Traditional Methods, Contemporary Presentation
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shops are a unique blend of the traditional and contemporary. Our franchise chocolate store concept features a contemporary design that prominently showcases in-store cooking, while providing an ideal backdrop for upscale packaging. Every cooking area features a hand-forged copper kettle on a gas-fired stove, a massive 500-pound granite marble slab for cooling confections, and a variety of hand instruments, reinforcing the quality and freshness of the products.
Another trademark is the unusually large size of our famous chocolates. “This was a fortunate mistake,” founder Frank Crail recalls. “In the early days, my partners and I did not know how to make chocolate and had to literally learn on a ping pong table. From the start we made the candy centers too big, not compensating for the added size and weight when coating the pieces in chocolate. And if they didn’t look quite right we would dip them again.” But the mountain-sized pieces instantly caught on and have remained the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory signature ever since.
Best of all are the classic treats that visitors will find at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory stores – many of which haven’t been seen by most adults since childhood. Besides the delightful caramel-covered apples (some stores feature over 30 varieties!), fudge is made fresh every day using the marble slab to pull the heat out of the tantalizing confection while the cook shapes it with paddles into a giant 22-pound “loaf.” A variety of fruits, nuts, pretzels and cookies are also dipped by hand in pots of melted milk, dark, and even white chocolate.
“We have a great marketing advantage with our unique, in-store, candy making demonstrations,” Crail adds. “Customers smell caramel or fudge bubbling in a traditional copper kettle on a gas-fired stove. They can watch the cook spin a skewered apple in the hot caramel, or watch fudge being made before their eyes. That’s what people remember most about the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store experience.”