Callebaut Chocolate

While in Calgary, gastronomes and chocoholics alike should swing by the home office of Callebaut Chocolate, 1313 1st Street SE, for Canadian chocolates with Old World style.

Bernard Callebaut grew up in Belgium next door to the factory where his family had been making chocolate for the previous four generations. In 1980, when the family decided to sell the Belgian chocolate business to Swiss chocolate giant Suchard Toblerone (they still owned, among other things, a brewery), Bernard decided to emigrate.

We wanted to bring truly excellent, gourmet chocolate to the Americas. After touring cities throughout America and Canada, he fell in love with the mountains and culture of Calgary. There he began anew with Bernard Callebaut chocolates.

His family was convinced he had gone mad, making high-quality chocolates for a people who, generally, would not know the difference between that and paper-wrapped bar from the gas station. They were wrong. The first day his chocolate shop was open he made $700 and by the end of his first year in business he had made $200,000. He doubled that the following year.

What is his secret, the thing that will get North Americans to pay more for his delectable treats? There is no secret. Callebaut is happy to tell people how to make his chocolates and even occasionally teaches courses at his Calgary factory and world headquarters.

The trick is to use fresh, organic ingredients with no additives. His chocolates do not contain preservatives or vegetable oils. He is so open about his methods he even has recipes for some of the things they sell in the shop posted on his website at www.bernardcallebaut.com.

At Bernard Callebaut they are happy to give visitors a tour of the factory as long as it is arranged in advance. The tour is great and the best part is, of course, the free samples.