New and exciting additions are in the works for ALL CANDY EXPO®’s 2008 Gourmet Marketplace!

In 2008, the entrance of the Gourmet Marketplace will be located in the main cross aisle, just beneath the Buyer’s Club on the show floor. This improved location on the show floor will add extra visibility making this a “can’t miss” opportunity for all attendees. A "grander" atmosphere will be debuted as well including bigger banners and better signage throughout the Marketplace along with friendly, chef-attired greeters positioned at many entrance points into the Gourmet Marketplace. The greeters will also distribute custom brochures to attendees explaining many of the finer points of the Gourmet Marketplace.

NEW Speaker Added For Wednesday Educational Lunch Session at Noon in the Candy Time Today Room:

Jacques Torres - Master Chef, Dean of Pastry Arts

Audience members will be entertained with a unique perspective on chocolate. What's behind the explosion of consumer interest in fine chocolate and where it will lead, what can the industry do to maintain consumer interest in the entire category, what trends will be hot in the coming years, and what does the future hold for chocolate retailing?

Audience members will be treated to a gourmet boxed lunch featuring a meal using cocoa in a non-traditional, savory manner. At the conclusion of the lunch, the audience receives a short guided tasting of chocolate using squares packaged in the boxed lunch. Audience members will be instructed on how to identify quality chocolate based on smell, sound, and appearance.

This special educational session is brought to you by the Chocolate Council of the National Confectioners Association.

The Gourmet Marketplace gets even more exclusive in 2008 with some of the most well-known names in the industry at "A Taste of Gourmet"!

Meet the "who's who" in chocolate at new at the 2008 “A Taste of Gourmet” located inside the Gourmet Marketplace on the EXPO floor:

Michael Antonorsi - Chuao Chocolatier Master Chef

Arouse your senses with a hands-on truffle making experience...

Join Chef Michael Antonorsi for a hands-on truffle making experience along with a decadent bonbon tasting. Learn how his mix of savory ingredients, exotic spices, highly-prized Venezuelan chocolate (and endless imagination) has become Chuao Chocolatier’s recipe for success. Michael is the co-founder/chocolatier for Chuao Chocolatier, based in Carlsbad, CA. His unique vision for chocolate is to create multi-sensorial confections that arouse the senses with unusual, unexpected and delicious flavors. Born and raised in Venezuela, he left behind the technology industry to pursue his dream of becoming a chef, ultimately training as a French Chef at École Supérieure de Cuisine Française Ferrandi in Paris and completing specialized training in Pastry and Chocolaterie at the École LeNôtre. In 2002, Michael partnered with his brother Richard to open a small chocolate café in San Diego, CA, which they named after Chuao, the legendary cacao growing region. Chuao Chocolatier currently owns and operates five chocolate cafés in Southern California and a boutique in Coral Gables, FL. Select chocolate bars, hot chocolate, ChocoPod and other gourmet chocolate confections are also available at fine retailers nationwide, including select Whole Foods, Safeway, Wegmans, Crate & Barrel, Cost Plus World Imports and Pier 1 and five star hotels including Omni Hotels, La Costa Resort & Spa, and Four Seasons.

Toblerone

Transport yourself to the Swiss Alps and relax in the TOBLERONE Swiss Lodge.  Surround yourself with the cozy atmosphere of a Swiss ski chalet, relax by the fireplace, and sink into our comfortable sofas as you sample the delicious, creamy taste of TOBLERONE chocolate with honey and almond nougat.  Don't forget to savor our TOBLERONE milk chocolate fondue and enjoy a true Swiss experience.  Put your feet up and lose yourself in the TOBLERONE Triangle.

Dove

Joseph Schmidt – Master Chocolatier

Award-winning master chocolatier Joseph Schmidt turns the craft of chocolate making into an art form where the masterpieces are as delicious as they are beautiful. From hand-painted chocolate Mosaics™ and signature dome-shaped truffles to elaborate chocolate sculptures, Joseph’s talent and passion for the art of chocolate is world-renowned. Today, as an award winning master chocolatier, he has earned the reputation of the “Rodin of Chocolate,” and his chocolate sculptures have been displayed at the American Crafts Museum in New York. Special commissions have included: an Eiffel Tower for the French Ambassador, a 25 pound cable car for the Queen of England, a white dove for Nelson Mandela and a giant panda for Prince Philip and the World Wildlife Organization. After over 20 years in the chocolate business Joseph’s passion for designing and sculpting chocolate have not diminished. He can still be found in the Joseph Schmidt™ Confections factory hand painting truffles or developing innovative new chocolates to please the eyes and palate.

