Chocolate tours offer more than simply sampling sweets
how it is processed.”
And while everybody knows that wine comes from grapes, “very, very few actually understand that chocolate comes from the seeds of a tree”, says Williams, who is also co-founder of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association.
Inviting customers “into the factory to see the beans and the machinery that turn those beans into chocolate is a very good way to educate consumers on fine chocolate.”
The granddaddy of US chocolate tours is Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
It has hosted more than 100 million guests since opening in 1973. offers tours and tastings of its tastings in Burlington, Vering Chocolate a la Mode with
The free tour takes guests on Ethel M premium chocolate mont. four stops. rides following chocolate from brand at the Ethel M factory in In Somerville, MassachuIn Santa Fe, New Mexico, the bean to bar, with singing cows Henderson, Nevada, near the setts, Taza Chocolate offers an Cacao Santa Fe Chocolate Facalong the way and treats at the Las Vegas strip. Intro to Stone Ground Chocotory tour offers a look at everyend. Theo Chocolate welcomes late factory tour, and for chilthing from roasting,
But chocolate tours are more than 50,000 visitors a dren under 10, a Chocolate winnowing, grinding and temoffered in many other destinayear to its Seattle factory. The Story Time weekend mornings. pering of chocolate to the fintions around the country, from tour shows how the brand In Connecticut, you can even ished product. factories to visits with artisanal sources organic fair-trade take a train from Thomaston to In the hipster ’hood of East chocolatiers. beans, right through the barexperience Fascia’s Chocolate Nashville, Tennessee, Olive & “Customers care about what Just be sure to plan ahead, making process. Factory tours in Waterbury, Sinclair offers a bean-to-bar they put in their mouths — as some tours are offered only In Oregon, Portland Walking with wine and chocolate pairfactory tour in a historic buildespecially millennials ing.andoncertaindaysandtimesandTours’ChocolateDecadenceingsalongtheway. GenXers,” says Pam Williams, some require reservations. tour visits multiple chocolatiAt Dandelion in San FrancisNever mind beignets and founder of the online academy Some are free, but others are ers for tastings in every form: co, factory tours are so popular pralines: The New Orleans Ecole Chocolat School of Propricy. The Brooklyn tour is whipped, melted, liquid, beans, they book up more than a Chocolate Crawl samples fessional Chocolate Arts. $50. bars and more. month in advance. everything from fudge to gela
“They want to know where Mars Chocolate (makers of Lake Champlain Chocolates Dallas By Chocolate offers to. their food comes from and M&Ms, Snickers and Dove) offers free factory tours and several different tours, includ- In North Carolina, Videri
NEW YORK — A tour for chocolate lovers in Brooklyn, New York, isn’t just about tasting the final product. It also gives a peek at factories, neighborhoods and even business plans.
The chocolate tour offered by A Slice of Brooklyn takes visitors to four chocolate-makers around Brooklyn.
“I love chocolate,” says Christine Dietz of San Diego, who was treated to the tour by friends throwing her a bachelorette party in New York.
“But it’s really cool that we also get a bit of a tour of the city.”
But A Slice of Brooklyn’s chocolate tour is also part of a bigger trend.
Confectioners and tour companies around the country are offering chocolate tours catering not just to the public’s sweet tooth but also to consumer interest in learning where the products they eat and drink come from.
Educating consumers
Chocolate Factory offers staffguided tours of its facility in Raleigh’s newly revitalized downtown Warehouse District.
Even in New York, A Slice of Brooklyn only skims the cream off the city’s chocolate offerings.
Consider tours at Mast Brothers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; the soon-to-open Harlem Chocolate Factory; and the 460-square-meter Jacques Torres Chocolate Museum in Manhattan.
Slice of Brooklyn tour
First stop on A Slice of Brooklyn’s chocolate tours is Jacques Torres’ shop in DUM- BO, an industrial district turned chic enclave between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Next, at The Chocolate Room in the Cobble Hill neighborhood, owners Jon Payson and Naomi Josepher explain that they opened the business because they loved going out for dessert but had limited options for sit-down, restaurant-style dessert-only experiences.
In Red Hook, a workingclass waterfront area of modest homes and warehouses, the tour strolls to a pier with a view of the Statue of Liberty before hitting Raaka Chocolate to see how the company’s artisanal bars are made, from processing cacao pods to wrapping bars with flavors like smoked chai and pink sea salt.
Last stop: Li-Lac Chocolates in Industry City, an industrial area newly reborn with small businesses. Li-Lac has been selling chocolates since 1923 and is known for creamy, oldschool recipes, but only recently relocated to the Brooklyn site.
And for those who love the idea of touring Brooklyn, A Slice of Brooklyn also offers pizza tours and Christmas lights tours.