In July of 2025, Marie Bryant found herself standing at an unexpected crossroads.
The family chocolate business she had helped build from the ground up had recently closed when her mother decided to not renew her lease due to ongoing building issues, opting instead for retirement.
And while Marie cared deeply about the company, she wasn’t in a financial position to purchase it. At that point in time, long-time, loyal customers assumed the scrumptious bonbons they had come to love were gone for good.
Then something unexpected happened.
When offers for the business weren’t making sense, Marie’s mother—Mary Jane Meszaros, founder of Mary Jane’s Chocolates—offered to gift the business to Marie.
For many people, being handed an established business might sound like a dream. For Marie, she understood that this great opportunity came wrapped in some significant challenges.
Although the business came without debt, it also came without a physical location, inventory, operating capital, or the resources needed to revive it.
“I was kind of panicked,” Marie recalled. “There were immediately all these expenses. I was thinking, ‘How am I going to make all of this function?'”
The next few months would test her determination, resilience, and steadfast belief in the business she had helped birth more than fifteen years earlier.
Sweet Treats Rooted in Family Tradition
Based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, home to Western Kentucky University, Mary Jane’s Chocolates crafts rich, luxurious, melt-in-your-mouth confections. Located just an hour north of Nashville, the business serves not just south-central Kentucky and northern Tennessee but also ships to clients across the country.
But the story of Mary Jane’s Chocolates began years ago, when Marie was just a child.
Marie spent her early life in Cleveland, Ohio, where chocolate was a familiar part of everyday life and family traditions. When her family moved to Kentucky during her teenage years, they noticed something that surprised them—the kind of rich, satisfying chocolate they were accustomed to enjoying back home was nowhere to be found in Bowling Green.
One Easter, Marie’s mother was so vexed by the inability to find basket-worthy treats that the family drove 450 miles back to northeast Ohio to obtain them rather than to settle for anything less.
That experience sparked Mary Jane’s dream of bringing a great chocolate experience to southern Kentucky.
Mary Jane and Marie had always made chocolates during the holidays. Year after year, her handmade treats, packaged in decorative boxes, were eagerly anticipated by friends and family.
Why not, Mary Jane thought, turn this family tradition into a business?
Mother-Daughter Team Make Locals Fall in Love
In 2010, with the help of Marie, Mary Jane’s Chocolates officially opened, and locals fell in love as they were introduced to high-quality chocolates that were head-and-shoulders above the mass-produced versions they had all grown up eating.
From the beginning, Marie worked alongside her mother. It was she that suggested the company name, pointing out that her mother’s name inspired both comfort and a home-spun feel. Marie sketched the logo, featuring a silhouette of her own child—Natalie Jane—nibbling a chocolate.
Over the next decade the shop’s notoriety spread across town, throughout the Commonwealth and eventually beyond, garnering significant media attention and even a mention in Southern Living.
Now that Mary Jane’s Chocolates has re-opened, customers are again making in-person visits, requesting specialty orders, and shopping online to have products shipped around the country.
In addition, Mary Jane’s Chocolates can create custom chocolates and produce and ship corporate orders for gifting or promotions that feature company logos and personalized packaging.
Marie’s Challenge: Breathing Life Back into the Dream
But like many aspiring entrepreneurs before her, Marie’s path to business ownership wasn’t simple or direct.
Over the years, she’s worked in several professions, including as a paralegal and later at WKU. She has balanced work, family, and raising children while learning the realities and complexities of owning and operating a small business working alongside her mother.
By 2021, Marie and her mother no longer shared the same vision regarding the company’s direction and growth, so she stepped away from Mary Jane’s Chocolates to explore other roles which included positions with the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park, Kirkpatrick Price and Lifeguard Press.
The time away proved fruitful, providing Marie even more business expertise.
When she learned her mother was closing Mary Jane’s Chocolates in April of 2025, Marie’s heart was broken.
At that time, without the financial resources needed to buy the company herself, she assumed there was nothing she could do.
A few months later, however, everything changed when her mother had a change of heart, deciding that the best chance for the business to continue was to place it in Marie’s hands.
Marie jumped at the chance, only to be immediately hit with the enormity of the practical and financial challenges.
The previous location was gone, so Marie had to find a new home for the business. And rent, deposits, utilities, inventory, equipment, and renovations all required funding.
“I had to buy ingredients and supplies. I had to pay rent and deposits. I not only had to put plumbing into the new building but also build it out and equip it to function for us and meet our specific needs,” Marie explained. “Opening a business is expensive.”
Marie found herself facing obstacles many aspiring business owners know all too well.
Her credit history wasn’t perfect, and years of financial strain had made obtaining traditional financing difficult. While Marie believed fiercely in the viability of the business, conventional lenders needed more.
The problem wasn’t a lack of determination on Marie’s part; it was finding practical funding for a small business that was trying to restart and rebuild.
The Bridge: Community Ventures, a Small Business Loan, and Ongoing Guidance
While establishing a bank account for the business, Marie spoke with a local banking executive who suggested she contact Community Ventures about funding.
