Salon du Chocolat NYC 2025 Trip Report: Part 2 of 3

By Clay Gordon | 4 days ago | 10 min read

Je suis arrivé.

A return to NYC for chocolate and more. In Part 2, thoughts (and photos) on my time spent during the Salon Friday through Sunday.

An Abridged History With the Salon in NYC (and Elsewhere)

I attended the first NY Chocolate Show in 1998 at the Puck Building on the corner of Lafayette and Houston Sts. I then attended every show from 1999-2012, which was rudely interrupted by Hurricane Sandy, and then again in 2019 at Javits.

When the show was at the Metropolitan Pavilion, I usually attended as a member of the press, but I was also an informal advisor to the organizers for several editions, gave classes at several editions, and was an exhibitor in either 2006 or 20o7 selling special edition Felchlin bars.

I attended the London Chocolate Show most years in the mid-2010s including at least two editions after the show was purchased by Event International, the last being in 2018 (at London Olympia).

I attended the Salon in Paris at the Porte de Versailles at least nine times (usually as a member of the press but on one occasion with presenting duties) between 2006 and my last visit, also in 2018. (In 2010 I organized my Discover Chocolate in Paris tour to coincide with the Salon.)

Finally, I attended the Salon del Cacao y Chocolate in Lima in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017, always in some official guest/speaker capacity.

I mention all of the above to indicate that I am quite familiar with the format of the Salon du Chocolat – what to expect, the look and feel, how the format has been adapted for international markets, and more; from the perspective of a member of the public, as a member of the press, as an exhibitor, as a presenter, and working with the organizers.

The Chocolate Experiences

For most visitors, the centerpiece of every show is the exhibitors – the companies tasting and selling their products. There were fewer non-endemic (non-chocolate) exhibitors than at many other shows, and just two equipment vendors, which meant a higher percentage of stands offering chocolate.

There were no editions of the NY Chocolate Show in 2013 through 2018 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. After returning in 2019 to Javits as the Salon du Chocolat. there were again no editions in 2020 through 2024 because of COVID. There was also a change of ownership in 2018, a new US production partner in 2019, and a different new production partner (the Salon du Chocolat is franchised outside of France) for this year. And this was their first consumer show and the first food show for this new company, and the show has also been delayed from the original date of November 2024. So there was a lot that could go wrong.

Despite all the handicaps and challenges the show was, overall, a success. The 50 or so vendors did not fill the River Pavilion at Javits so it was rare that the venue felt overcrowded even at its busiest.

Any show like this is a balancing act:

The organizers want as many exhibitors as possible and to max out the occupancy limits by selling tickets to as many people as possible.
No matter how many attendees there are, the exhibitors want more.
Exhibitors prefer fewer exhibitors so they can catch a bigger percentage of attendee spend.
Exhibitors also want exhibitors they see as their peers.
Attendees want a variety of exhibitors but not so many they have trouble seeing everything they want to see, including any culinary demos and other educational programming.

For me, the 2025 Salon du Chocolat NYC was a success both personally and professionally. I saw many friends and colleagues I hadn’t seen in years, made some new business contacts, and followed up with some current consulting clients.

I also spent 2 days walking around NYC for the first time in 2 years (I lived in Manhattan for 12 years, Brooklyn for 2, and in lower Westchester for 25) looking for chocolate old and new. (Those adventures will be covered in Part 3.)

Some of Who and What I Saw (and tasted)

Jenny Samaniego (**Conexíon**, Ecuador); [C] Daniel Corpuz (**Corpuz Chocolatier**, NYC/Philippines); [R] Emily Kellogg (**EJ Chocolates**, Woodstock, NY).

I will be hosting a tasting/interview episode of PodSaveChocolate with Jenny shortly; I picked up a sampling box but did not taste anything during the show – instead, I will be sharing an extensive exploration of Conexíon chocolates soon.

Daniel Corpuz is a relative newcomer to the NY chocolate scene and will be opening a retail location in lower Manhattan presently. I am a fan of ube and the ube bonbon I sampled was first-rate.

EJ Chocolates is located in Woodstock, NY not that far from Fruition in Shokan. Emily’s background includes working in the pastry kitchen of Thomas Keller’s Per Se, and the technical quality of Emily’s products reflects that experience – impeccable. The flavor sensibility is different from Fruition’s and Stick With Me Sweets’ (helmed by Susanna Yoon, another Per Se alum) who both make some products that look similar, and the airbrush work from all three is top-notch. There are no bad choices. And they use different chocolates, which matters.

[L]: **Luster Chocolate**/Trade Mission of Côte d’Ivoire; [C] Tuta Aquino (**Baianí Chocolates**/Vale Potomuju, Brazil); [R] Prophecy Chocolate (Vermont).

The Ivorian Trade Mission had reserved a small pavilion of stands but all but one of the companies were able to secure travel visas, which was unfortunate for everyone, and I fear, is a harbinger of hard times to come for international exhibitors hoping to participate in the NW Chocolate Festival later this year – and in the future. Only Luster Chocolate, which produces products in CdI using Ivorian beans participated. Their products were solid and my personal favorite was the panned cashews. (I helped develop a panned cashew product for a consulting client selling into national distribution and they are surprisingly hard to do well.)

