Now, when people ask me what should they try when they go to Asheville, I always tell them, "Check out the French Broad Chocolate Factory."

Let's take a look.

[playful music] - French Broad Chocolates is a bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing company and retail experience brand.

So what that means is that we make chocolate from cacao that we source from all over the world here in our chocolate factory.

And with that chocolate, we make a myriad of products.

Everything from bonbons to cake and cookies and brownies and ice cream and drinking chocolate and everything you could imagine that's made of chocolate comes from chocolate we make here.

We started in Minnesota.

My partner and I bought a 40-foot school bus and converted it to run on used vegetable oil and drove the bus to Costa Rica.

And during this two-year period, we had opportunity to be in a place where cacao grows and meet farmers and see the plant and learn about cacao and become really committed to our path forward in cacao and chocolate.

After two years in Costa Rica, we decided to make the move to Asheville, and so we opened the Chocolate Lounge, the first location in 2008, and we've been growing and evolving ever since.

So our Chocolate Factory version one opened in 2012, and we moved to this new bigger location in 2018.

- Giving a tour of our factory is part of our mission.

It's part of our reason for existence is to show people how chocolate is made and to demystify the experience of turning this foreign material, raw cocoa beans, into the delicious, wonderful stuff we know as chocolate.

- When guests come for a tour, they get to come in to our cafe and retail space where they're welcomed by our team here.

So they get to kind of peruse the chocolate before we take them back into the classroom where we get to talk to them about the company, how it got founded.

We get to talk to them about cacao agriculture and sustainability.

Then they get to sample some of our chocolate bars.

So we take them through a guided sampling of three of our different bars, plus one of our handcrafted bonbons.

Then we get to bring them out into the factory where we get to show them the process of going from cacao bean to chocolate bar.

After the tour's concluded, they get to come back into the cafe and sample some of our delicious ice creams, brownies, cookies and coffee drinks.

[mellow string music] - I'm eating the coffee nib, and then the coconut too.

The coconut's really rich and creamy, but the coffee nib is by far their best ice cream, in my opinion.

It's such a unique experience, 'cause you get to see, like, all the machinery here, and I mean I think their chocolate and ice cream is just one of a kind.

- I think it's really important to have a sense of where our food comes from.

So when you come here, you get to see the process.

I mean, the quality by itself, but then knowing that beyond is, you know, pretty powerful, and then more meaningful.

- A lot of people who visit Asheville are looking for an immersive food experience, and we are contributors to that experience.

They get to see something they've probably never seen before.

So it's part of the Asheville food experience for adventurers who wanna see how their food is made and experience it in a factory that we built with our own hands.

- [Jael] The Downtown Chocolate Lounge is where people go to experience the products that we make with our chocolate.

We have a little boutique next door to the Chocolate Lounge, and there you can pick up all of our chocolate bonbons and packaged treats to take home.

- I recommend the Chocolate Lounge because one, you can sit here and see everything going on in the center of Asheville, but there's also something for everyone, if you're gluten free, if you're vegan.

I love that it's such an integral part of the community.

Everybody knows this place.

It has such a storied reputation.

It has longevity, and it's also just fun to come to.

Everybody meets here.

You know, it's like the hub in the center of town.

- I would say what sets our chocolate apart and our desserts apart from most people is the fact that we are so deeply invested in sourcing.

So everything is made with intention, sourced with integrity, and crafted with care.

So the quality is always as fine as we can possibly find, and we have a growing team of talented people who help make the amazing desserts that people wanna experience.

[mellow relaxing music] - French Broad Chocolate Factory is at 821 Riverside Drive, number 199 in Asheville, and they're open every day from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

The Chocolate Lounge is at 10 South Pack Square in Asheville and they're open daily from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

To find out more, you can call them at [828] 348-5187 or go online to frenchbroadchocolates.com.