At Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company‘s new experience, the world’s most pressing question is tantalizingly simple: Oreos, gummy bears, or both?
Families have long been able to peek behind the scenes during the company’s free factory tours. Beginning June 30, they’ll also have the chance to become chocolatiers themselves, creating custom chocolate bars before stepping onto the factory floor to see how one of the city’s sweetest traditions is made.
The new “Make Your Own Chocolate Bar” experience transforms visitors from chocolate lovers into chocolatiers, if only for an hour. Guests will pour chocolate into molds, choose their own toppings, and take home a custom creation after touring the factory floor, where thousands of chocolates are still handcrafted each week.
“It’s your opportunity to create something that matches your personality,” says Dan Abel Jr., second-generation chocolatier, chief chocolate officer of Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier, and vice president of Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company.
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What’s your chocolate personality?
The inspiration for the new experience came from a child’s birthday party. When Abel hosted a celebration for his daughter and her friends at the factory, the children were invited to make their own chocolate bars. What happened next convinced him they were onto something.
“Every single one of those girls made a different chocolate bar,” he says. “Some wanted gummy bears and Oreos. Some wanted sprinkles. Everybody did something different.”
Now, families can do the same. Participants start with tempered milk chocolate before choosing from an assortment of toppings, which may include Oreo pieces, sprinkles, marshmallows, graham crackers, gummy bears, or seasonal additions.
The only real difference between kids and adults may be how confidently they justify their topping choices. (Age, it turns out, has little effect on a person’s ability to resist sprinkles.)
Once decorated, the bars are chilled, wrapped, labeled, and packaged to take home. For kids, it’s a chance to make something that’s entirely their own. For parents, it’s a reminder that creativity doesn’t always involve paint, glue, or glitter. Sometimes it’s yummier.
Behind the scenes of a St. Louis favorite
The chocolate-bar activity is paired with a tour of the company’s factory on The Hill, which welcomes more than 50,000 visitors each year. The free tours take guests onto the production floor, where they can watch chocolatiers dip, decorate, package, and prepare everything from truffles and caramels to chocolate-covered treats.
For many visitors, the biggest surprise is how much of the work is still done by hand. “I hear all the time, ‘I can’t believe you hand-decorate every single truffle,’” Abel says.
Despite advances in manufacturing technology, chocolate remains a craft business. “The average caramel or truffle touches about 12 different people before it’s finished,” he says.
That’s part of what Abel hopes families take away from the experience. In an age of automation, screens, and artificial intelligence, the factory offers a rare opportunity to see real people making things from start to finish. “I really like to show that there are still builders and creators out there,” he says.
The lesson is one that Abel learned early. Growing up in the family business, he spent countless hours experimenting in the candy kitchen. One day, he created a bark loaded with his favorite toppings and convinced his father to sell it. To his surprise, customers bought it.
“It was the first time I created something and people liked it,” he says. “I think that’s when I got hooked.”
Today, he’s watching a new generation discover that same excitement. Whether a child loads their chocolate bar with every topping available or carefully crafts the perfect combination, the experience is about more than candy, Abel says; it’s about creating something from scratch, seeing how things are made, and leaving with a one-of-a-kind creation that’s entirely your own. After all, there aren’t many places where you’re encouraged to play with your food—and call it art.
Beyond the bars
The new chocolate-bar workshop arrives on the heels of a major expansion completed last fall that added a Chocolate Café, event space, and new visitor experiences to the company’s factory headquarters. For families who’ve already taken the free tour, Abel sees the latest offering as a reason to return—and maybe stay a little longer.
“A lot of people have toured the factory before,” he says. “This gives them another way to experience it.”
The workshop is just one piece of a growing lineup. Since the expansion, the company has introduced chocolate and wine pairings, beer pairings with 4 Hands Brewing Co., charcuterie workshops with Volpi Foods, and coffee-and-chocolate tastings with Kaldi’s Coffee. Abel says many of the events have sold out within days, encouraging the team to expand programming and work toward a regular weekly schedule.
The milestone comes at a time of renewed momentum for the Abel family’s chocolate businesses. Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier will celebrate 100 years in St. Louis next year, as it expands into markets including Ohio, New York City, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Florida.
For Abel, the goal is to honor both companies’ histories while introducing a new generation of customers to their passion—whether through a boutique storefront, a factory tour, or a chocolate bar covered in gummy bears.
If You Go
Make Your Own Chocolate Bar & Factory Tour
When: Starting June 30, 11 a.m.–noon
Where: Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company, 5025 Pattison
Cost: $25 per person
Reservations: chocolatechocolate.com
The factory also offers free public tours Monday through Friday, with tours running every 30 minutes between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Visitors can also stop by the recently opened Chocolate Café at the factory for pastries, sandwiches, coffee, hot chocolate, and chocolate-themed treats before or after tours.
