BRANDON OLSEN CHOCOLATE 2.0
Here is an excerpt from the Canada's Best 100 article:
TRUST A CHEF MARKED WITH A WILLY WONKA tattoo to launch one of the country's most ambitious chocolate businesses. Helmed by Toronto-based chef Brandon Olsen and entrepreneur Michael Held, As We Do Chocolate Company Inc. is a scaled bean-to-bar Canadian chocolate producer aimed at taking on large conglomerates, one velvety morsel at a time.
As We Do was designed as a chef-driven alternative to international chocolate manufacturers. "Everyone is buying and importing European and U.S. chocolate," says Olsen. Before closing CXBO, his boutique chocolate business, "this was the next major thing that I really wanted to do," he explains. "I thought, 'I need these guys off my ledger and I need to start producing my own chocolate.'"
Every step of the process — from roasting and blending to packaging — will take place at the team's 16,000-square-foot Design District factory. Shelves will be lined with pellets, chips, batons and house bars in singular flavours like raspberry fennel and cinnamon brown butter. "We're unapologetic people," says Olsen. "It's a very unconventional company where we're doing something against the grain."
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