Brandon Busch’s previous career inspired the name for Lift Chocolate, a Boulder-based chocolatier. Busch, a Colorado native, was a Marine helicopter pilot who served two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2013.
In the midst of such chaotic, often hostile environments, Busch sought out sweetness. “During our downtime, I read every culinary textbook I could get my hands on from cover to cover,” Busch recalls. “I realized you could educate yourself on cooking, but you couldn’t teach yourself pastry skills — things like sugar work, laminated doughs and chocolate.”
After active service, Busch returned to Colorado and immediately started pastry school at Johnson & Wales. “I tried to work with chocolate a few times before school, but never successfully,” he says. “I was the worst at making chocolate, but I became obsessed because I felt like I should be able to do it. I eventually got better.”