People of Central: Fatimah Khan

Photos and story by Samantha Bitterman

Fatimah Khan is a junior at Central Michigan University with a major in public health and a minor in entrepreneurship. She is also the owner of Chocoletzle, where she makes cakes, chocolate covered pretzels, cupcakes and so much more.

Khan has run Chocoletzle for four years. During a marketing class she took in high school she had to come up with a business and donate the proceeds to Make-A-Wish Foundation. Khan and her friend decided to sell chocolate covered pretzels for about two or three months.

They raised way more than they expected and ended up donating most of the money to a local boy in her community who was fighting cancer.

“After that, I was thinking about it and I was like maybe this is something I want to do for real, rather than just a school project. Then that summer, I started a chocolate covered pretzel business called Chocoletzle. For a while I’ve just been drawn to chocolate covered pretzels but when COVID hit I had a lot of free time, so I started getting into cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. And now I do all of that and a few other baked goods and it has really grown a lot since the beginning,” said Khan.

After starting this business, Khan realized she is actually a lot more creative than she thought she was. She has a lot of fun with this business, especially when customers giver her custom orders with certain themes or designs and she gets to play around with them.

Chocoletzle takes orders all year round and Khan is operating right in Mount Pleasant. She says she has a lot of orders and is very busy around December on the holidays and during Valentine’s Day.

“I have a really broad and wide product line. I know a lot of bakeries usually just dabble in cakes and cupcakes, but I like to do other things like croissants and fruit tarts and pretzels. I definitely do a lot and if people suggest something and say, ‘Hey can you do this?” I’ll be like I can give it a try’,” said Khan.

Khan mentioned she also making deliveries for orders, which has also helped her business grow more.

“Since I am right by campus, I love when parents reach out to me, and they want me to deliver a treat to their son or daughter on campus. I get a lot more deliveries too because it is so convenient. So, if anyone needs on campus deliveries, I’m your girl!”