You like chocolate. I like chocolate. The kids, well of course they like chocolate. So that’s pretty much enough reason to pile into the car and head for The Hill to tour Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate’s factory.
And it’s free.
The Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate factory is not far from Forest Park, so you can stop by here first then run off their energy at the Zoo or St. Louis Science Center. That’s what we did! (The Factory is located at 5025 Pattison Ave. They also have eight other locations, plus you can find their goodies at Grant’s Farm new candy shop.)
Tours are every half-hour during the week and on Saturday:
Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Saturday – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (You need to RSVP on Saturday!)
You also need to RSVP if you’re bringing a group. Otherwise, just drop on by on a weekday. The tour guide will explain how they make all the wonderful chocolates, show you the kitchen and if you’re lucky, you might see a ton of caramel–yes TON–on the table behind your tour guide:
At the end of the tour, you can sample one delightful piece of chocolate…fresh off the line!
Now you know that isn’t going to be enough chocolate. So after the tour, feel free to belly up to the bar, uh, candy counter, and buy some chocolate to take home. It’s priced by the pound so you can mix up a heck of a sampler. The showroom is also full of candy in boxes and baggies ready to grab and go.
You can also by a $5 “golden ticket” to visit the tasting room. $5 lets you sample five pieces of chocolate. We went ahead and did this, but it may not have been worth it. Though Ryan (my teenager) and I totally enjoyed the truffles and fancy chocolate, my 6 year-old turned his nose up at anything hinting of fruit and nuts. We ended up buying him a bag of his own plain chocolates and Ryan and I arm wrestled over the leftovers from the sampling session. (Yes, they will let you take home the samples you pick if the thought of eating a fistful of truffles in one setting is too much.)
The factory is on The Hill at 5025 Pattison Ave. You can call for more info at (314) 338-3501, or check out their website.