The Best Factory Tours Where You Can See Chocolate Being Made

A number of U.S. chocolate factories are once again welcoming visitors on public tours, educating in a fun, and delicious way. “Chocolate factory tours are a huge benefit to us and tour goers in so many ways,” says Tom Rogan, Founder and Head Chocolate Maker at Goodnow Farms Chocolate. “Single origin chocolate, and how it’s made, is wildly different from the mass market, heavily processed, monotone flavor “chocolate” product, that people are used to. He adds, “The best way for people to understand what chocolate really is, is to come here so we can show them how it’s made from start to finish, and the care and thought that goes into each step of the process.  We can also show them the beans from which chocolate is made and have a real discussion about the importance of ethical and direct sourcing.” 

Lawren Askinosie, Marketing Officer and co-owner of Askinosie Chocolate, agrees. “We are grateful for visitors to our factory. Our tour attendees tend to be folks from across the globe some of whom have traveled to our corner of the world just for our tour-- it's an honor to say the least.” She adds, “We try to treat everyone the way we're treated by our farmer partners when we visit-- with ‘radical hospitality’ as we call it. And we hope they can feel it. Our Tour Guide is a former Chocolate Maker who's been with us over a decade. His experience and passion shine through.” 

Here are our picks for the best places to see small batch artisan chocolate being made.

San Francisco Bay Area Chocolate Tours

Dandelion Chocolate, San Francisco’s Mission District

For more than a decade, Dandelion Chocolate has crafted single origin, bean-to-bar chocolate that sources cacao from Madagascar and Sierra Leone to Colombia and Belize. The company also creates ongoing working relationships with farmers and producers through onsite visits. Dandelion’s 16th Street Factory offers one-hour ‘Beginner’ tours for $20. Guides inform guests about sourcing from various cocoa origins, including information about cacao trees. as they walk through the chocolate-making process. Along the way, visitors may taste fresh cacao pods plus roasted cocoa beans, molten chocolate, finished single-origin chocolate bars, and even complimentary hot chocolate. On weekdays, until 5 p.m., tours provide a look at beans roasting and the team at work. During weekend tours, when the factory isn’t operating, guests enjoy deeper conversations about chocolate history and the entire production process.

 

TCHO Chocolate, Berkeley, California

The team at TCHO Chocolate will reinstate its popular Chocolate Factory Tour & Tasting, beginning sometime in October and continuing on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Visitors will enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at chocolate-making plus chocolate tastings, while learning about and tasting what makes TCHO chocolate so special. Fair Trade cacao from Ghana and Peru, plus other non-GMO ingredients, infuses TCHO bars as well as Dark & Bitter 100% pure cacao baking chocolate and Hawt Chocolate. The company also provides partner farmers and scientists with tools they need to craft the world’s best cacao, through its TCHO Source initiative. TCHO will launch holiday-inspired chocolate bars in October and November and two new professional non-dairy baking products — Oat My Gawd and Choco Blanco. They are a first step towards TCHO’s plan to go dairy free by 2023. 

 

East Coast Chocolate Tour

Goodnow Farms Cafe con Leche milk chocolate

Goodnow Farms 3 - Photo by Tom Rogan - cafe con leche chocolate bar

Goodnow Farms Chocolate, Sudbury, Massachusetts

Goodnow Farms Chocolate uses Direct Trade beans from only one farm or region in each batch of single origin chocolate. Resulting bars incorporate 55 percent to 77 percent cacao. Hot cocoa and cacao nibs are other products. The company is also renowned-among a handful of producers, worldwide-for pressing its own cocoa butter, and taking the rare step of crafting single origin non-alkalized cocoa. Goodnow Farms Chocolate began offering pre-reserved public factory tours at noon on Thursdays, in early September. Each one-hour tour includes a free, customer-choice award-winning bar from the company’s Signature Line valued at $12. Tour guests observe cocoa bean grinding and other facets of the bean-to-bar chocolate production process, before purchasing additional chocolate inside the farm’s 225-year-old barn.


 

Southern Chocolate Tour


Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co, Nashville, Tennessee

Olive & Sinclair photo by Lisa Waterman Gray

Tennessee’s longest-operating bean-to-bar chocolate maker, Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co., uses pure brown sugar plus cacao without preservatives, in every confection. The company hand molds more than 1,000 bars, daily, as well as other confections that include Duck Fat Caramels and Bourbon Nib Brittle. Vintage-inspired labels and décor echo the late 1800s building in which owner, Scott Witherow, and his dedicated team, create their Southern Artisan Chocolate™. Factory tours introduce visitors to antique melanguers/stone mills/chocolate grinding machines, plus roaster and tempering units, where modern techniques meet ‘classic Southern flavors.’ As each factory tour ends, guests have a good taste of what artisan chocolate making at Olive & Sinclair feels, smells, and tastes like – including plenty of delicious samples. After online booking visitors, age 6 and up, may enjoy 30- to 45-minute factory tours.

 

Midwest Chocolate Tour

Askinosie Chocolate Molding Line

Askinosie Chocolate Molding Line photo credit Askinosie

Askinosie Chocolate, Springfield, Missouri

Monday afternoon tours resumed at Askinosie Chocolate in April 2022, (excluding holidays). Visitors learn about the origins of individual cacao varieties, and the crafting of small batch chocolates, including information about ingredients and factory machinery, plus plenty of samples. In addition, retail purchases receive a 10% tour discount. Guides describe Askinosie Chocolate Direct Trade practices and the company’s domestic and international community development work. Tours last approximately 45 minutes, with proceeds funding Chocolate University. This public charity serves students in Southwest Missouri and others living where the cocoa originates. Children over five are welcome, but factory tours are not wheelchair accessible (the retail space is), and strong magnets in the factory could affect pacemakers or defibrillators.



 

Some chocolate makers without public tours still offer terrific views of their chocolate making to visitors. Here are several:

 
Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates

Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates - photo by Lisa Waterman Gray

Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates, Wichita, Kansas

New owners acquired Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates in 2017, twelve years after its founding. A third Wichita, Kansas retail shop, plus production, and packaging facilities, opened together, three years ago. Inside the retail Sweet Lounge, enormous windows provide views of the team making chocolate – from Rum and Coke liquid truffles to bon bons infused with hazelnut paste, and Bananas Foster or Dulce de Leche flavors. Tall windows allow visitors to view enrobing, cutting, and hand decorating activities in this spacious facility.

 

Bedré Fine Chocolate, Davis, Oklahoma

Opened more than four decades ago, its name, Bedré, means ‘better’ in Norwegian. This longstanding confectioner was purchased by the Chickasaw Nation in 2000. The only Native American tribe to create its own fine chocolate, produces many products, including bars, chocolate ‘maps,’ and Dark Chocolate Premium Sauce. Although Bedré Fine Chocolate does not offer guided tours, visitors can clearly view chocolate making on the manufacturing floor. Located near Interstate 35, this is a great stop for chocolate lovers.

Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate, NYC, New York 

At age 16, Marc Aumont took over his father’s chocolate making business in France. A chocolatier and pastry chef for decades, he now makes desserts at Manhattan-based Gabriel Kreuther restaurant and oversees the adjacent Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate shop, which opened in 2016. Favorite items include macaron-flavored bonbons, macadamia nut toffee and flavored chocolate bars. Glass walls provide customer views of the chocolate room, where bonbons roll off the conveyor belt.

Bean-to-bar, ConfectionsLisa Waterman Gray