Emery A. Dorsey IV, Master Confectioner

Stephany's Chocolates, a division of Enstrom Candies
www.enstrom.com
www.stephanyschocolates.com

Master Confectioner and 3rd generation candy maker Emery Dorsey brings a nostalgic perspective to confections as he demonstrates traditional hand crafted creations. Explore, learn and understand the inner workings of hand-made confections and the fading craft of the American candy maker. Emery has been featured in Saveur Magazine, Good Morning America, Food Finds, the Food Network and has had the privilege to be part of a food presentation representing nostalgic confections at the Smithsonian Institute. Currently with Colorado based Enstrom Candies, Emery has created confections for Harry & David, Williams-Sonoma, Hammond's Candies and has recently moved Stephany's existing line of chocolates to all natural using only the freshest ingredients to retain a luxurious taste and hand crafted appeal.

Stephany's Chocolates was acquired by Enstrom Candies in 2006 and both companies have been creating chocolate delicacies in Colorado since the early 1960’s. Using only the finest ingredients with meticulous care for quality and taste, the candy kitchens have created a variety of delicious sweets that have won awards and acclaim. Today, Enstrom’s and Stephany’s are one of the leading manufacturers of an all-natural line of premium chocolates that are prepared from scratch using proprietary recipes and only the freshest ingredients. Among its diverse collection of natural ingredients, Stephany's gift line of chocolates uses only carefully selected natural flavors: rich Madagascar vanilla, Guittard chocolate, cane sugar, sea salt, sun-drenched California almonds, Myer lemons, red raspberries, to name a few.

Chocolat Michel Cluizel
Featuring Executive Pastry Chef Frederic Loraschi

Executive Pastry Chef for Chocolat Michel Cluizel, Frederic Loraschi, will demonstrate and showcase his exquisite chocolate creations. His passion and attention to detail ensures customers are delighted with every chocolate they taste. Frederic Loraschi has years of experience in creating confections. A native of France, he is known for sculpting impressive chocolate and sugar showpieces. For the last two years, Chocolat Frederic Loraschi has been supplying some of the most prestigious hotels across the country with his unique chocolate confections.

Chocolat Michel Cluizel has been making chocolate in the southern Normandy region of France to an exclusively high standard, in the French chocolate making tradition, since 1948. Michel is now joined by his two sons and two daughters in one of the last independent chocolate companies to manufacture from the very beginning of the process to the end. As an owner of cocoa bean farms in almost every region of the world where cocoa is grown, Cluizel produces a wide variety of interesting chocolates with 85% and 99% cocoa content and two milk chocolates containing 50%. Whether you want this fine French chocolate for your own enjoyment or for making pastries and treats, Michel Cluizel's chocolates are among the best in quality and taste! Michel Cluizel is one of the rare chocolate manufacturers to process cocoa beans. Assisted by his four children, he elaborates exceptional chocolates in his Normandy workshops employing 200 people. Today, more than 6000 professionals in pastry, catering and candy making use or resell Michel Cluizel chocolates all around the world.

Green & Black's USA

People often ask us how such a name as Green & Black’s came to be. Quite simply, it was fashioned by the company’s founders to symbolize the true foundations of the brand: green for organic and black for the deep, rich dark brown (almost black) color of the chocolate. From those early days back in Notting Hill, London, it is unlikely the founders could have envisioned what a huge success Green & Black’s would become. Today, we remain true to their original values of ethical trading and organic products. Our aim continues to be the creation of chocolate products that gives a taste experience like no other. We believe every new creation has to be the best we’ve ever tasted of its kind, and requires the time and care to bring out the intense chocolate flavor that has become our trademark.

At Green & Black’s, we believe every step in the process is equally important in creating great-tasting, intensely flavorful chocolate. From carefully harvesting the Trinitario and Criollo cocoa pods to roasting the beans to stirring the paste, join us as we journey, From Bean to Bar......

Don’t miss this HOT EXPO Session:

Tuesday, May 20 (3:30 – 4:15 PM) in the main session room outside the exhibit hall entrance

“Trends from the World’s Top Chocolate Artisans”
Panelists include:
Michael Antonorsi, Chuao Chocolatier Master Chef ; Andrew Shotts, Garrison Confections; and Elaine Gonzalez, Master Chocolatier Emerita

Join our panel of top chocolate artisans for a delicious afternoon Hot Chocolate drink and a look at the hottest new trends in gourmet chocolates relating to consumers, flavors, products, points of distribution, sales and markets.