| January 2008 News |
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January 26, 2008 - Hershey announced their 2007 Fourth Quarter profits. Sales remained the same from 2006 but increased operating
costs pushed profits down 65%. Some of the increased expenses came from a reorganization of the companies Brazilian operations and
some came from the increase in the prices of cocoa and dairy products. The French candy firm Lutti is being sold by its owners Leaf
France SAS, the French subsidiary of Leaf International. Lutti's factory is located in Bondues, France and the firm employs 600 and
produces 40,000 tons of candy a year. In the you go first department Snickers has introduced a caffeinated candy bar to its Snickers lineup.
The bar the Snickers Charged contains 60 mg of caffeine and also has taurine. You can read the Press Release here. In what is sad news
for the Lindt Chocolate company Rudolph R. Sprüngli, heir to the Lindt Company and the man who ran Lindt & Sprüngli for over twenty
years passed away this week at 88. He took the company public in 1986 when he had it listed on the Swiss stock exchange. You can read
his New York Times obituary here. DeBrandChocolates has its usual assortment of nice Valentine's Day boxes. We like the Chocolate
Heart Boxes, a heart shape box made of chocolate filled with truffles. We always highly recommend DeBrand products.
January 22, 2008 - Flour Mills of Fiji Ltd has pulled out of a $30 million expansion that would have included
a brewery and a chocolate plant. The company claims that due to shifting economic conditions and the
governments changing of rules the company is mothballing their plans for now. If you are anywhere near
Eureka Springs, Arkansas, February 16th at The Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center. This is the events
fourth year and benefits The Clear Spring School. There will be samples and vendors will be selling all
sorts of chocolate items. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania is looking forward to its 10th annual Chocolate Lovers
Fantasy Festival on February 2nd. The event benefits the Donald Heiter Community Center. The event has
grown by leaps and bounds over the years and this years looks to be an extravaganza. Of course we are
easily influenced by the words " All You Can Eat Chocolate". Shawn Askinosie of the Askinosie Chocolate
Company recently traveled to Mexico where he turned over some of his firms profits to the farmers who
grew the cocoa beans he used in production. Nineteen farmers in the Soconusco region grew the beans
and Mr. Askinosie turned over 10% of his firms net profits to the farmers. He is currently producing 2,500
chocolate bars a week.
January 21, 2008 - Keystone Human Services will be holding their annual Chocolatefest and fund raising
Chocolate Ball February 2nd and 3rd. The Ball will be a black tie event held at Hershey Lodge's Chocolate
Ballroom. If you happen to find yourself in this neck of Pennsylvania these sound like two excellent events
and the Ball sounds especially cool, this years theme is Brazil with matching food and decor. Choconet1.
com has issued a Press Release as they have increased their product line to over 300 chocolate products.
Naperville, Illinois held their 5th annual NCO Youth and Family Services Chocolate Festival. While the final
count isn't in yet it looks like this years attendance would rival last years 1,500 attendees. Guests sampled
chocolate ice cream, saw an array of chocolate sculptures and from all accounts had a great time. The
Festival wasn't the only chocolate story coming out of Naperville. Cathy Bouchard suffered from a variety of
illnesses and was on a cocktail of medicines including pain killers and anti depressants. After reading
about the healthy properties in cocoa she chucked all of her medicine and started to feed herself one
ounce of chocolate a day. Within two months her aches had cleared up and her increased sense of well
being allowed her to shed 22 pounds. Her migraine headaches ceased. She has opened a store in
Naperville, Le Chocolat, and is conducting a study among her customers hoping to document the health
benefits of chocolate. The Lake Havasu, Arizona Concert Association held its 13th Annual
Chocolate Sunday Desert Fantasy yesterday. Hundreds of guests gorged themselves on offerings from
local merchants in an effort to raise money for the Concert Association. If you should find yourself pregnant
please keep in mind that there have been a few studies including this newly released one that find there is
a link between caffeine consumption, caffeine does exist in chocolate, and an increased chance of
miscarriage. Elizabeth Emerson of Jonesport, Maine was included in an article in the New York Times about elderly residents of Maine
who were getting by on limited incomes. She mentioned that she enjoyed the occasional chocolate bar. Soon she started to receive
chocolate in the mail. She has received so much that she has given much of it away and the folks at Hershey sent her a nice package of
stuff. A Colonel in the French Police Department was picked up earlier this month when he was caught walking out of Le Bon Marche, a
department store in Paris with two boxes of expensive chocolates that he hadn't paid for. The chocolates were worth US $90 and he was
released pending a hearing.
