Whether it's to celebrate a birth, a birthday party or any event in between, Chocolate Etc., at 382 Main St., can add customized chocolate to the occasion.

The chocolate business, owned by Jay and Marcia Vidockler of Ramsey, started out more than 15 years ago, when the couple began by selling gift baskets out of their home, Jay Vidockler said. In the spring of 1991, the couple set up a kiosk in Paramus Park mall for Mother's Day. Eventually, as the business grew, the couple opened their current location in a former chocolate supply store.

And this month, the company that began in the Vidocklers' Ramsey home was named "Best Candy Store" in 201 Magazine's "Best of Bergen 2010 Reader's Poll." The local magazine covers Bergen County.

"Our motto is we can do anything in chocolate, any size, any occasion," Jay Vidockler said. One of the most popular services they offer is personalization, he said. With prices starting at $2 a piece, the family can print wrappers with personal messages and pictures. Gift baskets, he said, also are a big part of the business, which they deliver locally or send throughout the country via UPS.

Currently, the Vidocklers and their employees are preparing for one of the busiest times of the year, Valentine's Day, when they sell hundreds of pounds of long-stemmed, chocolate-dipped strawberries, Jay Vidockler said. The strawberries can only be prepared a few days in advance; when Valentine's Day falls during the week, a crew has to spend all night dipping them. But this year, Vidockler does not anticipate an all-night rush, with Valentine's Day falling on a Sunday.

And while Chocolate Etc. prepares plenty of strawberries, Jay Vidockler recommends reserving a box early, because they sell out.

Loretta Pagliaro, a Chocolate Etc. employee, agreed that come next Saturday, the store will be packed with men.

"You see all the women coming in the week before," she said. "You'll see men coming in panicking, last minute."

Even a sluggish economy hasn't seemed to slow the store down. Dorothy Soro, who has been with the company 12 years, said that while the store has slow seasons, in between holidays, business still seems strong. Chocolate, she said, is a comfort food, which may be why they remain busy.

"It's pretty much recession proof," Marcia Vidockler said.

The store also has two rooms in which it can host birthday parties. Jay Vidockler said they host hundreds of parties a year, where children make their own chocolate to bring home. Chocolate Etc. offers three different parties, including one where the kids make 12 pieces of chocolate, one where they make a chocolate house and one where they make a chocolate pizza.

Jay Vidockler said he enjoys the business. Prior to opening Chocolate Etc., he worked in the travel industry, commuting everyday to downtown Brooklyn. He said he prefers the shorter commute and likes being around happy people.

"I have been lucky. I've always been in a happy business," Vidockler said.