Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Abel.
Hi Dan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My parents started a candy company in 1981. They had 3 kids and named it “Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company” 1 chocolate for each one of their children. We originally lived closed to our first store on Chippewa St (next to Ted Drewes) so we would always stop by to see my dad working – either making chocolates in the back, working with customers, packing boxes, he did it all in the beginning. Each one of my siblings and myself had become involved in the business at some time in our lives and fell in love with it. It started with helping pack boxes, sweeping the floor, waiting on customers to where we are today.
In 2008, I graduated college and started working full time with my sister, who had graduated a few years before me and was already working full time. We had a very little wholesale division at the time and wanted to expand that and try expanding our www.chocolatechocolate.com business – our first year we were knocking on doors, meeting with customers, sending out samples – it was a true labor of love and morphed into a nice little piece of business pretty quickly. We then had the idea to resurrect Mavrakos chocolates, a historic brand in Saint Louis that started in 1913 and sold out in the late 80s. My dad was able to get the recipe book from Mavrako’s last owner in the 1980s.
We went from having the logo re-drawn to packaging design, product recipe re-creation, packing, marketing all in a short amount of time. It was a very successful launch and we eventually ran out of manufacturing capacity. We were talking to a friend in the industry at the time – former owner of Bissinger’s, current owner of Lake Forest Confections and we both came up with the idea to acquire Lake Forest and shift some of our production to the Lake Forest kitchen in Clayton, MO. On the day we bought the company, I went over to work with the new team on the first day – and within a week, I had moved my office to Lake Forest. It was amazing to learn with such great candy makers, I wanted to soak up as much knowledge as I could and make candy all day long.
We expected that to hold us over for a few years while we searched for a new building to build out a “dream facility”. That happened in 2012, where we found an empty building on the Hill in Saint Louis and moved the Lake Forest and Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate operation to the Hill, and opened up with 8 full-time employees (today we have close to 80). As we continued to aggressively grow our wholesale division, my brother came on full time in 2012 as a head candy maker and the trio was now working under 1 roof – representing the original name of the brand Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate.
Fast forward to 2019, Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier became quietly for sale and we made a singular offer to the ownership – promising to keep the company in Saint Louis (it’s home for 94 years), continue to handcraft the Bissinger’s recipe in small batches and honor the Bissinger’s 350-year legacy. The rest is history!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing is smooth, but it was certainly exciting. We grew up in a family business and have been taught from day 1 that you need to know EVERY single job in the facility. I think in the last 10 years at this facility we have had to do each position at a different time.
We truly believe we have the best team in chocolate and are excited to work with them every day. I am sure I could write a book of some of the road bumps over the last decade, especially in the last 2 years with Covid and the supply chain, but we always seem to pull it off in the end.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company was founded in 1981 (40th anniversary) and has 5 retail stores, an online store (www.chocolatechocolate.com), and a gourmet wholesale division that sells over 4,500 retailers – craft chocolate bars, gourmet boxed chocolates, and seasonal confections – made with clean ingredients and Fair Trade Certified chocolate
Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier is a 350-year-old Parisian chocolatier that was appointed Confiseur Imperial (Confectioner to the Empire) in 1668, by King Louis XIV. The Bissinger family eventually moved to the United States in 1845 and eventually to Saint Louis in 1927 where we still call our home today.
Bissinger’s classic French confections are sold in a national catalog and website (www.bissingers.com), available at our 2 retail boutiques at Plaza Frontenac mall and Saint Louis Galleria, at our candy kitchen on The Hill, and through our specialty wholesale division. Some classic Bissinger’s confections include Molasses Caramel Lollies, Hand-Decorated Creme Mints, Wine Grapes, and Chocolate Bars
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Chocolate is very complex. We believe in the power of our two brands and each brand has its own personality, flavor profile, and identity.
Keeping them separate and allowing each brand to be itself is important to us, the only thing in common is one ownership, the Abel family – otherwise, Bissinger’s and Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company stay true to their own recipes, customer base, distribution, packaging, and production line.
It’s very rewarding to be a part of the group that owns these two great companies
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chocoolatechocolate.com, www.bissingers.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bissingers
- Facebook: facebook.com/bissingers
