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About > About zChocolat |
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It all started when my wife Valerie and I realized that the Internet provided us a perfect opportunity to share our love of supreme quality, hand-made French chocolates with the entire world. In our travels we discovered that most people had never experienced the singularly scrumptious chocolates that are the exclusive domain of smaller, French artisanal craftsmen. We resolved to seek out a small cohort of truly preeminent, regional French chocolatiers and make their masterworks available over the Internet. With this mission, zChocolat.com was born in November 1999.
We moved to the Provence region of France from New Hope, Pennsylvania and began our business from our home in Aix-en-Provence. We spent every spare moment traveling throughout France seeking out the very best local artisan chocolatiers and tasting their unique creations. Finally, we assembled a select team of 4 award winning master chocolatiers, including Pascal Caffet, world champion. Criteria for inclusion as a finalist was based upon overall excellence and how complimentary each line of regional specialties was in relation to others. Of course each of our virtuoso chocolatiers prepares their goods in small batches with outstandingly fresh, premium ingredients, with no fat other than pure cocoa butter and absolutely no preservatives. Many regional ingredients such as peak-of-season fruits, choice ripe nuts, mellow amber honey and even select flowers are not even available in other parts of France.
We realized that creating access to the best chocolate in the world was only the beginning; from the outset we strove to further distinguish ourselves with uncommonly responsive and personal customer service, exquisitely beautiful packaging, peerless gift customization and incomparable services. We also recognized the necessity for fast and efficient express delivery with real-time shipment monitoring - worldwide.
Our chocolates are all 100% made in France (in Auch, Metz, Dijon and Troyes) because there is no substitute for 400 years of artisanal craftsmanship – passionate tradition and zealous adherence to purity. Quality simply cannot be outsourced. Our mahogany boxes are also handmade in France in the Jura region using traditional finger joint assembly; even our custom diamond engravings are carefully prepared under our watchful eye. All customer service is performed by zChocolat.com employees in France so that we can assure that our goal of providing world-class quality service is consistently met. Although we have not outsourced a single component of our business, we embrace those technological developments that allow us to continually provide unparalleled control over quality with meticulous attention to detail.
We are committed to elevating the art of chocolate gift giving to a new level of personal expression - one of imagination, intelligence, and elegance - and one that assures the giver will make a grand and lasting impression. Our rigorous and passionate pursuit of our vision has been recognized and acknowledged frequently from the very start. zChocolat.com has been rated as Forbe’s Favorite and best of the web by Forbes, Inc. since March 2005.
zChocolat.com is headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, with a dedicated logistics center in Forcalquier (Alpes de Haute Provence). Our U.S. office is based in Ojai, CA.
Jean-Philippe Khodara
Co-founder
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| You have given chocolates before... just never like this. |
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