Open For Business: Chocolat Michel Cluizel Museum In West Berlin
BERLIN, N.J. (CBS) -- When most people think about chocolate, they focus on the taste and don't think much about what goes into the delicious treat. But there's a lot involved.
In this week's Open for Business segment, Vittoria Woodill heads to Berlin, New Jersey to a chocolate museum to learn a lot more.
It may be miles away from France, but inside of a delicious museum in Berlin, a french escape awaits you where you can taste and learn all about the ancient marvel that is the cocoa bean on behalf of a world-class french chocolatier.
"Welcome, this is the Chocolatrium by Michel Cluziel and we're in West Berlin believe it or not. So here, the first person you see is Michel Cluizel, and he was the founder with his parents in 1948. We found this building here in West Berlin and then the Cluziel family said OK, that's great but now that you have a big building, it's not enough to just do wholesale. Why don't you as well do some production? But at the same time, show people the difference between chocolates," Michel Cluizel President Jacques Dahan said.
Dahan's directive from the family wasn't about explaining the difference between light and dark chocolate, but to enhance people's appreciation for the many hands it goes through before it gets to theirs.
Last year, COVID closed their museum but they still carved out a way to teach.
And because many of their star chef customers were out of work and home as well, they also found a way to give back by sharing a shipment of their chocolate from France with their friends from all over the world.
Watch the video for the full story.