American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List

Hi All,

I have never seen a complete list of American, bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Since most American companies that market chocolate or chocolate products don't actually make it, I thought that it would be interesting to compile a list for everyone to see who really does make it, and who doesn't.

I'll type the first entry, and if everyone could copy it and add to it in each additional post, along with comments and questions, then that would be great.

Complete List:
Guittard

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Permalink Reply by Alan McClure on April 22, 2008 at 7:10pm

Complete List:

Guittard
Scharffen Berger

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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on April 22, 2008 at 8:18pm

Complete List:

Guittard
Scharffen Berger
Theo

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Permalink Reply by Brady on April 22, 2008 at 9:18pm

Complete List:

Guittard
Scharffen Berger
Theo
Patric
Devries
Amano
Askinosie
Tcho
Mast Brothers
Original Hawaiin Chocolate Factory (also grows their beans on American soil)
Taza
Tcho

There are several more companies, many of them larger companies, but I'm not sure the point was for one person to complete the whole list.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on April 22, 2008 at 9:24pm

I just remembered, Casey started a similar discussion in the Uncategorized Forum covering all bean to bar making countries.

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Permalink Reply by Alan McClure on April 22, 2008 at 9:41pm

Thanks, I see that now. Well, hopefully the additional ones that we come up with here can be added to her list as well. Also, personally I'd like to stick to American-owned companies, and not include companies that have manufacturing facilities in the US, but that are foreign-owned.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on April 22, 2008 at 11:16pm

Care to include a Canadian company? Soma in Toronto.

Also, Oscar Ortega of Cioccolato in Jackson Hole, WY (he is also the captain of the Mexican team for this year's World Pastry Forum) makes small batches of chocolate that he uses in his confections. There are also branches in Mexico City and La Paz, MX, but I don't know if everything is owned by a Mexican company or a US company.

Also, take a look at Kakawa. Mark Sciscenti is the proprietor. From their site: "Please note that we are a small artisanal chocolate maker. ... And, of course, we make and sell chocolate elixirs, wonderful and exotically flavored chocolate truffles, and dark molded chocolates." I think the latter counts as a "bar" in the broadest sense of the word.

Also: World's Finest Chocolate.

What about ADM or one of its brands? I know they're industrial, but they include Ambrosia and Merckens as well as De Zaan. Maybe they're not bars - but their chocolates are molded by others into bars.

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Permalink Reply by Alan McClure on April 22, 2008 at 9:25pm

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Permalink Reply by Susie Norris on April 22, 2008 at 11:09pm

I'm adding to the list:

Guittard
Scharffen Berger
Theo
Patric
Devries
Amano
Askinosie
Tcho
Mast Brothers
Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory (also grows their beans on American soil)
Taza
Tcho
Rogue Chocolatier
Blommer
Chocolate Haven (Jacques Torres)

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Permalink Reply by Alan McClure on April 23, 2008 at 9:45am

Thanks Clay, and everyone else.

Well, maybe in order to create as much awareness of how things are organized as possible, it makes sense to include larger bean-to-couverture brands, and even foreign-owned brands that have manufacturing plants in the US. However, I think that it would be good to add the extra information parenthetically. I'll start below.

Complete List So Far:

Guittard
Scharffen Berger
Theo
Patric
Devries
Amano
Askinosie
Tcho
Mast Brothers
Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory (also grows their beans on American soil)
Taza
Tcho
Rogue Chocolatier
Blommer
Chocolate Haven (Jacques Torres)
Ambrosia (ADM-owned bean-to-couverture)
Merkens (ADM-owned bean-to-couverture)
De Zaan (ADM-owned bean-to-couverture)
Soma Chocolatemaker (actually in Canada)
Cioccolato (located in Wyoming and Mexico; bean-to-bonbon)
World's Finest Chocolate
Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe (Seneca is doing some really micro-batch bars)
Mars
Sacred Chocolate (raw)
Fearless Chocolate Company (raw)
Escazu Chocolates (just starting to release a bean-to-bar line)
Van Leer (Belgian-owned)
Wilbur (Cargill owned, bean-to-couverture)
Peters (Cargill-owned, bean-to-couverture)
Ghirardelli (Owned by Lindt in Switzerland)

As I understand it, the only Lindt-owned factory in the US, is the Ghirardelli factory in California. Please correct me if I am wrong. Also, in Casey's thread, Kraft is mentioned. Do they make chocolate in the US, and if so, what is it that they are making? They are German-owned as far as I can tell.
Regarding Kakawa, I am not sure. I visited their site and they mention blending chocolates. Does anyone have any further info? Finally, I've heard through the grapevine that Jacques Torres is not making bean-to-bar chocolate anymore. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on April 23, 2008 at 9:59am

This list is very helpful. Alan, you really know your stuff and you must have access to some good resources to add so much to this list! The list is getting so long that I alphabetized it. If you add to the list please put new entries in their correct spot in the alphabetized list.

Amano
Ambrosia (ADM-owned bean-to-couverture)
Askinosie
Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe (Seneca is doing some really micro-batch bars)
Blommer
Chocolate Haven (Jacques Torres)
Cioccolato (located in Wyoming and Mexico; bean-to-bonbon)
Devries
De Zaan (ADM-owned bean-to-couverture)
Escazu Chocolates (just starting to release a bean-to-bar line)
Fearless Chocolate Company (raw)
Ghirardelli (Owned by Lindt in Switzerland)
Guittard
Mars
Mast Brothers
Merkens (ADM-owned bean-to-couverture)
Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory (also grows their beans on American soil)
Patric
Peters (Cargill-owned, bean-to-couverture)
Rogue Chocolatier
Sacred Chocolate (raw)
Scharffen Berger
Soma Chocolatemaker (actually in Canada)
Tcho
Theo
Taza
Tcho
Van Leer (Belgian-owned)
Wilbur (Cargill owned, bean-to-couverture)
World's Finest Chocolate

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Permalink Reply by ChocoFiles on April 23, 2008 at 10:09am

A question about Escazu...
They're in my city, so I recently visited their store. The building is only the size of a small one story house, and the shop seems to take up most of the space, so I got to wondering what is the minimum amount of space for the equipment that one would need to be able to make chocolate from bean to bar? I've only been to Theo in Seattle, (but I didn't have time for the factory tour) but they have a very large warehouse size building. I've also seen pictures on the internet and the equipment for each stage ooks really large, but maybe that's for a huge company. Would Escazu be considered microbatch?

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Permalink Reply by Alan McClure on April 23, 2008 at 10:19am

I would think so. You could certainly e-mail Hal at Escazu and ask him this very question, but my impression is that we are not talking "Theo-sized" in the least.