ONE bite and she was hooked.

On one of her annual trips to Switzerland three years ago, Malaysian model and actress Deanna Yusoff stumbled on what she calls the most wonderful chocolates she'd ever tasted.

They were little truffles from a small, unassuming bakery run by a couple of brothers.

A habit of bringing them back to Malaysia for family and friends turned into a business opportunity when she realised she was inundated with requests for more truffles.

Three years on, the Music & Movement artiste has remade herself as a businesswoman, all thanks to the little chocolates from Switzerland.

Asked why she chose chocolates as her first foray into business, she laughed, saying: 'I'm Swiss! 'I grew up with it, and I've always had a thing for really good chocolate.'

She says it's a 'dream' to be selling a product she really loves.

'I love sharing the things that I adore with other people,' she said.

The business, she said, is essentially an extension of that.

She imports the chocolates directly from the bakery, keeping the chocolatiers' name.

One-woman operation

But once the chocolates arrive at her home,it's a one-woman operation - she packs,and even delivers them herself, to customers in Kuala Lumpur.

'I've had people in shock when they realise I'm the one delivering the chocolates,' she giggled.

Starting with just word-of-mouth sales, she has setup a website, where people can submit orders online for her chocolates.

She has even been asked to speak about chocolate at a private corporate event.

She threw some chocolate trivia our wayas well, enlightening uson the creation of chocolate bars - a relatively recent invention, aswefound out, since chocolate used to exist only in powder form.

And chocolate mixed with chilli? Not exactly an invention of the modern world. It was, she regaled us, the way chocolate had been eaten traditionally in Europe and South America.

Another interesting fact?

Chocolate isn't fattening.

She said she has 'one or two' of the truffles a day.

'People think chocolates are fattening,and I suppose some are, especially those which have a lot of milk andsugar. These are not.

They're more cocoa,' she said. She is in talks to bring the truffles to Singapore.

'The market here seems very promising. It's just that I'll have to figure out delivery,and storage, things like that,' she said.

For now, the onlyway Singaporeans can get a taste of the chocolates is to, well, beher friend.

'Whenever Icome down for work, or to visit, I'll send an e-mail asking whether anyone wants some and they all go 'Yes! Yes!'' she said.

This article was first published in The New Paper .