January 19, 2008 - Unite, the British organizing group in the food industry, has tried a new method to keep
Cadbury from closing their Somerdale plant. Cadbury is closing the plant and moving its production to
Poland to an existing plant. Unite's argument was that since 98% of the Somerdale plants production is
sold locally in the United Kingdom it is environmentally unsound to move production to Poland and then
transport the chocolate back to the United Kingdom. Cadbury has countered with the argument that they
already have a plan in place to lessen their corporate carbon footprint and that by consolidating production
and closing a plant they would actually be helping the environment. You have to hand it to the folks at
Hershey for the efforts they've made to develop their allchocolate website. The professionals section of
their site is interesting. It includes John Scharffenberger on how to conduct a tasting and a nine minute film
on how to temper chocolate. Definitely worth a look in our opinion. In the same vein Hershey will have John Scharffenberger hosting a
tasting hosted by allchocolate at the Hotel Hershey, February 8th at 6:30 and at the Hershey Lodge , February 9th at 1:00. If you make the
Hershey Lodge event and stay until 4:30 then you can join John Scharffenberger as he and Hershey Lodge beverage manager Karl McCall
conduct a tasting event that pairs dark chocolate with Scotch. February 15th and 16th will find Joseph Schmidt on the
premises at Hershey. On the 15th he will lead a Dessert Decorating Class at the Hershey Hotel at 5:00 pm.
The 16th will find him at Hershey’s Chocolate World conducting two, one 11 am the other at 3:30 pm,
demonstrations in turning chocolate into sculpture and flowers. It had to happen sooner or later. After an
endless stream of positive health news a study has come out with a possible negative effect to chocolate
consumption. The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that regular
consumption of chocolate among the elderly may lead to lessening of bone density and could lead to more
fractures and osteoporosis.
January 12, 2008 - Aurora Organic Dairy, is working with the University of Michigan, to examine all aspects
of their operation with the goal of developing a comprehensive plan to lower the firm's carbon footprint.
Everything will be examined from sustainable agriculture to packaging. Barry Callebaut completed it's
acquisition of the Japanese firm Morinaga. The deal will also include a supply agreement where Callebaut
will supply Morinaga with 9,000 tonnes of liquid chocolate in a 10 year deal. Callebaut hopes to double its
volume in Japan through this deal. McDonalds is aiming squarely at Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts with
their latest plan. They will install coffee bars in their almost 14,000 US locations that will serve
cappuccinos, lattes and mochas. Some franchisees have pointed out that their customers don't know what
a latte is but we here at echocolatenyc predict McDonalds will do fine, especially if they keep the price
down. We have a feeling they will more likely encroach on Dunkin Donuts territory than upon Starbucks
domain.
January 7, 2008 - Sunday, January 27th will be the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 12th Annual Chocolate
Fantasy. More than thirty local vendors will be presenting their wares to the crowd who will enjoy samples.
A ticket is $8 in advance and $10 at the door and proceeds will benefit The Fond du Lac Soroptimist Club.
