Leave Your Sweet Tooth in San Francisco Where Artisan Chocolate Flourishes
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, February 6, 2010 - Only in San Francisco, with its rich and lucious history of food, can one find four of the nation's 11 major chocolate manufacturers and a disproportionate number of unique boutique chocolatiers.The Bay Area is home to some of the greatest chocolate factories in world including: The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, See's Candies and Scharffen Berger Chocolate (recently acquired by the Hershey Company).
In 1849, an Italian chocolatier by the name of Domingo Ghirardelli received news of a gold strike at Sutter's Mill and took it upon himself to strike it rich and sail off to California. While Ghirardelli found no luck in the Gold Rush, he found his fortune in chocolate instead. He established his first chocolate factory in San Francisco's famous Fisherman's Wharf, which is considered a historic landmark today. Ghirardelli is one of the few chocolate companies in the United States to control every aspect of its chocolate manufacturing process, rejecting up to 40 percent of the cocoa beans shipped in order to select what the company calls the "highest quality" beans. The company then roasts the cocoa beans in-house by removing the outer shell of the bean and roasting the inside of it. Today, Ghirardelli's Chocolate Factory is considered one of the most popular sites in the Bay Area because on any given day, you can find decadent, gooey chocolate churned there. Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is a major contributor in the multi-billion dollar industry that can soothe the soul of the savage beast as well as stimulate “feel good” hormones. While chocolate is no longer being manufactured in Ghirardelli Square, the retail store still serves fresh chocolate sundaes and other sweet confections.
Ghirardelli Chocolate
Web site: http://www.ghirardelli.com,
phone: 415-474-3938;
media contact: Felicia Gonzalez, [email protected]
Ghirardelli Square
900 North Point St., San Francisco, 94109,
Web site: www.ghirardellisq.com,
phone: 415-474-3938;
media contact: Lindsay Maxon, [email protected], 415-775-5500, ext. 27
Ghirardelli Chocolate at SFO
San Francisco International Airport has three Ghirardelli chocolate kiosks and one store in Terminal 3.
See's Candies was founded by Charles See and his mother Mary See when they opened up shop in 1921. The company is headquartered in South San Francisco.The chocolate in See's candies has been provided by the Guittard Chocolate Company since the 1950s; See's and Guittard pioneered the delivery of bulk chocolate in liquid form in tanker trucks in 1959. See's Candies makes more than 100 varieties of premium chocolate truffles, caramels, toffee, and other candies, including boxed assortments, lollipops, and kosher treats.
See's Candies
542 Market St.,
San Francisco, 94104;
Web site: http://www.sees.com,
phone: 650-583-7307,
media contact: Richard Van Doren, [email protected]
Other locations:
· Three Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, 94111
· 754 Clement St., San Francisco, 94118; phone: 415-752-0953
· 3250 20th Ave., Stonestown Galleria, Suite 125, San Francisco, 94132; phone: 415-731-1784
Scharffen Berger Chocolate is a Berkeley, California-based chocolate maker, founded in 1996 by sparkling wine maker John Scharffenberger and physician Robert Steinberg. The company is a manufacturer of chocolate (as opposed to chocolatiers, who make their products using chocolate acquired from wholesalers and manufacturers). Scharffen Berger is the first American company founded in the past 50 years to make chocolate from "bean to bar.” Scharffen Berger primarily produces chocolate bars, which are dark chocolate varieties with high cocoa solid content. By 1997 they made the first batch in a small South San Francisco factory using vintage German equipment and basic ingredients including Venezuelan criollo beans and whole Tahitian vanilla. The company relocated to a new facility at a historic factory complex in Berkeley, California, where it is still headquartered. Today, Scharffen Berger makes about a half million pounds of chocolate a year. You can find fine artisan "bean to bar" chocolate in a marketplace atmosphere at Scharffen Berger.
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
Retail store,
1 Ferry Building,
Marketplace Suite 14,
94111,
Web site: http://www.scharffenberger.com;
phone: 415-981-9150;
media contact: Cy Olney, [email protected].
Other Chocolate Retailers:
Artisan chocolates have received considerable attention recently, and the flavor notes have ranged from basics like dark, milk, caramel, and coffee, to more exotic fillings including honey and chai. Some flavors chocolatiers have experimented with include grey salt, goat cheese, olive oil and bacon. The trend of using spices like anise, wasabi and saffron mixed with chocolate is sure to get your blood pumping. Chocolatiers' imaginations are running wild, as chocolate consumers seem up to trying anything these days. San Francisco's chocolate houses are setting trends and making giving food connoisseurs just one more reason to satisfy their cravings.
Schoggi - Imported Swiss Chocolate
San Francisco's first genuine Swiss confiserie, featuring luxury imported Swiss chocolates, typical Swiss petite pastries, pate de fruits, European-style coffee drinks and more.
87 Yerba Buena Lane,
94103;
phone: 415-243-4444;
Web site: www.schoggi.us;
media contact: Dominik Schieweek, [email protected].
Gourmet Walks and Chocolate Tours
Gourmet Walks includes a Gourmet Chocolate Tour, with tastings of fine chocolate. Guests learn where to find premium chocolate in San Francisco and discover artisan chocolatiers who create heavenly truffles and butter creams, and stores that sell local and international chocolate bars.
Phone: 415-312-1119;
Web site: http://www.gourmetwalks.com;
media contact: Andrea Nadel. [email protected], 415-312-1119.
In The Kitchen With Lisa
Lisa Rogovin, food concierge, offers a “Tasting Chocolate with Lisa” tour. Rogovin leads a group through a specific tasting of “melt-in-your-mouth” delicacies from local chocolate makers while exploring how world-class chocolates are created. The guests come away with a better understanding of the geographical origins of chocolate and the process of turning it into bars or edible works of art. Phone: 415-806-5970; Web site: http://www.inthekitchenwithlisa.com; media contact: Lisa Rogovin, [email protected].
Cable Car Classic Sightseeing's “San Francisco Food Lovers Tour”
Cable Car Classic Sightseeing has added a new “San Francisco Food Lovers Tour.” The five-hour narrated tour by San Francisco food writer and radio personality GraceAnn Walden includes a coffee and chocolate tasting at XOX Truffles among its other gourmet tastings. 450 Bay St., San Francisco, 94133; phone: 415-922-2425. Web site: www.classiccablecars.com; media contact: Mishelle Fisher, [email protected], 415-922-2425. ext. 5.
Local Tastes of the City
Local Tastes of the City's food tour also stops at XOX in North Beach to sample local gourmet chocolates during a three-hour exploration of gourmet food.
Phone: 415-665-0480; Web site: www.sffoodtour.com; media contact: Tom Medin, [email protected], 415-665-0480.
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