San Francisco Chocolate Makers Hope to Taste Sweet Success

The scent of freshly ground cocoa beans permeates the air of an industrial block in South San Francisco, courtesy of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker--the latest entry in the Bay Area’s renowned chocolate industry.

Like See’s Candies, also based in South San Francisco, and world-famous Ghirardelli, Scharffen Berger aims to make a name for itself by producing high-quality grades of the dark, silky confection for use by pastry chefs at exclusive restaurants, hotels and bakeries across the country.

In fact, John Scharffenberger, co-proprietor of his namesake firm, believes there’s a void in the high-end baker’s chocolate market. He noted that since gourmet foods like coffee have taken off, the time seems right to introduce a new, upscale baking product.

“Thirty years ago, everyone ate Wonder Bread and drank tap water,” Scharffenberger said, implying how times have changed. “No one ate unsalted butter.”

And Scharffenberger knows about cutting-edge trends. In 1981, he founded Scharffenberger Cellars, a Mendocino sparkling wine company modeled on the great European champagne houses.

“There are parallels between champagne and chocolate,” Scharffenberger said, referring to the time and care required to make subtle, fine grades of those products.

But it wasn’t until a few years ago--after he’d sold his interests in the winery to a French conglomerate--that Scharffenberger realized there was room for another high-end chocolate manufacturer.

His doctor, Robert Steinberg, knew how to make chocolate and had extolled its virtues to Scharffenberger. Steinberg had worked for a time at Bernachon, the renowned French chocolate house, during the early ‘90s--shortly after he found out he had lymphoma.

The cancer “made me say, ‘What am I doing? Am I living my life as creatively as I can?’ ” Steinberg recalled.

“For me, the attraction is something I can do that I really feel good about,” he said. “And it’s something very difficult to do. It’s a combination of understanding the product from a scientific standpoint, but also creating something by using my taste buds.”

So last year, the two decided to start Scharffen Berger with a capital investment of about half a million dollars and set up shop in a 5,000-square-foot South San Francisco warehouse at the beginning of the year.

The company, which industry watchers say is the first to be founded in the United States since at least World War II, makes its chocolate from start to finish.

First, it imports beans from a number of countries, including Venezuela, Ghana, Brazil, Trinidad and Papua New Guinea. Once in South San Francisco, the cocoa beans are hulled and ground to a paste-like consistency in imported Swiss and German chocolate mills from the ‘30s and ‘50s. Then the paste is spread in block molds and refrigerated on the premises.

While many higher-end chocolate makers use four to six cocoa beans, Scharffen Berger has blended eight.

“It’s a question of going back to the basic ingredients,” said Steinberg. “The thing that counts is what you start with.”

The company will make about 120,000 pounds of chocolate a year--a small amount by industry standards--and will begin selling its product wholesale next month. The price, the proprietors said, will be competitive with European brands such as Valrhona and Callebaute at $5 to $5.25 per pound.

One of the hurdles the company has overcome is getting the beans in a small enough quantity, said Mike Allured, associate publisher of Manufacturing Confectioner, a trade magazine based in Princeton, Wis.

Scharffen Berger “has done a lot of research,” he said. “It’s not a fly-by-night operation.”

Even competitor Guittard Chocolate Co. thinks Scharffen Berger’s product will find an audience.

“The chocolate industry has been consolidating over the last few years,” said Gary Guittard, president of the Burlingame-based, family-operated bulk chocolate company.

“But that might leave room for small niche players like us and Scharffen Berger.”