting her business in more ways than they know.

By — Lakeland News