My Chocolate Meltdown

By ARTHUR LUBOW
NYT

TO investment bankers, it’s welcome news that Kraft Foods is offering more than $16 billion to acquire the British candymaker Cadbury: Maybe the frozen credit markets are thawing. As a chocolate fiend, bunkered in my kitchen alongside a simmering bain-marie, I find it an ominous prospect.

Four years ago, another American food giant, Hershey, swallowed up a small chocolate company named Scharffen Berger. Started in 1997 by a sparkling-wine producer, John Scharffenberger, and a doctor, Robert Steinberg, Scharffen Berger set out to make an American chocolate that was as delicious as a European confection. And, amazingly, the company succeeded.

First in Dr. Steinberg’s kitchen and later in a handsome factory in the industrial section of Berkeley, Calif., Scharffen Berger developed a line of products that won the brand a passionate following. I myself became devoted to the 82 percent cacao extra-dark bar, with its unctuous mouth feel and fruity, acidic punch.

On top of creating a first-rate product, Scharffen Berger kick-started a movement. High-end artisanal chocolate became the fastest-growing sector of the market. Naturally, the big boys noticed. In January 2005, Scharffen Berger received an unsolicited offer from Hershey. The owners had not yet begun to consider selling the company. Revenues had hit $10 million and were escalating quickly. It made sense to hold onto the business for a while.

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