Here's The Deal...
We
are genuine artisans in Vermont who labor lovingly in the business
niche known as craft chocolate. Doing business as Middlebury
Chocolates, we make chocolate straight from directly traded cacao
beans, and we use this fresh chocolate to create some of the finest
of chocolate bars and confections. All of our chocolate products are
truly luxurious, made in small batches from the finest ingredients
available.
We
founded our business in February of 2010 and a few months later
launched a small chocolate café. The following year, we began
producing our own chocolate, and quickly outgrew our tiny kitchen
space. We have moved twice to enhance our production
capabilities, most recently in February 2013, but in doing so we
sacrificed our small café business.
Now,
effective July 1, 2014, we are leasing a beautiful, commercial space
in downtown Middlebury, next to a picturesque waterfall; the river
runs underneath and next to the building! We expect that the special
qualities of this leased space, combined with our extraordinary
products and our hard work, will produce a wonderful, economically
successful business.
Middlebury
is one of the most economically healthy and culturally rich small
towns in Vermont. In our new location, we’ll be benefitting from,
and contributing to, the vitality of the downtown business district.
We
are excited—almost ecstatic!—about bringing our chocolate
café and dessert lounge back to downtown Middlebury!
![]()
{a view of our new location, overlooking the Otter Creek falls}
What We Need & What You Get...
We
are self-sufficient already as producers of super-premium chocolates.
What we need now is additional money to enable us to open the
café and dessert lounge in a timely fashion. With your help, we can
have them open by October 1.
Here
is what we need:
-
A
functional POS system and cash register, with software for tracking
inventory for both retail and wholesale accounts.
-
Signage
and accent lighting.
-
Indoor
and outdoor tables and chairs for the café.
-
An
additional grinder that makes chocolate from cacao beans, which will
allow us to greatly increase our chocolate.
-
An
additional chocolate tempering machine, which will allow us to
produce confections and specialty desserts without interfering with
our production of chocolate bars.
-
A
beverage dispenser for homemade sodas, root beer floats, and
hopefully the hosting of some special local brews in the future.
A
major upgrade of our website, <middleburychocolates.com>.
![]()
{a peak inside our new space}
What Difference This Will Make...
We
have been sharing production space with our kind friends at Daily
Chocolate, which is located in the tiny city of Vergennes, near
Middlebury. This arrangement doesn’t give us enough space and
time. In Vergennes we can produce just enough chocolate bars to
supply our existing 26 wholesale accounts.
When
we move our production into our new space during the month of July,
our production capacity will increase by 40% almost immediately. Our
goal is to double production and sales by the end of this year, so it
is key that we continue adding necessary equipment to achieve these
goals.
When
our café-and-dessert lounge is up and running, it will provide:
-
Steady
employment for three to five local residents.
-
A
place to go that serves the social and [dietary] needs of many
Middlebury area residents and visitors. Our dessert lounge will be
an amazing place to hang out and decompress—especially on
Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
Improvement
of local foot traffic and commerce, benefitting the downtown
business community.
![]()
{Dark Chocolate Truffles with Violet Balsamic and Elderflowers}
Other Ways You Can Help...
Share
this campaign with your friends and family, and spread the word about
our move back to downtown Middlebury. We at Middlebury
Chocolates thank you all for your support, and we look forward to
providing you with exquisite products.
![]()
{a collection of our craft chocolate bars in a stamped cotton gift bag}
Rewards...
Most
of the rewards are pretty straightforward, but here are some extra
details.
![]()
>>>>>
Single
Batch Chocolate
will be produced exclusively for this Indiegogo campaign, made from a
particularly exceptional micro-lot of Venezuelan Patanemo cacao. This
batch will be like nothing you have ever experienced before—the
beans will be lightly wood-fire roasted, mellowed for 10 days in
cocoa ash, then winnowed, crushed, and ground at a low temperature
for 7 to 10 days. It will then be left to rest for 20 to 30 days
before being tempered and moulded. The percentage is yet to be
determined but will likely fall in the 80% range. These bars
will be 2.0 ounces (57 grams) and will be delivered in custom
keepsake packaging, signed by the chocolate maker. (UPDATE: the chocolate is currently in the grinder, and will have a final percentage of 86%, using only maple sugar from a particularly amazing harvest from our friends at Little Hogback Farm - it is incredibly mild maple sugar with aromas of vanilla and cinnamon.)
>>>>>
Gift
Cards can
be redeemed in our new downtown Middlebury location or on our
website, and are valid for 24 months. A gift card can
be used to purchase anything that we will be offering to the public,
including desserts, chocolate products, confections, coffee products,
and non-food merchandise such as mugs and clothing.
>>>>>
Chocolate
Subscriptions can
be gifted to anybody you like (including yourself!), with shipping
included anywhere in the continental USA. For addresses outside
of the 48 contiguous states, please contact us beforehand to verify
any additional shipping charges.
>>>>>
Signature
Bars can
be created in your honor, a loved one's honor, or simply to promote
an idea or business. ALL
signature bars must be green-lighted by us, and cannot contain any
politically biased, overtly religious, offensive or otherwise
inappropriate content. Other than that, we will work with you to
create an utterly delicious and unique chocolate bar for a
once-in-a-lifetime experience!
![]()
{a great example of one of our custom creations}
Chupacabra - maple, habanero, vanilla, sea salt
"Stunningly
warm & antique oak scent presages salted caramel on the tongue,
then some maple goodness sweetening a kindling pepper at the back...
never raging though never shy either... as much flavor as heat,
especially since abundant butter cools whatever flames threaten to get
out of control; a masterful production of thermo-chocodynamics on the
edge."
-Mark Christian, the C-Spot, www.c-spot.com
"Companies such as Middlebury are exactly where we should be looking to
for our chocolate." -Lee McCoy, www.chocolatiers.co.uk
