Even after running chocolate-making businesses on and off for almost 15 years, Tricia Pollard still eats chocolate every day.

It all started in Delaware in 1997, after she’d given birth to her first son, Zach. She and her husband, Jeremy, had no money, yet they needed to give holiday gifts to friends and family members.

Tricia Pollard loved chocolates, and so did all her girlfriends. So, after adjusting recipes from a chocolatier’s cookbook, she started producing chocolate truffles.

“Everybody was saying how great they were, and when we won our first contest and people were asking where they could buy our chocolates. That’s when we decided that maybe we should try to sell them,” she said.

The Pollards started the first company, Cape Confections, as a seasonal operation.

In 2004 they moved to Florida, but it was too hot and humid for the chocolates there. They wouldn’t set up properly, Tricia Pollard said. The following year, the couple relocated to Bend, with their two sons in tow.

Originally, they found businesses in which to sell their chocolates by going door to door, and they shipped chocolates anywhere.

In 2010, they opened a retail location for their business, Tricia’s True Confections, in the middle of Bend. It operated within a deli called The Brown Bag. In November they bought the deli, which is located near the intersection of Northeast Second Street and Norton Avenue.

Now Jeremy Pollard, 41, works full-time, coming in at 3 a.m. to start baking bagels and cooking up soups. Along with her work as a veterinary technician, Tricia Pollard, 42, spends a few hours each day — or about 10 hours a week — on her trademark truffles and other chocolates.

“It doesn’t feel like work,” Tricia Pollard said. “This to me is fun. It’s fun coming in here.”

Her husband, a longtime chef, said he likes being his own boss.

For the couple, it’s just right.

Jeremy Pollard said he’s glad if the business takes in $100 a day before costs. Indeed, gross sales are on the rise, and more customers are becoming regulars.

And the children help.Zach, 14, has made some hot sandwiches for customers. Nick, 11, has been serving as a garnisher and wants to take over the business for his parents when he’s older.

For now, the boys’ parents are trying to grow the business. Each new customer is entitled to a free chocolate, Tricia Pollard said.

Q: Do you expect to stay here? Do you imagine yourselves getting someplace downtown?

A: Tricia: No, we’re 2nd Street (Eats). We have to stay on Second Street. We’re not moving. Unless we’re moving to a bigger spot on Second Street.

Q: Are there any chocolate bagels?

A: Tricia: Not yet. There will be a cocoa bagel. I can promise you. With a cinnamon cream cheese. Doesn’t that sound good?

Q: Do you guys ship chocolate?

A: Tricia: Yeah. We’ve shipped chocolates everywhere.

Q: Any special procedures, like refrigerating?

A: Tricia: Nope.

Jeremy: Depends on the season.

Tricia: I mean in the summertime, obviously we have to overnight them.

Jeremy: Shipping anywhere (where the temperature is over 68 degrees) requires ice packing, but this time of year, they basically fit in that little tiny priority box. They fit perfectly in that thing.

And then we’ve actually created a 15-pack, where the chocolates are packed in there so perfectly. I kind of do this test, and Tricia’s standing there, and I’ll throw a box of chocolates that are going shipping. I will. And that’s like my thing. You can’t hear them shake, so you know they’re good to go. But you know the post office is probably going to treat them a little worse.

Q: Would you like to see this become a full-time job?

A: Tricia: Oh, for me, yeah.

Q: Is it getting there, slowly?

A: Tricia: I don’t know. I think he needs to get paid first.

Jeremy: I think hopefully within a year.