Gifts That Come In Many Forms: The Five Star Truffles Story

One of the easiest ways to show someone you’re thinking of them during tough times is by giving them a gift. And whether it’s from Mamma Leone Bakery in Miami, Insomnia Cookies in Providence, Rhode Island, or Five Star Truffles in San Francisco, if your friend has a sweet tooth and lives in a nearby neighborhood, we’ve often got you covered on DoorDash.

Chocolates aren’t the only thing we can help you give. You can make anything into a surprise delivery, even poultry feed from Tractor Supply, the largest rural lifestyle supplier in the United States, which just joined us on DoorDash! Just choose ‘Send as a gift’ at checkout and follow the instructions.

However, for small, one person owned businesses like Five Star Truffles, doing more than, or even just covering their costs, was no easy matter when the pandemic hit. Adding DoorDash to his set of business tools helped owner Santos Euan expand his customer base at that critical time. And, as he explained, the other big factor was the support of his community: “Being able to offer pick up and delivery with DoorDash changed the game. Then my landlord certainly helped with the rent. But what also amazed me were the individual donations by customers. -

Christopher Payne

President at DoorDash 

Christopher Payne

President at DoorDash

“One man came in and bought just two truffles, but gave me a hundred dollars. I said that was too much and he said no, he wanted to share, and help me stay in business. A doctor came in to buy chocolates, she made a donation. Some paid $20 extra, some $10, some $50. In the end, between being able to offer pickup orders easily, and with the support of people like this, I was able to stay open and pay my bills.”

Santos has in fact been open every day, for the past 17 years, only closing for a few hours, if he has a doctor’s appointment. He’s driven by a love of making chocolate inherited from his mother, who taught him how to make it in their home city of Oxkutzcab, in Yucatan, Mexico.

Notwithstanding her teaching, Santos believes firmly in the French method of truffle making. Like all baking or candy production, there is at least as much science as art to this craft, and Santos happily spends many hours perfecting his 25 different flavors. However, the chocolate truffle’s origins are most often attributed to a very unscientific accident.

The legend focuses on an apprentice to a French celebrity chef in the 1920s, who was making pastry cream. It’s said that he accidentally poured hot cream into a bowl of chocolate chunks, rather than the bowl of eggs. When he took the bowl and started to stir, the chef noticed an emulsion forming, bonding the liquid and chocolate. As that mixture hardened, he discovered it could be worked with his hands into a lumpy, walnut sized ball. The truffle was named after the valuable fungus that it was then said to resemble. -

Christopher Payne

President at DoorDash

Walk into Santos’ store on any day and you’ll typically find him in production in his kitchen, perhaps putting the truffles through their final roll in cocoa powder. On this visit, he was working on caramel, the hardest flavor to make, and currently the second most popular in store after dark chocolate: “The problem is keeping the combination of ingredients at exactly the right temperature: sometimes it takes up to eight hours, and it’s tricky. But I make what the customers like!” Making third place, by the way, are Santos’ hazelnut confections.

Five Star Truffles has survived the Great Recession and even the pandemic in part because of Santos’ singular devotion to this one form of chocolate making. But, from the beginning, there’s also been an element of stubborn determination to prove his idea, which many other entrepreneurs will recognize: “When I first started, my brother thought I was crazy! He said: first you don’t know how to run a business, secondly you should be closer to your family.”

Santos also had two partners early on, but eventually found it better to manage everything solo. And with DoorDash, even though he operates in the Castro district with pretty heavy foot traffic, delivery offers people in every one of the city’s neighborhoods the opportunity to indulge their sweet tooth.

The chocolatier has also passed on his entrepreneurial drive to some of his six children. He proudly tells me of a son who owns and runs the number one barber shop in Oxkutzcab, a daughter who is opening a hair salon, another daughter who is opening a pastry business, and another son who runs a party equipment rental business.

I asked Santos how he keeps going, carrying the weight of his business’ success on his shoulders alone: “I’m very good at saving money. But I like to make it as well. DoorDash helps me make more money, and I think it’s the most popular place to order from me online, because it’s the easiest to use.”

Valentine’s Day and the holidays are typically busy periods. But companies that are starting to ask or require employees to return to the office are also leaning into ordering sweet treats. It’s seen as a way to recognize the adjustment their staff are making, on day one.

Whether to these offices or homes, Dashers head out from Santos’ store all around San Francisco most days, and he loves his customers ordering for pickup just as much: "I can’t thank the community enough for being there for me during the leaner times. Even on the quietest day, this is what keeps me going, the love I get from my regulars, who keep coming back for my little treats.”

I hope you’ll keep following, as I continue my journey meeting entrepreneurs who are finding ways to unlock success, online and off. In the next edition, I’ll introduce you to another San Francisco based entrepreneur, Olia Rosenblatt of Mishka. Her candy-like, healthy dog treats are proving such a hit, that she’s opened a second store in the city’s highly competitive Ferry Building, and has her sights set on delivery much further afield.