January 5, 2008 - We've received an email announcing a new chocolate source here in New York City. The
shop is called Roni-Sue's Chocolates and is located in the Essex Street Market, Essex and Delancey
Streets. They are open Monday through Saturday 11 - 7. They carry a "Cocktail Collection" featuring an
Absinthe truffle which sounds interesting. They are located right in the center of some of our favorite eating
establishments so you could combine visits. They are located just a few blocks from Doughnut Plant, Il
Laboratorio del Gelato and Just Pickles just to name a few. This is the Mapquest Map. If you're going to
find yourself in the Norman, Oklahoma area on February 2nd you can pre - purchase tickets for the
Firehouse Art Center's 2008 Chocolate Festival. Thirty Dollars gets you in and you can taste the output of 60
of Norman's chocolatiers and restaurants. Bryton Hodges of St. Catherines, Canada has an interesting
problem. He won a 13 pound Belgian Chocolate Santa Claus December 31st. His mother had purchased
three tickets for a raffle at a local sweet shop, Chocolates Etc. The 12 year old has yet to take a bite of his
prize. The Street.com has an article about high end chocolate comparing prices of the output of Noka,
Knipschildt and others. The article also talks about forays into the high end market by companies such as
Hershey. Barry Callebaut is expanding their operations in China. The Asian market is exploding and the
new plant in Suzhou , Shanghai area, will start out producing 25,000 tonnes of chocolate a year. Get ready
for a possible rise in chocolate prices. The International Cocoa Organisation has changed it's estimates of
the 2006/2007 season and has now found the shortfall is 55% larger than previously anticipated. Bad
weather in Africa, producer of 70% of the worlds cocoa led to most of the shortfall. It looks like The
Campbell Soup Company has found a buyer for Godiva. Godiva has sales of approximately $500 million a
year and looks like the sale price will be $850 million. The buyer is Yildiz, a Turkish firm. They will operate
under the Ulker brand, Yildiz's confectionary arm. Campbell has owned Godiva since 1974 and had
announced in August they were looking for a buyer. Yummie Chocolates in New Jersey has changed their
packaging for the New Year. You can take a look at their website here.
January 2, 2008 - In Napa Valley, California police pulled over a motorist for expired registration tags and
ended up smelling marijuana. A search of the car turned up an undisclosed amount of cash and 44
marijuana laced chocolate bars.
January 1, 2008 - Of course we start off with wishing all of our loyal readers a very Happy New Year and
don't forget the first resolution on everyone's list should be to explore new tastes and varieties of chocolate.
Lisa Barker of the Californian has 10 great chocolate commandments to start the New Year in the proper
frame of mind. Romi Burks an aquatic biologist took a trip to Belgium to study crustaceans and found a
love for chocolate instead. She returned to the states and has set up a course in chocolate at Southwestern
University in Georgetown, Texas. The course titled "Multi-Chocolated: An Aesthetic, Historical and Scientific
Journey into the Wonders of Chocolate," drew 14 students.
costs pushed profits down 65%. Some of the increased expenses came from a reorganization of the companies Brazilian operations and
some came from the increase in the prices of cocoa and dairy products. The French candy firm Lutti is being sold by its owners Leaf
France SAS, the French subsidiary of Leaf International. Lutti's factory is located in Bondues, France and the firm employs 600 and
produces 40,000 tons of candy a year. In the you go first department Snickers has introduced a caffeinated candy bar to its Snickers lineup.
The bar the Snickers Charged contains 60 mg of caffeine and also has taurine. You can read the Press Release here. In what is sad news
for the Lindt Chocolate company Rudolph R. Sprüngli, heir to the Lindt Company and the man who ran Lindt & Sprüngli for over twenty
years passed away this week at 88. He took the company public in 1986 when he had it listed on the Swiss stock exchange. You can read
his New York Times obituary here. DeBrandChocolates has its usual assortment of nice Valentine's Day boxes. We like the Chocolate
Heart Boxes, a heart shape box made of chocolate filled with truffles. We always highly recommend DeBrand products.
January 22, 2008 - Flour Mills of Fiji Ltd has pulled out of a $30 million expansion that would have included
a brewery and a chocolate plant. The company claims that due to shifting economic conditions and the
governments changing of rules the company is mothballing their plans for now. If you are anywhere near
Eureka Springs, Arkansas, February 16th at The Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center. This is the events
fourth year and benefits The Clear Spring School. There will be samples and vendors will be selling all
sorts of chocolate items. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania is looking forward to its 10th annual Chocolate Lovers
Fantasy Festival on February 2nd. The event benefits the Donald Heiter Community Center. The event has
grown by leaps and bounds over the years and this years looks to be an extravaganza. Of course we are
easily influenced by the words " All You Can Eat Chocolate". Shawn Askinosie of the Askinosie Chocolate
Company recently traveled to Mexico where he turned over some of his firms profits to the farmers who
grew the cocoa beans he used in production. Nineteen farmers in the Soconusco region grew the beans
and Mr. Askinosie turned over 10% of his firms net profits to the farmers. He is currently producing 2,500
chocolate bars a week.
January 21, 2008 - Keystone Human Services will be holding their annual Chocolatefest and fund raising
Chocolate Ball February 2nd and 3rd. The Ball will be a black tie event held at Hershey Lodge's Chocolate
Ballroom. If you happen to find yourself in this neck of Pennsylvania these sound like two excellent events
and the Ball sounds especially cool, this years theme is Brazil with matching food and decor. Choconet1.
com has issued a Press Release as they have increased their product line to over 300 chocolate products.
Naperville, Illinois held their 5th annual NCO Youth and Family Services Chocolate Festival. While the final
count isn't in yet it looks like this years attendance would rival last years 1,500 attendees. Guests sampled
chocolate ice cream, saw an array of chocolate sculptures and from all accounts had a great time. The
Festival wasn't the only chocolate story coming out of Naperville. Cathy Bouchard suffered from a variety of
illnesses and was on a cocktail of medicines including pain killers and anti depressants. After reading
about the healthy properties in cocoa she chucked all of her medicine and started to feed herself one
ounce of chocolate a day. Within two months her aches had cleared up and her increased sense of well
being allowed her to shed 22 pounds. Her migraine headaches ceased. She has opened a store in
Naperville, Le Chocolat, and is conducting a study among her customers hoping to document the health
benefits of chocolate. The Lake Havasu, Arizona Concert Association held its 13th Annual
Chocolate Sunday Desert Fantasy yesterday. Hundreds of guests gorged themselves on offerings from
local merchants in an effort to raise money for the Concert Association. If you should find yourself pregnant
please keep in mind that there have been a few studies including this newly released one that find there is
a link between caffeine consumption, caffeine does exist in chocolate, and an increased chance of
miscarriage. Elizabeth Emerson of Jonesport, Maine was included in an article in the New York Times about elderly residents of Maine
who were getting by on limited incomes. She mentioned that she enjoyed the occasional chocolate bar. Soon she started to receive
chocolate in the mail. She has received so much that she has given much of it away and the folks at Hershey sent her a nice package of
stuff. A Colonel in the French Police Department was picked up earlier this month when he was caught walking out of Le Bon Marche, a
department store in Paris with two boxes of expensive chocolates that he hadn't paid for. The chocolates were worth US $90 and he was
released pending a hearing.
January 19, 2008 - Unite, the British organizing group in the food industry, has tried a new method to keep
Cadbury from closing their Somerdale plant. Cadbury is closing the plant and moving its production to
Poland to an existing plant. Unite's argument was that since 98% of the Somerdale plants production is
sold locally in the United Kingdom it is environmentally unsound to move production to Poland and then
transport the chocolate back to the United Kingdom. Cadbury has countered with the argument that they
already have a plan in place to lessen their corporate carbon footprint and that by consolidating production
and closing a plant they would actually be helping the environment. You have to hand it to the folks at
Hershey for the efforts they've made to develop their allchocolate website. The professionals section of
their site is interesting. It includes John Scharffenberger on how to conduct a tasting and a nine minute film
on how to temper chocolate. Definitely worth a look in our opinion. In the same vein Hershey will have John Scharffenberger hosting a
tasting hosted by allchocolate at the Hotel Hershey, February 8th at 6:30 and at the Hershey Lodge , February 9th at 1:00. If you make the
Hershey Lodge event and stay until 4:30 then you can join John Scharffenberger as he and Hershey Lodge beverage manager Karl McCall
conduct a tasting event that pairs dark chocolate with Scotch. February 15th and 16th will find Joseph Schmidt on the
premises at Hershey. On the 15th he will lead a Dessert Decorating Class at the Hershey Hotel at 5:00 pm.
The 16th will find him at Hershey’s Chocolate World conducting two, one 11 am the other at 3:30 pm,
demonstrations in turning chocolate into sculpture and flowers. It had to happen sooner or later. After an
endless stream of positive health news a study has come out with a possible negative effect to chocolate
consumption. The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that regular
consumption of chocolate among the elderly may lead to lessening of bone density and could lead to more
fractures and osteoporosis.
January 12, 2008 - Aurora Organic Dairy, is working with the University of Michigan, to examine all aspects
of their operation with the goal of developing a comprehensive plan to lower the firm's carbon footprint.
Everything will be examined from sustainable agriculture to packaging. Barry Callebaut completed it's
acquisition of the Japanese firm Morinaga. The deal will also include a supply agreement where Callebaut
will supply Morinaga with 9,000 tonnes of liquid chocolate in a 10 year deal. Callebaut hopes to double its
volume in Japan through this deal. McDonalds is aiming squarely at Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts with
their latest plan. They will install coffee bars in their almost 14,000 US locations that will serve
cappuccinos, lattes and mochas. Some franchisees have pointed out that their customers don't know what
a latte is but we here at echocolatenyc predict McDonalds will do fine, especially if they keep the price
down. We have a feeling they will more likely encroach on Dunkin Donuts territory than upon Starbucks
domain.
January 7, 2008 - Sunday, January 27th will be the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 12th Annual Chocolate
Fantasy. More than thirty local vendors will be presenting their wares to the crowd who will enjoy samples.
A ticket is $8 in advance and $10 at the door and proceeds will benefit The Fond du Lac Soroptimist Club.
January 5, 2008 - We've received an email announcing a new chocolate source here in New York City. The
shop is called Roni-Sue's Chocolates and is located in the Essex Street Market, Essex and Delancey
Streets. They are open Monday through Saturday 11 - 7. They carry a "Cocktail Collection" featuring an
Absinthe truffle which sounds interesting. They are located right in the center of some of our favorite eating
establishments so you could combine visits. They are located just a few blocks from Doughnut Plant, Il
Laboratorio del Gelato and Just Pickles just to name a few. This is the Mapquest Map. If you're going to
find yourself in the Norman, Oklahoma area on February 2nd you can pre - purchase tickets for the
Firehouse Art Center's 2008 Chocolate Festival. Thirty Dollars gets you in and you can taste the output of 60
of Norman's chocolatiers and restaurants. Bryton Hodges of St. Catherines, Canada has an interesting
problem. He won a 13 pound Belgian Chocolate Santa Claus December 31st. His mother had purchased
three tickets for a raffle at a local sweet shop, Chocolates Etc. The 12 year old has yet to take a bite of his
prize. The Street.com has an article about high end chocolate comparing prices of the output of Noka,
Knipschildt and others. The article also talks about forays into the high end market by companies such as
Hershey. Barry Callebaut is expanding their operations in China. The Asian market is exploding and the
new plant in Suzhou , Shanghai area, will start out producing 25,000 tonnes of chocolate a year. Get ready
for a possible rise in chocolate prices. The International Cocoa Organisation has changed it's estimates of
the 2006/2007 season and has now found the shortfall is 55% larger than previously anticipated. Bad
weather in Africa, producer of 70% of the worlds cocoa led to most of the shortfall. It looks like The
Campbell Soup Company has found a buyer for Godiva. Godiva has sales of approximately $500 million a
year and looks like the sale price will be $850 million. The buyer is Yildiz, a Turkish firm. They will operate
under the Ulker brand, Yildiz's confectionary arm. Campbell has owned Godiva since 1974 and had
announced in August they were looking for a buyer. Yummie Chocolates in New Jersey has changed their
packaging for the New Year. You can take a look at their website here.
January 2, 2008 - In Napa Valley, California police pulled over a motorist for expired registration tags and
ended up smelling marijuana. A search of the car turned up an undisclosed amount of cash and 44
marijuana laced chocolate bars.
January 1, 2008 - Of course we start off with wishing all of our loyal readers a very Happy New Year and
don't forget the first resolution on everyone's list should be to explore new tastes and varieties of chocolate.
Lisa Barker of the Californian has 10 great chocolate commandments to start the New Year in the proper
frame of mind. Romi Burks an aquatic biologist took a trip to Belgium to study crustaceans and found a
love for chocolate instead. She returned to the states and has set up a course in chocolate at Southwestern
University in Georgetown, Texas. The course titled "Multi-Chocolated: An Aesthetic, Historical and Scientific
Journey into the Wonders of Chocolate," drew 14 students.