This month’s company activity event was a visit to the CHOCXO chocolate factory which happens to be right around the corner from our office. It turns out that CHOCXO is the only bean to bar chocolatier in Southern California so we feel pretty fortunate to be so close.
On the 45 minute tour we learned how the cocoa tree develops its fruit, how CHOCXO responsibly sources their premium beans, and the multi-step process to turn the beans into a wide variety of chocolate products. We got to sample the cocoa at each stage of the process including raw cacao pulp, cocoa nibs, cocoa liquor (no sugar), and, of course, the finished product. We also had fun geeking out on the various industrial automation equipment found throughout the factory.