Americas
From Assassination Survivor to Successful Chocolatier
Against all odds, Guy Debbas' journey from Lebanon to the United States is a testament to the immigrant spirit, resilience, strength, perseverance, and drive. No matter what life threw at Guy, he never gave up.
One of the most innovative and experienced chocolatiers in the United States, Guy ((pronounced Gee), has a harrowing but awe-inspiring story of courage, unimaginable loss, determination, and survival.
From 1926 to 1934, Guy's great uncle Charles Debbas was the first Lebanese President under the French Mandate, so Guy and his Greek Orthodox family enjoyed historical and diplomatic stature.
Fast forward to the 1970s, the Debbas family lived near Beirut, Lebanon, and were affluent, well respected, and had attained social and political prominence and prestige.
But their good fortune was shattered when in a freak accident, a home gas explosion killed Guy's mother and one of his brothers.
In 1975, a vicious and bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, tearing the country apart. The war raged over religious and political lines between Christians, Palestinian Muslim forces, communists, and socialists.
In 1976, amid the chaos and brutally savage time in the war, Guy's father, George, was nominated to become President of Lebanon.
His nomination resulted in death threats on the family, including several assassination attempts to prevent George Debbas from becoming President. During this time, the Palestinian Communist Party kidnapped Guy and used him as leverage to pressure his father.
Guy endured unspeakable mental and physical torture and spent 32 days in captivity before being rescued by the Lebanese Communist Party for reasons still unknown.
His freedom and his family's safety were unfortunately short-lived. Soon after Guy's rescue, Palestinian guerillas stormed his family's villa.
Twenty people, including family members, staff, and guests, were lined up and shot to death outside the Debbas' home, including Guy's father, who died in his arms.
The terrorists shot Guy 22 times with machine gun fire and left him for dead, but he was determined to live. He defied his doctors, who claimed that he would never walk again — two bullets still remain lodged near his spine.
After his miraculous recovery, Guy immigrated to California in 1978, met his wife, Wendy, and moved to Fresno, where he earned his agriculture degree from Fresno State.
While at Fresno State, Guy's brother discovered that their late father had a share in a chocolate factory in still war-torn Lebanon.
It was a dangerous venture because the civil war was still raging, but Guy, then in his 20s, was determined to save the factory, and for the next two years, he traveled with his wife from the U.S. to Lebanon to help build it up.
The chocolate business was doing well, but terrorists leveled the factory not once but twice. But Guy wouldn't give up and made sure the factory was rebuilt both times. When terrorists destroyed the factory for the third time, Guy had no choice but to walk away.
Around the same time, a devastating fire destroyed Guy's house in California, and he was facing financial ruin. But he still refused to give up and rebuilt his house.
And Guy wasn't giving up on chocolate, either.
Determined to succeed in the chocolate business, Guy and his wife opened up a new business in the U.S. and started by making chocolate out of their house. They eventually moved into a 1,000-square-foot retail site. Unfortunately, by 1986, Guy was facing having to close the business down.
But he still persevered and, with Kosher-certified truffles in hand, attended the International Gourmet Show in San Francisco, where he struck a $35,000 deal with Trader Joe's for 400,000 truffles.
Through pure tenacity, Guy turned his almost defunct business into a rags-to-riches story and became a national leader in the industry and a producer of top-notch gourmet kosher chocolates.
Guy and his son, Max, now oversee a global kosher chocolate-making business that includes A'cappella Chocolates and Debbas GourmetMade in Nature in Fresno, California, producing thousands of pounds of chocolate a day.
From the unique dark chocolate bourbon caramels to the hot chocolate bombs filled with marshmallows to the cocoa crate, the Debbas family creates their confections with non-GMO, all-natural, kosher ingredients sourced from local Central Valley farmers.
A'cappella’s artisan "Cocoa Crate" deserves a paragraph (or two) of its own. Each chocolate box includes goodies like a variety of truffles, espresso beans, dark chocolate almonds, chocolate tumbled fruits and nuts, and chocolate salted caramels. The cocoa crate is available as a 6-time-per-year subscription or a one-time purchase.
And the tagline is a keeper: If life is like a box of chocolates, then we hope it's exactly like this box of chocolates.
On overcoming the many obstacles and hardships, he faced, Guy Debbas says, "God kept me alive so I can sweeten the world."
And sweeten it he has.
