TCHO

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title: "TCHO" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-companies-established-in-2005", "food-and-drink-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area", "brand-name-chocolate", "2005-establishments-in-california", "chocolate-companies-based-in-california", "manufacturing-companies-based-in-san-francisco", "food-and-drink-companies-established-in-2005"] description: "Berkeley, California craft chocolate maker" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCHO" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Berkeley, California craft chocolate maker ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	TCHO Ventures, Inc
type	Subsidiary
industry	Food
foundation	2005
founder	Timothy Childs & Karl Bittong
location	Berkeley, California, US
key_people	{{ubl
Brad Kintzer<ref name	"nytimes/2018/tcho" (Chief Chocolate Maker)}}
products	Chocolate Bars, Couverture Chocolate, Cacao Nibs, Plant Based Chocolate
owner	Ezaki Glico
homepage
::

| name = TCHO Ventures, Inc | logo = | type = Subsidiary | industry = Food | genre = | foundation = 2005 | founder = Timothy Childs & Karl Bittong | location = Berkeley, California, US | location_city = | locations = | area_served = | key_people = {{ubl|Takayuki Date (CEO)| Brad Kintzer (Chief Chocolate Maker)}} | products = Chocolate Bars, Couverture Chocolate, Cacao Nibs, Plant Based Chocolate | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | assets = | equity = | owner = Ezaki Glico | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | footnotes = | intl = | location_country = | homepage = TCHO is a chocolate maker based in Berkeley, California, US that promotes itself as working with cacao bean farmers and cooperatives to improve growing, fermentation and drying methods. The company's factory and headquarters were previously located on Pier 17 along the Embarcadero, in San Francisco's historic waterfront district, but moved to the West Berkeley section of Berkeley, California. In February 2018, it was announced that TCHO would be bought by the Japanese confectionery company Ezaki Glico.{{Citation | last = Sciacca | first = Annie | title = Japanese firm to buy Berkeley-based chocolate maker TCHO | newspaper = The Mercury News | date = February 20, 2018 | url = https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/20/japanese-firm-to-buy-berkeley-based-chocolate-maker-tcho/}}

History

TCHO was co-founded in December 2005 by Timothy Childs, a technology and chocolate entrepreneur who once developed vision systems for NASA's Space Shuttle program, and Karl Bittong, a 40-plus year veteran of the chocolate industry.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/TCHO_Chocolate_headquarters.jpg" caption="Former headquarters on Pier 17"] ::

In 2006, the company moved to Pier 17, a historic pier built in 1912 and the third-oldest pier there. Historically, the pier has been used for transport, military logistics, and trade, including the trade of cacao beans to San Francisco. The TCHO chocolate factory was assembled by a team of engineers using vintage German machines and modern refiners and grinders. In April 2014 TCHO left Pier 17 and moved their offices and factory to Berkeley, California.

TCHO teamed with Erik Spiekermann of Edenspiekermann for design and branding. Its packaging design have won awards and honors, including the Academy of Chocolate Gold Award in February 2009, the European Design Gold Award in May 2009, the iF communication design award in August 2009, as well as nominations for the 2009 Cannes Design Lions and 2011 German Federal Design Award.

Products

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/TCHO_Dark_Duo_chocolate_bar.jpg" caption="A TCHO plant-based dark chocolate bar"] ::

The company manufacturers two single-origin dark chocolate bars, plant-based chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, cocoa powder, roasted cacao nibs and baking chocolate. It primarily sells its products to United States retailers. They also offer wholesale options and bulk for chocolatiers and makers.

TCHO Source

TCHO promotes its direct investment in partnerships with cacao farmers through its TCHO Source Program, where it aims to provide farmers with the technology and know-how in 'open source' fashion. "Flavor Labs" have been installed at co-ops throughout the world for farmers.{{Citation | last = Crooks | first = Peter | author-link = | title = Louis and the Chocolate Factory | magazine = Diablo Magazine | pages = | date = April 2010 | url = http://www.diablomag.com/Diablo-Magazine/April-2010/Louis-and-the-Chocolate-Factory/}}

References

References

1. (2018-08-31). "tcho careers". [[nytimes.com]].
2. (21 February 2018). "Ezaki Glico snaps up US craft chocolate business TCHO". [[William Reed Ltd]].
3. "Chocolate.com". The Economist.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::