Chocolatier benefits from tech wealth
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Like many local businesses, Chuck Siegel’s emerged out of a college apartment. But instead of tinkering with computer codes late into the night, he was working with chocolate.
As much as technology is synonymous with San Francisco, so is the niche food scene. In Siegel’s world of artisanal chocolate, disruption happens to taste buds: A piece of chocolate suddenly exploding with the minty and citrusy flavors of a mojito, or an elegant butterflyshaped piece loaded with the familiar taste of a Reese’s Pieces.
“My business just exists to make people happy,” Siegel, owner of Charles Chocolates,
said while sitting outside his small factory in Mission Creek. “The Bay Area isn’t just about tech.”
An unconventional find among attentiongetting new companies, Charles Chocolates probably saw increased interest recently on Crunchbase, a startups database, because of Mother’s Day on May 14 — one of its busiest days of the year.
While the artisanal food industry exists on the fringes of San Francisco’s bustling tech scene, Siegel said Charles Chocolates has benefited from the city’s influx of wealth. The companies that move in to the area bring more people with disposable incomes willing to splurge on simple pleasures like chocolate.
Siegel’s creations can be found in every Starbucks in California and every Peet’s Coffee & Tea in the country. But can a company still be considered “artisanal” with big corporate partnerships?
“Absolutely,” said Siegel. “Artisanal speaks more to the ethos and how it is made and the attention to detail.”
Siegel takes pride in his 16 employees’ attention to detail. On a recent afternoon behind his small factory’s glass windows, chefs carefully placed hazelnuts doused with salt and sugar into chocolate bar moldings, guaranteeing a crunch in every bite.
While the Bay Area’s tech sector includes household names like Facebook and Uber, its food brands include See’s Candy and Ghirardelli Chocolate.
Artisanal business can thrive in the Bay Area because many people care — and can afford to care — where their products are made, said Pierre Coeurdeuil, the advising and education manager at SFMade, a nonprofit that supports San Francisco’s manufacturing sector.
“There is really a renewed interest these days when information is more easy to find, and you can decide to shop somewhere that fits with your values,” he said. Each of Siegel’s products are made by hand, and most of his ingredients, from the chocolate to the apricot garnish, are bought locally, he said.
Charles Chocolates started in 2004. But after some trouble with an investor — which Siegel could not disclose details of — he had to completely shut down his operations in 2012. A year and a half later, he restarted his beloved chocolate company from scratch. He declined to say how much funding the company currently has. Its Crunchbase profile shows its last round of funding was in 2007 for $1.5 million.
The company now has more than 3,200 retail partners around the country.
“It is always a good time to start a chocolate business,” Siegel said.