Taza Chocolate, one of my favorite artisan chocolate makers, just got badly hit by a flash flood (note: video plays automatically).
From an email they just sent out/their blog:
“Around 3pm, Taza’s Director of Manufacturing (i.e. Head Chocolate Making Guy), Mike Schechter, thought maybe he’d pop by our newly renovated, first floor chocolate factory for a quick look, just to be safe. He arrived to find Windsor St. more river than roadway. And once inside, he found water pouring unchecked into the factory via a breach in our building’s front exterior wall, and bubbling up from the drains in the floor. The new chocolate production facility, where we’d turned out our first batch of Mexicanos just last week, was already sitting in an unwelcome lake several inches deep, and the water was still coming.”
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After much hard work, Taza employees cleaned the place up and are now faced with the task of rebuilding their ruined cubicles and destroyed drywall. They also have to shut down production for at least a week.
Note: below photo is from a Taza factory tour I took a year ago, pre-flood damage.
I feel so bad from them! They were incredibly nice to me when I visited, and they’re clearly crazy passionate about what they do, and it shows in the quality of their chocolate and the care that they put into it. For a small, artisanal company, a set-back like this must be tough.
One bright note: their already made chocolate supply is still dry and totally tasty. If you’ve been putting off trying their goods, or if you’ve gotten to taste and know their deliciousness already, now’s a great time to buy their chocolate goodies. They could really use the cash flow help as they’re dealing with the double whammy of losing production time and financing repairs.