The Vision
L.A. Burdick Chocolates began with one man, one set of Swiss tools, and one singular vision – to create true artisan chocolate bonbons. In 1987, our founder and the company’s namesake Larry Burdick returned from training as a chocolatier in Bern, Switzerland bearing a chocolate pot, guitar cutter for cutting ganache, dipping forks, and one radical idea. He desired to make chocolate confections that could truly be called chocolate. At the time, what was called chocolate in America was often mass-produced, molded candy, made mostly of sugar and flavored with poor-quality cocoa. He took to the kitchen. With this vision as the foundation and with his philosophy and style of combining Swiss know-how, French gastronomic thoughtfulness, and American imagination, Burdick introduced his friends, neighbors, and the general public to true chocolate delicacies where chocolate that has been made from exceptional-quality cocoa beans is the main ingredient, not sugar. Larry Burdick is widely regarded as a pioneer of fine chocolates in America.