Owner of Cacao is thinking globally and making chocolate locally.
Cacao is getting ready to open its first spinoff.
Kristen Hard, owner of Cacao, is opening a new concept in Inman Quarter at 299 North Highland Avenue.
twigg & co. {chocolate by design}, will be a “buy a bar, plant a tree” concept where the company will donate a cacao seedling for every bar purchased.
“The idea is a preservation and conservation effort to regain genetic diversity across the cacao sector. With this concept we will be attempting to close the loop in an industry where transparency, sustainability and quality are lacking, creating an understanding for the consumer and what they are paying for,” Hard told What Now Atlanta (WNA) Tuesday.
The concept will be unique in that guests will be able to “design” their own chocolate bar or frozen banana. For $5.50, the product will be wrapped in everyday packaging. For ten dollars, one will receive special letterpress packaging printed locally by Blue Canoe Letterpress, which will include a sticker – where guests can write a mailing address – and a stamp. There will be a brass mailbox on location where guests will be able to drop off their custom chocolate to send to loved ones.
twigg & co. will be more health-oriented than Cacao, even though the chocolate maker has always promoted chocolate as a healthy food. Therefore, health-conscious (perhaps fresh-off-the-Beltline) guests will have the options of quinoa and goji berries as toppings. There will be plenty of options for children and those of us with less sophisticated palates as well, such as gummi bears and different sprinkle mixes.
Cacao and twigg & co. are unique in their value of quality over batch size: “Just because a chocolate is made in small batches doesn’t mean anything. Quality should be what you’re paying for.”
Hard is also working hard to refine the industry with twigg & co., offering four levels from basic to very high quality. She believes that doing this will allow farmers to grow different genetics based on different price points of chocolate. This will work with the support of the 501(c)(3) non-profit she has set up, where funds will go to begin raising funds to purchase trees for farmers.
“We’ve divided the industry tiers and we are representing farmers to consumers, setting an example in purchasing and selling of how the market should be.”
Will you be helping to support twigg & co.’s vision? Tell us below…