I first met Tuta Aquino (Juliana did not attend the show) co-founder of Baianí in person on my first trip to São Paulo in 2017 and have twice stayed in their home and have seen them at shows in Brazil, here in the US, and in Europe. I have not visited their farm in Bahia though I have been in the area on three occasions. I like their work a lot – especially bars flavored with Brazilian fruits and other ingredients. I will be hosting a tasting/interview episode of PodSaveChocolate with both of them soon, tasting five bars, including two vintaged (2018 harvest) bars.

Prophecy Chocolate was new to me and one of the highlights of their presentation was bars made from T. Cacao, T. Bicolor (aka jaguar cacao or pataxte), and T. Grandiflorum (aka cupuaçu). The flavor combinations can be a little eccentric (which is not a bad thing) and everything is well-made and well-thought-out.

Three chocolate dresses, sponsored by **Canonica** (Geneva), were on display. The theme for this year was *Fairytales and Folklore Meet Futuristic Fantasy*.

A small sampling of the bars on display/offer from **World Wide Chocolate** – an online retailer/distributor based in New Hampshire. While there is some overlap with other online sellers and brick-and-mortar retailers here in NYC, the selection is broad and deep and includes a mix of craft and other products, not just bars. The Fjåk Brown Cheese (Brunost) bar sold out at the show. I had a chance to chat with Amano founder Art Pollard at the show.

[L] Viviane Gontijo (**Vivilicious**, Massachusetts) showed that even with a modest stand, good work stands out. The work is attractive with well-balanced flavor combinations in collections that are very affordable; [C] **Chocolaterie Eka** (Madagascar) is making chocolate from beans and wraps their bars in packages with beautiful illustrations. The work is solid but will benefit from work to make it more accessible; [R] Omniyas is located in Massachusetts but sources its products from Lebanon. The sampler of chocolate-covered dates (four variations) was first rate and I have some more items I will be tasting in my PodSaveChocolate Salon wrap-up episode.

[L] **Chocolaknin** (New York/Paris) participated in my Salon Preview episode and I got a chance to taste a selection of bonbons, chocolate-covered candied fruit (orange, grapefruit, ginger), and chestnut (marron) paste. All very French and the candied ginger was *exceptional*; [C] **Finca Manantiales** (Manabi, Ecuador) was showing off chocolate made from beans from their own farm in Manabi. The 100% is a *very* solid choice for baking and making hot chocolate; [R] **Mishti Chocolates** was another example of a modest stand showing of some well-thought-out and well-made work – the Mango Chili was my favorite.

The standout surprise from the show was this bar from **Ayitika** (founder Jean Jean is in the center of the photo) – located in Haiti producing bars from beans grown in Haiti. The bar shown contained a mix of Amelonado Forastero and Criollo beans and delivered an unexpected, complex flavor profile that delivered a clear expression of the beans from both families. Technically, it was also extremely well-made. Hands down this is the best bar I have ever tasted that was made in Haiti. They don’t have distribution (yet), but with work this good it should not take long.

I have things to say about many other exhibitors – including samples to taste live from some – on the Tuesday, April 1st episode of PodSaveChocolate.

Educational and Demo Programming

The crowd for Jacques Torres’ demo and Q&A was SRO.

Some Closing Thoughts

A show like the Salon is a delicate balancing act.

No matter how many attendees there are, the exhibitors and organizers want there to be more – ideally right at the maximum occupancy limit of the venue – because more attendees mean more sales (on average). However, that number of people can make the visitor experience frustrating because of overcrowding making it difficult to get from one part of the venue to another and limiting the amount and quality of time that can be spent talking to exhibitors and buying stuff from them.

The organizers also want as many exhibitors as will fit on the floor plan, but exhibitors are often happier if there are fewer other exhibitors – less competition for the dollars that attendees have to spend.

Attendees also often have a sense of entitlement when it comes to sampling – they want to get “value” for the cost of the admission ticket which can lead to some pretty egregious grazing behavior.

At the 2025 NY Salon du Chocolat there was an ebb and flow each day – sometimes it seemed very busy and then a few minutes later it seemed emptier, only to get busier again. It’s hard to know how much of that was due to people sitting down for demos and classes and how much was due to the T-shaped space of the venue – the River Pavilion.

Overall, attendance was lightest on Friday but many exhibitors indicated that sales were strong and they valued being able to chat with attendees without jostling and being interrupted. Saturday was much busier and there were times when moving around was a challenge. Sales were also strong. Sunday’s attendance was somewhere between Friday’s and Saturday’s (at least it seemed that way to me), but the exhibitors I asked said sales were lower than on Friday.

For me, my time at the Salon was a total success, personally and professionally. I had a plan in mind when I walked in on Thursday (set up day) and kept to it over the weekend. I met the local organizers (from Messe Frankfurt USA) for the first time in person and caught up with dozens of chocolate colleagues and chocolate friends, many of whom I have known for a decade or more and some for over two decades. I also met up with some consulting clients. I met a lot of makers new to me and got to taste their work for the first time. I had the opportunity to chat about new business opportunities I will be following up with in the next weeks as well as picking up chocolate samples for future tasting/interview episodes of PodSaveChocolate.

Parts 1 and 3

In part 3 I will be covering my time walking around Manhattan on on Monday and Thursday.