Bissinger's Handcrafted Chocolates

Bissinger's is a St. Louis tradition.


Their store has recently moved about six blocks to a newer, higher trafficked location offering wine, tea and coffees paired with chocolates. They have become a great place for families to visit and a great 'date night' stop.


The shelves feature some of their top sellers like dried fruits half dipped in chocolate, chocolate covered blueberries (similar to chocolate covered cherries), and more decadent delights!


Beautifully packaged confections for fall.


An African dark chocolate is a new item that has been very well received.


A snapshot of their sample plate features their own gummies made with a consistent base in flavors like apricot green tea, pomegranate, lemon Ginger yuzu to name a few. They are a fine food lovers delight!


This snapshot shows their signature wine grape that had been raisined and covered in chocolate. It's wonderful followed by a merlot salt caramel, Chardonnay salt caramel or margarita salt caramel. To see more photos or to order these treats, go to www.bissingers.com



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Baileys' Chocolate Bar

The chocolate weekend continues...
Baileys' Chocolate Bar in Lafayette Square specializes in chocolate martinis and chocolate desserts. All selections begin with mini chocolate chip cookies as the amuse bouche. baileyschocolatebar.com


The tiramisu martini is 'martini yum'!


The Sexual Martini brought smiles all around this group-lol!


The Blondie Brownie is topped with chocolate chips and pecans with decadent vanilla ice cream.


The Brownie Royale is not for the faint at heart! It's a Baileys' Split on top of a brownie with whipped cream, nuts, caramel and chocolate- a decadent delight!


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Location:St Louis, MO

Kakao Chocolate

Brian and Melanie Pelletier and their staff welcomed us to Kakao Chocolate. www.kakaochocokate.com


Brian hosted a chocolate tasting party in their working kitchen.


The sea salt caramels and bacon brittle were favorites.


The marshmallow pie was divine!


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Location:St. Louis, MO

Lake Forest Confections

Lake Forest Confections is a mainstay in St Louis.



The store has a heritage that is decades old.


Lake Forest Bakery closed next door to the candy store. After so many customers came in to Lake Forest Confections looking for baked goods, the candy store decided to add baked goods to their product line.


The Lake Forest version of the rocky road confection.


NEW peppermint truffles just debuted this week!


The decorations are handmade by artisans in the shop.



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Location:St Louis, MO

The Fountain on Locust

Joy, the owner of the Fountain, is said to have painted the art deco murals on the walls at the restaurant wrapping around the ice cream counter and chocolate confections case.


The lunch crowd just left (we missed the photo because we lingered after lunch sampling chocolates and ice cream).


The chocolate case features some of their own seasonal confections plus favorites from Asher's and Sanders, both RCI wholesale members.


The ticket for lunch came with cranberry fudge bits- the perfect way to end a meal!

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Location:St Louis, MO

George's Candy

Everybody loves the macaroons at George's!






This is the last stop on the tour days during the 2010 Fall Regional Institute. Join us at upcoming events! Find more information at www.retailconfectioners.org


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Shriver's Salt Water Taffy

Shriver's was est. in 1898 and they learned that taffy, fudge, caramel popcorn and mint rolls were great sweets to make along the coast. High temperatures and humidity does not lend itself well to chocolate making.





Shriver's coined the name 'salt water taffy' and that is still a signature item. They pull 50 pounds at a time.


Cooking, pulling and wrapping are the three steps to making taffy.

They operate a gelato shop next door offering a cool treat in the summer sun.



They pipe chocolate designs and decorate them with non-pareils to create delicate decorations.








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Lucille's Own Make Candies

Janice, the third generation chocolatier in the family, welcomed us to Lucille's in Manahawkin, New Jersey.












Second generation chocolatiers, Larry and Ginger keep the retail store running, fix machines and run errands for the company.






The retail store features long candy cases of chocolate jellies, creams, caramels, clusters, bark and nuts. They sell whole blocks of chocolate to customers, too.











The starch room houses crackers, pretzels and all the items that need to stay dry with little exposure to humidity.





Their signature butter creams are made in house. The cutter, bottomer, coated and cooling table facilitate fast and continuous production. They make over 5,000 pounds of finished butter creams each year.






Fourth generation family member, Katherine, oversees quality control and packing.






Their other location makes hollow chocolate molds.







We had a great time on the tour!





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Awards banquet

Bob Anderson entertained us with beach-themed acoustic guitar music during the casual banquet dinner.






Dinner was salad, lobster, scallops, sausage, scallops, corn on the cob, pasta, chicken finished with chocolate and ice cream and coffee.





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IT'SUGAR

The Atlantic City boardwalk leads to IT'SUGAR, a retail franchise specializing in nostalgic, major branded candy.











Islands of candy separated candy balls, gummies and sours.





Their largest gummy beat is 9" tall!


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