Music won’t be the only talent showcased at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.  

Chicago, Ill-based Sulpice Chocolat, an artisinal chocolate house, will be featuring their hand-painted chocolate bars and sipping chocolate in the gift bags presented to recording stars at the awards show Sunday, Feb. 13. 

 “I’m really excited about [the event],” says Anne Palermo, Sulpice Chocolat owner. “It’s a huge opportunity and a chance to grow my business in a way that might have taken a lot more time to do otherwise.”  

The gift bags will feature four different Sulpice Chocolat bars as well as a Sipping Chocolate, a limited edition hot chocolate that includes an infusion of pure 23 karat edible gold.  

“I was trying to be a little bit different and maybe add a little bit of extra glam for the GRAMMY’s,” says Palermo, who also had a say in the other four bars that went into the bags.  

Palermo picked two of her most popular flavors - The Epic, a spicy dark chocolate bar, and Amande, an indulgent milk chocolate bar with salted almonds - along with two of her personal favorites, the Gingembre, a dark chocolate bar with ginger and macadamia nuts, and the Chai milk chocolate bar with flavors of the East.  

The entrepreneurial former financial consultant says Distinctive Assets, a business that solicits companies to participate in backstage lounges and gift bags for the Grammy and other various award shows, discovered her after she sent out a new product alert. “It was really random,” says Palermo.  

Cybele Parsignault, the marketing and sales director at Distinctive Assets, says she unearthed Sulpice in a press release.  

“I was looking for the newest, latest and greatest of products to put in front of the celebrities since they’ve seen it all and since you’re always trying to impress the ‘un-impressible,’” explains Parsignault.  

Both the ingredients Palermo sources and the packaging design caught Parsignault’s eye. She calls the product “not your run of the mill something you’re going to fine in a supermarket.” Palermo’s discerning palate was also a distinguishing factor for Parasignault.  

“In an industry where there is so much [and] everything has been done I was trying to find something unique that tastes really goods,” she says. “Her chocolate definitely does both.”  

Retail price for the chocolate bars featured in the bags run from $6.95 to $7.95.  

For more information visit www.sulpicechocolate.com or call (630) 301-2345  

-G.W.