Christopher Payne

President at DoorDash 

Today's Special: Five Star Truffles and Coffee

Bonnie Wach Published 4:00 am, Sunday, July 22, 2007 On a recent backpacking trip to the Sierra, which without going into detail I will merely describe as "adventurous," I was reminded of two things: One is that exposing one's hindquarters in the woods is no laughing matter, especially after an active mosquito hatch. Another is that, no matter how much of a wilderness experience you crave, no matter how badly you desire to get back to nature, you should never, ever let yourself be convinced that you can do without good coffee and good chocolate.

These two items, I believe, are more crucial for survival of the species than freeze-dried turkey tetrazzini, trail mix and Therm-a-Rest mats combined. Most certainly they are essential for survival of the husband, who risks life and limb by putting even the most innocuous of questions to the decaffeinated, cacao-less wife. He will not make that mistake again.

Anyway, not long after this revelation, I was driving down Divisadero Street when I spied a sign that completely summed up my core belief system. A no-nonsense marquee that read simply: Five Star Truffles and Coffee, Made by Hand. I screeched to a stop and pulled a U-turn.

Inside the shop, I found a deceptively bare-bones operation - a few perfunctory tables and chairs and a large glass case filled with decadent-looking bite-size chocolate morsels. A handwritten menu posted on the wall listed more than a dozen varieties of truffles at prices (50 cents each; $7.50 for a box of 20) that seemed downright ridiculous, considering that we live in the rarefied world of artisan chocolate, where 3-ounce bars go for upward of $5.

The shop is the love child of Santos Euan, a genial and tireless man who immigrated to San Francisco 10 years ago from Oxkutzcab in the mountains of Yucatan, Mexico. After a couple of years working in various restaurants, Euan landed a job at XOX Truffles in North Beach, apprenticing for seven years under well-known trufflemaker Jean-Marc Gorce. In November, he decided to strike out on his own, and with the help of partner Julio Quintanilla, he opened Five Star.

Fans of XOX will recognize Gorce's style here - truffles no bigger than the tip of your thumb, covered in dark chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder or hazelnuts or coconut. But (aside from the prices) there are also a few distinct differences.

"I tried to put my original touch on these. I tried a lot of different recipes and methods to bring out the flavors," Euan says. "It takes a long time to make truffles - two days to make one batch, and everything has to be perfect."

Euan's most popular truffle, caramel, takes nine hours just to cook the caramel, which must be cooled at room temperature. If the conditions are too hot, too cold or too humid, the consistency is ruined.

One bite, and you understand why this consistency is so important. Under a sprinkling of cocoa powder and a delicate jacket of Cacao Barry dark chocolate, the caramel is so intensely creamy and soft, so rich and smooth, you wonder if you've ever really tasted caramel before.

Other marvelous flavors include strawberry (made with a fruity ganache infused with strawberry liqueur), espresso, blackberry, cognac, citron lemon, coconut and the subtly smoky Earl Grey. Like XOX, Five Star also offers a few vegan choices, including soy orange and dark chocolate.

As for the other half of the menu, the coffee, it's fresh-roasted Graffeo, which Euan brews with as much care as he crafts his truffles. He also makes a truly sublime cup of cocoa - heavy on the chocolate and with steamed milk - that has developed a following all its own.

Euan hopes to expand his business soon with a Web site and the addition of Mitchell's ice cream. In the meantime, he can be found behind the counter greeting customers, rolling chocolates, pouring good, strong coffee - and upholding my belief system.

Five Star Truffles and Coffee: 411 Divisadero St., San Francisco; (415) 552-5128.

Hours: 7:00 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

Prices: Truffles are 95 . cents each, $16.50 for 20, $30 for 40, $60 for 80. Free coffee with box of chocolates; free truffle with order of coffee.

Our Mission

Castro overflowing with Valentine's gift ideas

By Meredith May and Julian Guthrie Updated 9:24 am PST, Thursday, February 13, 2014

Tiny shop produces oodles of truffles

If it's 5 a.m. on a weekday in the Castro, Santos Euan is already up to his elbows in cocoa powder inside his tiny shop on 18th Street.

He handcrafts 100 pounds of truffles a week at Five Star Truffles, where he is the owner and only employee, using imported French chocolate and recipes that his mother taught him in Yucatán,Mexico.

Euan makes 25 flavors, everything from vegan coconut to Jim Beam honey maple. He also takes customer suggestions, such as cayenne caramel.

He sells 20 truffles for $16, 40 for $30 , and 80 for $60. He will ship orders larger than 8 pounds. Jim Beam recently purchased 20,000 truffles."My mom taught me to love chocolate," Euan said. "I would grind it in the kitchen, and she made the best hot chocolate."

Euan now serves hot chocolate to customers - just the way his mama made it.

- Meredith May

Five Star Truffles: 4251-A 18th St. (415) 552-5128.

Spike's Coffee & Teas: Traditional candy counter with sweets of yesteryear: