| September 2008 Chocolate News Archive |
|
Any comments or suggestions, and let us know what you're thinking. |
September 26, 2008 - MARS has launched a new concept in selling chocolate, DOVE Chocolate Discoveries. In a new twist on the
tupperware party, fledgling chocolatiers hold parties at which they sell Dove products. Obviously we here at eChocolateNYC would never do
well in this type of situation, we'd eat all of the chocolate way before our guests arrived, but it sounds like something that could be fun for the
right person. Barry Callebaut has announced plans to open its first US Academy in Chicago alongside their North American headquarters.
The academies, there are 12 worldwide, are used to educate food professionals on the uses of chocolate. In 2006, the International
Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism released a report that postulated that chocolate milk might make a good excercise
recovery beverage. Now Shamrock Farms, out of Phoenix, Arizona, has released a chocolate-milk based sports beverage. Available at
Albertsons, Bashas', Safeway, Fry's Food Stores, Super Wal-Mart, Circle K and QuikTrip the drink contains protein as well as other muscle
repairing ingredients. File this one under Y for Yikes. For a second time Nadine Artemis and her partner, Ron Obadia were taken into
custody when the raw chocolate they were carrying set drug sniffing dogs barking. The dogs confuse the chocolate for hashish. The couple
run Living Libations, a natural food and beauty care company. They travel with all sorts of raw materials. This is something to think about as
the raw food movement takes off. Anyhow everything was eventually resolved but the couple did experience a harrowing ordeal. Don't forget
Chocolate Week is going to kick off in London, October 13th. For an updated list of events click here.
September 24, 2008 - Dr. Robert Steinberg, has passed away at age 61. In 1996 he joined with one of his patients, John Scharffenberger,
to open up a chocolate factory in San Francisco. We as chocolate consumers have forgotten how just 10 or 15 years ago our chocolate
options were limited. Artisan chocolate was in its infancy and selection was limited. Dr. Steinberg loved cooking and left a positive stamp
on the industry. Read his New York Times obituary here. We've written in the past about how Maine seems to have some mighty nice
chocolate shops for such a sparsely populated state. The Boston Globe has put together a chocolate tour of some of what they consider
Maine's best shops. We were already familiar with Monica's Chocolates, in Lubec, but now we're seriously considering an excursion next
summer based on this article. Wow, first Prohibition, then the war on drugs and now Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada has found a new
way to create a black market. Removing "junk" food from school vending machines, chocolates, potato chips etc, has created a market
where some enterprising students are bringing in food and selling it to their classmates and teachers at a hefty markup. Apparently the
school is far enough away from the nearest store to allow kids needing a chocolate fix little recourse except to pay the price for their
indulgences. The government of Malaysia has banned all dairy products originating in China including milk and white chocolate. The
decision was based on the information received from Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) which found melamine in the
"White Rabbit Creamy Candy",
September 18, 2008 - We would normally ignore a recipe with a name like Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake. Since the recipe was posted by
the always reliable Deborah Markus, chocolate editor of Bellaonline, we're giving it a mention. The Northwest Chocolate Festival was held
in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District this weekend past. The Festival offered a mixed bag of presentations and exhibitors with panels
ranging from "Mayan Cacao" to "Erotic History". Dagoba is releasing a new line of chocolate for baking bars. Starting at 59% - semi sweet
- to a very dark 100% they sound like they are worth checking out. as with Dagoba's other products the bars are organic. The Krasny
Oktyabr chocolate factory project, named Red October in honor of the 1917 revolution , is nearing completion. The workers have been
moved out to make way for a restoration of the building which will turn it into luxury lofts. The beautiful building will be preserved but will
cease to be a functioning factory for the first time in its history. Dove Chocolate will return as the offical chocolatier of the 60th Primetime
Emmy Awards Governors Ball. Dove will create table favors that guests may keep for themselves or consume on the spot. Mars brands
M&M's and Dove will be teaming up to help figth breast cancer. They will offer several ways to help the Susan G. Komen for the Cure during
Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Included in the effort are pink M&M's and a My M&M's special "Promise Blend," new pink Dove Promises
of Hope and My Dove Personal Promises of Hope and an all-pink M&M's car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company plans on
raising a minimun of one million dollars.
September 15, 2008 - Klaus J. Jacobs, the German-born billionaire, passed away Thursday at his home near Zurich. Mr. Jacobs took over
Joh. Jacobs & Company, a coffee trading company founded by his great - uncle, in 1969. By 1973 he had moved the firm to Zurich and had
merged with Tobler. He sold off most of the consumer interests in the brand which includes Toblerone to Phillip Morris in 1990 for 3.1
billion Swiss Francs. He held onto Brach's, the Van Houten powdered chocolate brand and the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut. In
1996 he acquired the French firm Cacao Barry and merged it with Callebaut creating Barry Callebaut which is currently the world's largest
producer of chocolate goods. Read his new York Times obituary here.
September 11, 2008 - In Racine, Wisconsin, The Phoenix Chocolate Shop has relocated from 2055 Taylor Ave., to 1439 N. Main St. The
new shop has some new partners Tony and Frank DeRango of the local pizza-making family who are joining with Tanya Otwaska . The
Taste TV Luxury Chicago Chocolate Salon at Symphony Center's Grainger Ballroom was held September 7th and according to the
Chicagoist was a success. Many local companies exhibited and take a look at the article as some of the pictures are quite stunning.
England's leading Chocolate retailer Thorntons has rebounded nicely from it's difficult patch of the last few years and had annual profits
show a 20% boost driven by stronger sales, up nearly 12%. The company is opening new shops in Edinburgh and Nottingham in an
attempt to expand the market before Christmas. The University Of Queensland Press has released a new book by Canadian journalist
Carol Off, entitled Bitter Chocolate. The book purports to be an expose of the chocolate industry starting with the Spanish conquest and
appropriating of the cocoa culture. She traces the cocoa trade through slavery, the Cadbury brothers and Milton Hershey were committed
abolitionists who used beans produced by slaves, up to the present day. A few days back we reported on the M&M's roll out at the Bryant
Park Fashion Show here in New York City. If you would like to see video of the event click here. If you happen to be in Calcutta, India you
might want to visit Choko La, a restaurant that specialises in chocolate based food. Choko Las has recently partnered with Darjeeling's
Avongrove tea estate to create pairings of tea and chocolate. The various tea flavours available are second flush muscatel, euphoria, white
tea, silver blossom, mint and vanilla fragranced tea pearls, pine scented tea pyramids, peony rosette and florette. The infusions for the
chocolate include vanilla, mint and the one we're most curious about, pine. Burlington, Canada was the scene of a fire at Wilbur
Chocolate. The damages have been estimated at $25,000.
September 08, 2008 - A hospital worker from Kent, England made a ghastly discovery when a Cadbury Twirl Bar she purchased at a
local gas station turned out to have an emery board inside the package along with bits of chocolate. Cadbury is investigating the situation.
Teri Hatcher, star of Desperate Housewives has some sage advice for a happy life. She recommends the following. Sex, eating chocolate
a remembering to floss. We here at eChocolateNYC are not sure if the pursuit of sex and floss are impediments to chocolate consumption
but we certainly can appreciate Ms. Hatcher's thoughts on the subject. Bobbie Burt of Chocolate Heaven has seen a lot in the nearly two
decades she's owned the Scottsdale, Arizona shop. While enjoying the regular give and take of the business she most enjoys the custom
work she does, making Pac Man chocolates for a video gamer or a Jurassic Park scene for the movie's premiere. You can't keep those
Desperate Housewives stars away from the chocolate. Eva Longoria Parker and Ms. Green, the green M&M, both made the scene at
Fashion Week here in NYC's Bryant Park to introduce the Fashion World to M&M'S® Premiums. We've already tried the Raspberry Almond
and enjoyed it. We haven't tried this one out yet but Deborah Markus, chocolate editor Bellaonline, has this seasonal recipe posted. The
recipe is for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread and looks fairly easy. Cocobod, the cocoa regulator for Ghana, has announced that it is
raising the price that it pays farmers for their produce. The increase of almost 35% is being granted in an attempt to curb smuggling of
beans out of Ghana and into the Ivory Coast where they command higher prices. How this will fuel the upward spiral in cocoa prices is
anyone's guess.
September 06, 2008 - Rising cocoa prices make it more and more difficult for the industry. With cocoa prices their highest in over 20 years
manufacturers are having a hard time planning as well as debating further price increases in a declining economy or taking other
measures to keep costs down. A looming water crisis in California could lead to a diminished almond crop in California in 2009. As we
have enjoyed the simple pleasure of a Hershey Almond Bar on more than one occasion we hope this is only a temporary set back and that
California farmers get back to producing record crops as soon as possible. Deborah Markus BellaOnline's Chocolate Editor has posted a
recipe for Chocolate Chip Spice Muffins that is simplicity itself. Definitely a fun recipe to try out. Cargill's new processing facility in Tema,
Ghana is slated to be up and running in November. The plant is already over budget and the company has already invested $100,000,000
in the project. Still with the projected growth in demand for cocoa and Ghana and West Africa's pivotal role in the industry it is probably
money well spent. Chocolatier Timothy Moley, the owner of Chocolove, is taking part in the Cacao Germplasm Evaluation and
Characterization Project sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. The project hopes to evaluate different cocoa varieties
that have been stored away in a cocoa bank, some for as long as 70 years, and possibly reintroduce some varieties that haven't been
available to consumers. We here at eChocolateNYC wish the participants in this project well and hope their findings spark an interest in
not only long lost cocoa varieties but spark some sort of debate about the changing nature of our food supply. With constant modification,
genetic and otherwise, we've noticed a not so subtle difference, some good - some bad, in our fruits and vegetables just in our short
lifetimes. Andrew Scholey, professor of behavioural and brain sciences at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia has issued a
report that finds that chewing gum reduces anxiety and stress while increasing mental alertness. He and his colleagues presented their
research at Rissho University in Tokyo, Japan at the 10th International Congress of Behavioural Medicine. The study had 40 participants.
September 05, 2008 - Valerie Beck, a graduate of Harvard Law School, has started a company, that offers the Chicago Chocolate Tour.
She has different tours contoured to different interests and they include traditional chocolate makers such as Leonidas as well as local
merchants. You can get further information at www.chicagochocolatetours.com . Yildiz Holding, the Turkish company that last year
purchased Godiva for $850,000,000 is up to it again. They've purchased British chocolate company Lovells and plan on soon having the
brand enter the Turkish market. Last December Chocolate Surprise opened up in Arizona. Lee and Stan Trentowski, the owners, seem to
be onto something special and have a DVD playing showing the origin of cacao and seasonally update their offerings. ABC News has
caught onto the recent changes in the commercial chocolate business. As more traditional product finds its taste and substance changed
with the addition of vegetable oils in place of more expensive cocoa butter some long time consumers are upset at the changes. Tom
Krustangel, who owns Montana Tom's Chocolate Factory and Cannery, near Columbia Falls, Montana, sent 2,400 chocolate animals and
1,000 other pieces to be eaten by Montana's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In addition to chocolate he also
produces everything from Pie In A Jar to mustard. In the modern age with the Internet even local producers in out of the spots like Montana
can establish an international reputation. Tom has already shipped his product to 68 different countries as well as all over the United
States. Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the home of Kakawa Chocolate House. The shop is owned by Mark Sciscenti an herbalist and chocolate
lecturer. He whips up 23 different chocolate elixers some based on recipes hundreds of years old. His shop actually sounds unique and
we would love to hear from any of our readers who have visited. Employees of Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lancaster County are
threatening to strike. They have been without a contract since April 2007. Hershey has issued a voluntary recall of Hershey's Chocolate
Shell Topping. Some of the run had undeclared almonds which may have caused an allergic reaction to those who are nut sensitive. The
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. announced a 10 cents per share dividend for the second quarter of 2008. We here at
echocolatenyc are always glad to see anyone in the chocolate industry turning a profit in these difficult economic times. As of late August
Rocky Mountain had 329 stores operating in 36 states as well as Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
September 04, 2008 - We don't know about you but when we travel we always try to check out the local chocolate scene. Sometimes it's
easy, English speaking cities that we can check out through Google come to mind and sometimes it's difficult. Still we frequently have the
feeling we're missing something that the more well connected traveler might have access to. Now we've discovered Bittersweet Escapes.
They're capable of sending you off to Belize to get a first hand look at cocoa production or hooking you up with a VIP pass to the New York
Chocolate Show. They are a welcome addition to the world of chocolate and we wish them well.
tupperware party, fledgling chocolatiers hold parties at which they sell Dove products. Obviously we here at eChocolateNYC would never do
well in this type of situation, we'd eat all of the chocolate way before our guests arrived, but it sounds like something that could be fun for the
right person. Barry Callebaut has announced plans to open its first US Academy in Chicago alongside their North American headquarters.
The academies, there are 12 worldwide, are used to educate food professionals on the uses of chocolate. In 2006, the International
Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism released a report that postulated that chocolate milk might make a good excercise
recovery beverage. Now Shamrock Farms, out of Phoenix, Arizona, has released a chocolate-milk based sports beverage. Available at
Albertsons, Bashas', Safeway, Fry's Food Stores, Super Wal-Mart, Circle K and QuikTrip the drink contains protein as well as other muscle
repairing ingredients. File this one under Y for Yikes. For a second time Nadine Artemis and her partner, Ron Obadia were taken into
custody when the raw chocolate they were carrying set drug sniffing dogs barking. The dogs confuse the chocolate for hashish. The couple
run Living Libations, a natural food and beauty care company. They travel with all sorts of raw materials. This is something to think about as
the raw food movement takes off. Anyhow everything was eventually resolved but the couple did experience a harrowing ordeal. Don't forget
Chocolate Week is going to kick off in London, October 13th. For an updated list of events click here.
September 24, 2008 - Dr. Robert Steinberg, has passed away at age 61. In 1996 he joined with one of his patients, John Scharffenberger,
to open up a chocolate factory in San Francisco. We as chocolate consumers have forgotten how just 10 or 15 years ago our chocolate
options were limited. Artisan chocolate was in its infancy and selection was limited. Dr. Steinberg loved cooking and left a positive stamp
on the industry. Read his New York Times obituary here. We've written in the past about how Maine seems to have some mighty nice
chocolate shops for such a sparsely populated state. The Boston Globe has put together a chocolate tour of some of what they consider
Maine's best shops. We were already familiar with Monica's Chocolates, in Lubec, but now we're seriously considering an excursion next
summer based on this article. Wow, first Prohibition, then the war on drugs and now Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada has found a new
way to create a black market. Removing "junk" food from school vending machines, chocolates, potato chips etc, has created a market
where some enterprising students are bringing in food and selling it to their classmates and teachers at a hefty markup. Apparently the
school is far enough away from the nearest store to allow kids needing a chocolate fix little recourse except to pay the price for their
indulgences. The government of Malaysia has banned all dairy products originating in China including milk and white chocolate. The
decision was based on the information received from Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) which found melamine in the
"White Rabbit Creamy Candy",
September 18, 2008 - We would normally ignore a recipe with a name like Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake. Since the recipe was posted by
the always reliable Deborah Markus, chocolate editor of Bellaonline, we're giving it a mention. The Northwest Chocolate Festival was held
in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District this weekend past. The Festival offered a mixed bag of presentations and exhibitors with panels
ranging from "Mayan Cacao" to "Erotic History". Dagoba is releasing a new line of chocolate for baking bars. Starting at 59% - semi sweet
- to a very dark 100% they sound like they are worth checking out. as with Dagoba's other products the bars are organic. The Krasny
Oktyabr chocolate factory project, named Red October in honor of the 1917 revolution , is nearing completion. The workers have been
moved out to make way for a restoration of the building which will turn it into luxury lofts. The beautiful building will be preserved but will
cease to be a functioning factory for the first time in its history. Dove Chocolate will return as the offical chocolatier of the 60th Primetime
Emmy Awards Governors Ball. Dove will create table favors that guests may keep for themselves or consume on the spot. Mars brands
M&M's and Dove will be teaming up to help figth breast cancer. They will offer several ways to help the Susan G. Komen for the Cure during
Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Included in the effort are pink M&M's and a My M&M's special "Promise Blend," new pink Dove Promises
of Hope and My Dove Personal Promises of Hope and an all-pink M&M's car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company plans on
raising a minimun of one million dollars.
September 15, 2008 - Klaus J. Jacobs, the German-born billionaire, passed away Thursday at his home near Zurich. Mr. Jacobs took over
Joh. Jacobs & Company, a coffee trading company founded by his great - uncle, in 1969. By 1973 he had moved the firm to Zurich and had
merged with Tobler. He sold off most of the consumer interests in the brand which includes Toblerone to Phillip Morris in 1990 for 3.1
billion Swiss Francs. He held onto Brach's, the Van Houten powdered chocolate brand and the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut. In
1996 he acquired the French firm Cacao Barry and merged it with Callebaut creating Barry Callebaut which is currently the world's largest
producer of chocolate goods. Read his new York Times obituary here.
September 11, 2008 - In Racine, Wisconsin, The Phoenix Chocolate Shop has relocated from 2055 Taylor Ave., to 1439 N. Main St. The
new shop has some new partners Tony and Frank DeRango of the local pizza-making family who are joining with Tanya Otwaska . The
Taste TV Luxury Chicago Chocolate Salon at Symphony Center's Grainger Ballroom was held September 7th and according to the
Chicagoist was a success. Many local companies exhibited and take a look at the article as some of the pictures are quite stunning.
England's leading Chocolate retailer Thorntons has rebounded nicely from it's difficult patch of the last few years and had annual profits
show a 20% boost driven by stronger sales, up nearly 12%. The company is opening new shops in Edinburgh and Nottingham in an
attempt to expand the market before Christmas. The University Of Queensland Press has released a new book by Canadian journalist
Carol Off, entitled Bitter Chocolate. The book purports to be an expose of the chocolate industry starting with the Spanish conquest and
appropriating of the cocoa culture. She traces the cocoa trade through slavery, the Cadbury brothers and Milton Hershey were committed
abolitionists who used beans produced by slaves, up to the present day. A few days back we reported on the M&M's roll out at the Bryant
Park Fashion Show here in New York City. If you would like to see video of the event click here. If you happen to be in Calcutta, India you
might want to visit Choko La, a restaurant that specialises in chocolate based food. Choko Las has recently partnered with Darjeeling's
Avongrove tea estate to create pairings of tea and chocolate. The various tea flavours available are second flush muscatel, euphoria, white
tea, silver blossom, mint and vanilla fragranced tea pearls, pine scented tea pyramids, peony rosette and florette. The infusions for the
chocolate include vanilla, mint and the one we're most curious about, pine. Burlington, Canada was the scene of a fire at Wilbur
Chocolate. The damages have been estimated at $25,000.
September 08, 2008 - A hospital worker from Kent, England made a ghastly discovery when a Cadbury Twirl Bar she purchased at a
local gas station turned out to have an emery board inside the package along with bits of chocolate. Cadbury is investigating the situation.
Teri Hatcher, star of Desperate Housewives has some sage advice for a happy life. She recommends the following. Sex, eating chocolate
a remembering to floss. We here at eChocolateNYC are not sure if the pursuit of sex and floss are impediments to chocolate consumption
but we certainly can appreciate Ms. Hatcher's thoughts on the subject. Bobbie Burt of Chocolate Heaven has seen a lot in the nearly two
decades she's owned the Scottsdale, Arizona shop. While enjoying the regular give and take of the business she most enjoys the custom
work she does, making Pac Man chocolates for a video gamer or a Jurassic Park scene for the movie's premiere. You can't keep those
Desperate Housewives stars away from the chocolate. Eva Longoria Parker and Ms. Green, the green M&M, both made the scene at
Fashion Week here in NYC's Bryant Park to introduce the Fashion World to M&M'S® Premiums. We've already tried the Raspberry Almond
and enjoyed it. We haven't tried this one out yet but Deborah Markus, chocolate editor Bellaonline, has this seasonal recipe posted. The
recipe is for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread and looks fairly easy. Cocobod, the cocoa regulator for Ghana, has announced that it is
raising the price that it pays farmers for their produce. The increase of almost 35% is being granted in an attempt to curb smuggling of
beans out of Ghana and into the Ivory Coast where they command higher prices. How this will fuel the upward spiral in cocoa prices is
anyone's guess.
September 06, 2008 - Rising cocoa prices make it more and more difficult for the industry. With cocoa prices their highest in over 20 years
manufacturers are having a hard time planning as well as debating further price increases in a declining economy or taking other
measures to keep costs down. A looming water crisis in California could lead to a diminished almond crop in California in 2009. As we
have enjoyed the simple pleasure of a Hershey Almond Bar on more than one occasion we hope this is only a temporary set back and that
California farmers get back to producing record crops as soon as possible. Deborah Markus BellaOnline's Chocolate Editor has posted a
recipe for Chocolate Chip Spice Muffins that is simplicity itself. Definitely a fun recipe to try out. Cargill's new processing facility in Tema,
Ghana is slated to be up and running in November. The plant is already over budget and the company has already invested $100,000,000
in the project. Still with the projected growth in demand for cocoa and Ghana and West Africa's pivotal role in the industry it is probably
money well spent. Chocolatier Timothy Moley, the owner of Chocolove, is taking part in the Cacao Germplasm Evaluation and
Characterization Project sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. The project hopes to evaluate different cocoa varieties
that have been stored away in a cocoa bank, some for as long as 70 years, and possibly reintroduce some varieties that haven't been
available to consumers. We here at eChocolateNYC wish the participants in this project well and hope their findings spark an interest in
not only long lost cocoa varieties but spark some sort of debate about the changing nature of our food supply. With constant modification,
genetic and otherwise, we've noticed a not so subtle difference, some good - some bad, in our fruits and vegetables just in our short
lifetimes. Andrew Scholey, professor of behavioural and brain sciences at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia has issued a
report that finds that chewing gum reduces anxiety and stress while increasing mental alertness. He and his colleagues presented their
research at Rissho University in Tokyo, Japan at the 10th International Congress of Behavioural Medicine. The study had 40 participants.
September 05, 2008 - Valerie Beck, a graduate of Harvard Law School, has started a company, that offers the Chicago Chocolate Tour.
She has different tours contoured to different interests and they include traditional chocolate makers such as Leonidas as well as local
merchants. You can get further information at www.chicagochocolatetours.com . Yildiz Holding, the Turkish company that last year
purchased Godiva for $850,000,000 is up to it again. They've purchased British chocolate company Lovells and plan on soon having the
brand enter the Turkish market. Last December Chocolate Surprise opened up in Arizona. Lee and Stan Trentowski, the owners, seem to
be onto something special and have a DVD playing showing the origin of cacao and seasonally update their offerings. ABC News has
caught onto the recent changes in the commercial chocolate business. As more traditional product finds its taste and substance changed
with the addition of vegetable oils in place of more expensive cocoa butter some long time consumers are upset at the changes. Tom
Krustangel, who owns Montana Tom's Chocolate Factory and Cannery, near Columbia Falls, Montana, sent 2,400 chocolate animals and
1,000 other pieces to be eaten by Montana's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In addition to chocolate he also
produces everything from Pie In A Jar to mustard. In the modern age with the Internet even local producers in out of the spots like Montana
can establish an international reputation. Tom has already shipped his product to 68 different countries as well as all over the United
States. Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the home of Kakawa Chocolate House. The shop is owned by Mark Sciscenti an herbalist and chocolate
lecturer. He whips up 23 different chocolate elixers some based on recipes hundreds of years old. His shop actually sounds unique and
we would love to hear from any of our readers who have visited. Employees of Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lancaster County are
threatening to strike. They have been without a contract since April 2007. Hershey has issued a voluntary recall of Hershey's Chocolate
Shell Topping. Some of the run had undeclared almonds which may have caused an allergic reaction to those who are nut sensitive. The
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. announced a 10 cents per share dividend for the second quarter of 2008. We here at
echocolatenyc are always glad to see anyone in the chocolate industry turning a profit in these difficult economic times. As of late August
Rocky Mountain had 329 stores operating in 36 states as well as Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
September 04, 2008 - We don't know about you but when we travel we always try to check out the local chocolate scene. Sometimes it's
easy, English speaking cities that we can check out through Google come to mind and sometimes it's difficult. Still we frequently have the
feeling we're missing something that the more well connected traveler might have access to. Now we've discovered Bittersweet Escapes.
They're capable of sending you off to Belize to get a first hand look at cocoa production or hooking you up with a VIP pass to the New York
Chocolate Show. They are a welcome addition to the world of chocolate and we wish them well.