Community Ventures is Kentucky’s top SBA microlender and a trusted provider of funding for small businesses, business development assistance, and technical assistance for entrepreneurs across the state.
That recommendation led her to Community Ventures’ Miller Slaughter, a seasoned specialist in small business funding and development.
For Marie, the conversation with Miller was a turning point. Instead of focusing only on a credit score or past challenges, he took time to understand Marie’s experience, the history of the business, and listen to her plan for moving forward.
After discussing her goals and needs, Marie was able to secure a microloan through Community Ventures.
For many Kentucky entrepreneurs, these types of loans provide access to smaller amounts of capital that can help launch, stabilize, or grow a business. In Marie’s case, the microloan program provided needed resources at a critical moment.
Among other things, the funding allowed her to invest in equipment that would allow the business to increase production capacity, maximizing the size of the orders that Mary Jane’s could handle.
Expect the Unexpected
Like many small business owners, Marie quickly discovered that entrepreneurship rarely follows a perfect script.
After receiving initial funding, more unexpected equipment repairs and operational challenges emerged. Instead of giving up, Marie dug in and kept moving forward.
Perhaps as important as the funding she received was the business guidance that the Community Ventures team provided. It was knowledge that Marie had been lacking but that she needed to grow and expand.
Through ongoing technical assistance, Miller helped Marie better understand business recordkeeping and financial organization.
“We worked on correctly documenting receipts, categorizing purchases, and lots of other things that previously had not been where my energies were focused,” Marie said. “It gave me a better overall understanding of business finances and a clear path forward for Mary Jane’s.”
These details are important elements and the building blocks of long-term business success for aspiring entrepreneurs.
The combination of capital and practical support allowed Marie to strengthen the foundation of her business even as she played to her strength—marketing and branding—as she worked to rebuild customer awareness in a new location.
Rebuild, Reconnect and Reestablish: A Chocolatier’s Second Chance
Today, chocolatier Marie is full steam ahead: rebuilding customer traffic, reconnecting with longtime supporters, and introducing her chocolate vision to brand new customers.
A key part of her plan is to build corporate and wholesale relationships as part of the company’s growth strategy.
Before ownership changed hands, Mary Jane’s Chocolates had successfully developed some relationships with organizations and retailers wanting specialty products. Marie hopes to reestablish those connections while forging new opportunities with other Kentucky retailers and businesses looking for unique gifts for customers, employees, and vendors. Marie hopes that her ability to craft custom chocolates featuring company logos, personalized packaging, and Kentucky-themed products that reflect local pride will take her business to the next level.
Hard Work and Persistence Keeps the Dream Alive
Like many small business owners, Marie wears many hats as she simultaneously manages finances, oversees production, serves customers, and handles business planning and marketing.
She is working diligently to keep the business moving forward but acknowledges that the journey hasn’t been an easy one.
Marie puts it like this:
“There were times that I didn’t know if we were going to make it. There were days when things were really difficult, but I believed in this business because I helped build it from the beginning and I had a vision of what it could be.
“Community Ventures gave me the opportunity to move forward when I needed funding and guidance. We’re open, we’re growing, and we’re working every day to rebuild what our long-time customers loved about Mary Jane’s Chocolates.”
Miller Slaughter notes: “Marie brought years of industry experience, a deep understanding of the business, and a clear commitment to preserving a local brand that means a lot to her community.
“Our role was to help her access funding and to provide solid business education that would support her next steps. Her determination and willingness to keep moving forward have been key to the progress she’s made.”
The Road to Sustainability is Paved with Chocolate
Marie’s aspirations echo the goals of many Kentucky entrepreneurs: to build something sustainable not only for today, but for years to come.
And while she knows how much work is left ahead, she also knows that Mary Jane’s Chocolates still has a place in Kentucky. Mary Jane’s Chocolates can be found on Instagram @maryjaneschocolatesbg, where followers will be kept in the loop about the latest and greatest treats and specials.
Her website leaves no doubt: Mary Jane’s Chocolates was ‘born from a love of storytelling through flavor, where tradition, creativity, and comfort come together in every bite,’ going on to explain that Marie has made it her ‘mission to craft chocolates that feel both nostalgic and excitingly new.’
The relaunch of Mary Jane’s Chocolates means that 16 years of family history, community relationships, and entrepreneurial inspiration will carry on into the future.
Marie’s journey is a reminder that many successful entrepreneurs often reach a point where they need support, guidance, or access to capital to take the next step, but that help is available for those determined to find it.
Interested in Funding or Business Development Assistance?
Business owners interested in Kentucky small business loans, SBA Microloan programs, or business development assistance can contact Community Ventures to learn more about available funding, technical assistance, and support for entrepreneurs across Kentucky. Whether you’re launching a new venture, purchasing an existing business, or planning your next phase of growth, Community Ventures can help you explore funding options and business development resources designed for Kentucky entrepreneurs.