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Our Team

Kate Shaffer, Artistic Director & Founder

Kate was chosen by Dessert Professional as a Top Ten Chocolatier in North America (2011),  and is the winner of three Good Food Awards (2015, 2016, 2021).  Ragged Coast Chocolates’ unique business model, and Kate’s chocolates, have been featured in Martha Stewart Living Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, The Boston Globe, Ralph Lauren Magazine, and many other national and regional publications. 

Kate is the author of Desserted: Recipes and Tales from an Island Chocolatier (Down East Books, 2011), which was a Bronze medalist in the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards, a Finalist in the 2011 Foreword Indies Awards, and Food & Wine’s Top 25 Cookbooks of the Year in 2011. Kate is also the author of Chocolate for Beginners: Techniques and Recipes for Making Chocolate Candy, Confections, Cakes and More (Rockridge Press, 2019); and The Maine Farm Table Cookbook (W. W. Norton, 2021).

Kate has written about food and chocolate for the Portland Press Herald, Zest Magazine, Maine Food & Lifestyle, and Edible Maine.

You can reach Kate at kate@raggedcoastchocolates.com.

Steve Shaffer, Founder & CEO

Steve brings his immense talents in creative problem solving and innovative thinking to the helm of Ragged Coast. Steve was the driving force behind the creation of the company’s state-of-the-art manufactory in Westbrook, ME, and oversaw the project from start to finish. A natural philosopher and entrepreneur, Steve is always percolating new ideas - whether it’s a brainstorm for a new chocolate, or a way to make our production more efficient and profitable.
You can reach Steve at steve@raggedcoastchocolates.com

Jesse Saffeir, Chocolatier

Jesse (she/her) has been part of the Ragged Coast Family since the company was founded on Isle au Haut in 2007. Jesse would ride her bike from the in-town house where her family vacationed for 2 weeks every summer to be the first through the doors of the Black Dinah Cafe and get dibs on the old-fashioned donut holes fresh from the kettle.

Jesse joined the company as a high school intern in 2012, and then worked in the cafe during our last summer on Isle au Haut. Jesse went on to study at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts during a gap year following high school. 

While earning her degree in Environmental Studies at Bates, Jesse jumped aboard the Ragged Coast team each holiday season where she honed her skills in chocolate making.

After graduating summa cum laude from Bates in the spring of 2020, Jesse became a year-round member of the Ragged Coast Team. She lives in West Bath where she also works for the Land in Common community land trust.