QUEENS CHAMBER MEMBER NEWS Chocolatier partners with Hudson Group

By Alicia Venter aventer@queensledger.com

If any chocolate Queens resident finds themselves in JFK Airport or LaGuardia Airport, take a few minutes to scan and see if any gold packaged sweet seems familiar. It may be Aigner Chocolates.

The beloved longstanding sweet shop in Forest Hills recently formed a partnership with Hudson Group, one of the largest traveler retail groups in North America.

In this deal, they can be found in various shops around JFK Airport, shared owner Rachel Kellner. She and her husband Mark Libertini have owned Aigner Chocolates for six and a half years.

Recently named the best chocolate shop in New York City by TimeOut New York, Aigner Chocolates has been using the same recipes for their chocolate since they opened.

During the pandemic, Aigner Chocolates found themselves in a unique position — there wasn’t enough chocolate to “cope with all the feelings associated with going through a pandemic,” Kellner said. Finding themselves in an industry that was doing well during a time where most weren’t, Kellner wanted to do something for those less fortunate. Aigner Chocolates donated almost 30,000 pounds of choco - late to frontline workers.

Aigner Chocolates was recently nominated to be a Small Business Hero of the Year by the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

It was at this dinner, Kellner said, that she was introduced to the Hudson Group, as well as Resorts World.

“Over the last year, we’ve been working with both of those companies to find ways to collaborate, and it culminated in us being in multiple Hudson News locations in both JFK and LaGuardia Airport.”

“We’ve been working with Resorts World in a variety of different ways… We are just unbelievably grateful for the support that the Queens Chamber of Commerce has given us.”

She could not express her appreciation for the Queens Chamber of Commerce more in a phone interview, noting how the business’ involvement with the chamber has given them the opportunity for exposure they otherwise would not have received.

“We have done everything we can to support the Queens Chamber, and they have done an unbelievable job [helping us] and making these incredible introductions for us that are really elevating our brand and getting us exposure that we could only dream of.”