Part education. Part fun. All yumminess.
That sums up what you’ll discover when you walk into ChocXo, a newly opened cafe fronting the Ironwood area Chewters Chocolates, which counts some of the top names in North America’s restaurant, cruiseship and hotel business as clients.
ChocXo is the creation of Wade Pugh and Richard Foley, industry veterans who have 60 years of experience between them.
Pugh said he doesn’t often get direct feedback from consumers, which includes visitors staying at the upmarket Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas where his chocolates are placed on the bed pillows daily.
But when he steps into the comfy surroundings of ChocXo — with its leather club chairs and cozy tables — there’s the chance to bask in the smiles of customers watching how cocoa beans are transformed into silky smooth, sweet treats.
Pugh said he and Foley have invested plenty — around $1 million-plus — to install small-batch, chocolate-making equipment visitors can view from inside the cafe through large, picture windows.
It’s all about showcasing the bean to bar process where organic, fair trade cocoa beans from Central and South America are roasted on site to produce the foundation for high quality chocolate that goes into the production line for not only a wide array of goodies such as chocolate bark and flavoured chocolates, but lattes, mochas, frappes and hot chocolate served by baristas in the ChocXo cafe.
“This little laboratory we have in the back here is a small replica of what we also do in Irvine, California now,” Pugh said, adding that facility south of the border can produce 1,000 lbs. of chocolate a day and recently hosted its open house where a promotion offered visitors free chocolate for a year.
The catch was you needed to dress up as an Oompa Loompa, the diminutive orange-faced, green-haired and white-coveralled characters made famous in Roald Dahl’s classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The same deal is being offered at Pugh’s public opening on Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plus, there will be 25 “golden tickets” tucked inside bars being sold, which will fetch a prize bag.
Guided tours will be conducted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And kids will receive free, chocolate-covered Oreo cookies.
If that all sounds very Willy Wonka-like, the aura isn’t dampened by the fact a pair of spouts in the production viewing area offer customers a chance to sample free, liquid chocolate shots during store hours.
“This really is an opportunity to become a chocolate destination,” Pugh said.
