If you’re from Kansas City, you’ve probably gifted an out-of-towner a box of Christopher Elbow Chocolates.
Over the last two decades, self-described “accidental chocolatier” and Kansas City native Christopher Elbow has dazzled locals and visitors with his brightly-colored bonbons.
Earlier this week, a group of KCUR supporters visited the craft chocolate shop's Crossroads Arts District location to get the "Cacao Experience" tour and a craft chocolate tasting.
The tour gives people a behind-the-scenes look at how Elbow chocolate is made, a brief history of the confection and the environmental and social challenges surrounding the industry today.
Operations manager Ethan Taylor, who's been with the company since the beginning, tells KCUR that he and Elbow knew very little about chocolate going into the business.
"We learned a lot from each other," Taylor says. "Information is a lot more accessible now than it was when we started, so it's easier to kind of figure those things out if you do have a problem. But back then, it was a lot of trial and error."
The company has been so successful here in the Heartland that it’s gone on to open a storefront in San Francisco and another in Breckenridge, Colorado.
This craft chocolate tasting and tour was one of many experiences sold at KCUR's annual RadioActive fundraiser in June.
- Ethan Taylor, operations manager of Christopher Elbow Chocolates
