El Buen Cacao (The Good Cacao)
El Buen Cacao is a small chocolate factory located in the beautiful San Jacinto Mountains, nestled in the small town of Idyllwild, CA. creating single origin, minimal ingredient, dark chocolate from bean to bar. Due to a recent expansion that is being planned in our current location we are having to relocate our business. During the last 9.5 years we have established our quaint factory 5,600 feet up in the sky in this town that we have grown to love, but due to the unfortunate circumstance at hand we have decided to bring our chocolate factory to fruition in the fast pace bustling Arts District of Los Angeles. With your help, we plan to turn a negative into a positive!
Chocolate Factory
We first started our business in 2015 in this long alleyway that led to the cutest little chocolate shop in Idyllwild. We started with small equipment making micro batches of dark chocolate from roasting the cacao, grinding to tempering chocolate it was all made in house. We were there for 4.5 years, and then a great opportunity for us to expand arose, and we took it to the next level. We moved to our current chocolate factory, and have now been here for 5.5 years. We have introduced a whole world of chocolates, based on our focus of highlighting cacao by origin, to people flocking up to the mountains and it has been such a pleasure, but it's time we move on.
Our new location, which we have already signed lease with, is basically a shell space in a fairly new building, about five years old, but there is work that needs to be completed before we can open to the public. To sum up, we are currently in the stage of working with an architect who has the difficult job of getting plans ready so that the contractor can pull permits with the city and begin the lengthy buildout phase. Once all the permits are pulled and the build out is finished we will need to move our current factory equipment from Idyllwild to the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles. Our build out is quite simple and straightforward, so our plan is to be open by beginning of September.
A Labor of Love
We love making chocolate and we are passionate about what we do, and it shows. We make trips to cacao farms to get to know the people and the processing before it gets to us. During the pandemic, we safely sourced cacao from southern Mexico directly from the farm to us when life had been paused for a lot of people. While there were some difficult times, we made it work while keeping our staff employed, and contributing to the local economy, so that we could continue to manufacture good chocolate. In 2022, we were voted by Yelp the best chocolate shop in California for World Chocolate Day, of all days. Then in 2023, we were included as the top 50 hot chocolates spots in the US and Canada via Yelp. Since our inception in 2015, we have been the highlight of a few newspaper articles, blogs, and other media sources, such as the LA Times, Thrillist, The Grio, The Sacramento Bee, and even Yelp.
The Impact
But what's the point of all those accolades if you're not sharing your skills with the world? Well, we have! We've worked with USAID farmer-to-farmer on various projects to help farmers understand the market and create fine chocolate in Colombia and Dominican Republic. During our trips there we formed relationships that would last a lifetime while introducing them to the world of fine craft chocolate. We have volunteered our skills and time to projects like these because we believe good chocolate should be shared around the world.
We have made it in a small and idle town in the mountains for the last 9.5 years with a population of about 3000 people. A sleepy town that's seasonal and relies heavily on tourism, but even so we have created a name for ourselves and a destination for people to come to. If you don't believe us just search El Buen Cacao on google and you will see the stellar reviews we have received from a top notch product, which we will continue to make no matter what, but your support will help us immensely and it will be reciprocated.
Contribution
If you didn't already know this is a major move for us, and although we have already dealt with a hefty part of the work, there is still more to go. Our minimum goal is what we hope can get us through part of the build out phase, but if we surpass our goal we will be able to fully cover our moving expenses.
Why contribute, you ask? Well, first because our chocolate is pretty darn amazing. We have tried chocolate from all over the world, and nothing tastes as pure and authentic as our chocolate. You know why? Because we're true to our word when we say we make minimal ingredient chocolate. Aside from that, if you contribute to our campaign you will get something in return and it's always chocolate-centric, so it's a win-win situation. And, if you're a major contributor, you might even get to tour our new factory with a chocolate tasting served by us! It'll be fun we promise.
Other Ways You Can Help
If for any reason you are not able to contribute, but would like to support please make sure you share our campaign! And remember, there is no such thing as too small of a donation. In the end, it all counts and helps us reach our goal.
