On Thursday night, a crew of volunteers formed reception lines throughout the Hilton, ready to lead some 1,500 guests to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's World of Chocolate event in the hotel's grand ballroom. At various checkpoints, staffers efficiently handed out programs and inspected guests' tickets; inside the event space, the atmosphere loosened up considerably.
At the door, a greeter with a tray of candy and prophylactics cordially asked, "Chocolate or condom?" At the center of the space, DJ Mark Picchiotti spun bass-heavy beats from the center of a ring of Christmas trees, which were whimsically treated with feathers and fairy lights. "We wanted the event to have a kind of sexy, chocolatey vibe," said Chris Matthews, the foundation's director of fund-raising events.
More than 30 restaurants and confectioners provided sweets for food stations scattered throughout the ballroom, where offerings ranged from the Peninsula Chicago's gingerbread marshmallows to the Palmer House Hilton's strawberry macaroons. Matthews said that wrangling the vendors—a process he dubs "the chocolate recruitment"—begins annually in May. "Every year we go to the All Candy Expo," he said. "We go around with our proposal and invite [candy companies] to be a part of the event, and we try to focus not only on the Chicago market."
Chicago vendors hosted the majority of tasting stations on Thursday night, but "we had five to seven that are from D.C. or New York but have a Chicago interest," Matthews said. "Maybe they have a product in Whole Foods, for example, or they're trying to build their online capacity." Matthews said that mixing national vendors in with the local companies keeps "the event fresh and exciting," which is one of his primary goals. "The most challenging thing is to make the event seem new each year," he said. "There's only so much you can do with chocolate."
Along with continually surprising guests, Matthews aims to keep the event interesting for those who work it. "We want to keep it fresh for vendors; we don't want them to become burned out," he said. "What we find is that if companies participate year after year and they're just continually giving product, the quality of their product decreases." After two to three consecutive years of working the benefit, Matthews advises vendors to "take a break from distributing product, but to still come to the event and be a part of it. We encourage them to step away, look at the event the way the guest views it, and get inspired to come back with more creative and innovative ideas the following year."
