LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Ines Rehner moved to the United States 30 years ago and said it’s been quite the journey. 

“I brought with me a memory of how good chocolate should taste,” she said. 

Her love for chocolate is what inspired her to open Sweet Designs Chocolatier 26 years ago. 

“We make gourmet European-style chocolates, which are really creamy and have a wonderful taste,” she said. 

As Easter draws near, she said there have been challenges. 

“Just to give you an example, before pandemic, for a container of goods, we would pay $12,000," she said. "Now that same container costs $42,[000]" 

The Consumer Price Index reported the food index increased 1% in February.

“Preparing for Easter has been a challenge, but we were able to get ahead of time,” she said. “All the chocolate ingredients...so we are able to have all these items offered. We also made it easier for customers to shop online.” 

Rehner said while times are hard, it’s sparked creativity. 

“We came up with some new things that we created, like white chocolate filled pierogis with peanut butter," she said. "We also created a dinosaur-filled egg with gummy dinosaurs and jelly beans."

She said she remains determined. 

“My greatest joy is to make people happy,” she said. “So, knowing that they will have their baskets full with all the different items and that will bring a lot of joy to them is the reason why I started this business in the first place.” 

Rehner said she encourages people to shop online for Easter, as her business is still recovering from the pandemic.