PRESS RELEASE: Golden Tickets to a Chocolate Factory Here in the UAE

081423 - Golden Tickets to a Chocolate Factory Here in the UAE

With just a few months left before Hollywood heartthrob Timothée Chalamet reprises the role of Willy Wonka on the big screen, we found golden tickets tucked right here in a chocolate factory in the UAE.  

Homegrown UAE brand Co Chocolat has just released their own golden tickets which allows every month five lucky winners to join their highly popular Factory Tour and Chocolatemaking at their chocolate factory in Warsan 3, Dubai. Every month, they are discreetly tucking away five golden tickets within the wrappers of their 65-gram Chocolate Bars. Since they started selling online in 2019, chocolate enthusiasts have enjoyed fine flavor chocolates offered in unique and never-before-heard of flavors and choco products; flavors like Japanese Green Tea Matcha with Moringa called “Eat Your Greens”, Turmeric with Black Pepper called “Gold Bar” and a bestseller called “That Skinny” which has chestnuts, almonds and uses coconut sugar so it’s diabetic-friendly. 

“We often get asked by kids during our tours if this is where Willy Wonka lives and I tell them a real  Willy Wonka is here. A female! Then I point to my sister who is the one who creates all the crazy recipes and ideas,” Iman Suguitan, Co-Founder tells us. 

Their very own Willy Wonka is actually Maitre Chocolatier Luchie Suguitan, a female chef who studied bean-to-bar chocolate-making in the USA and specialized in France and is also a cacao farming advocate. Though she may not be as eccentric as the Willy we know from the movies, she has her share of inventions and peculiarities. We asked Chef Luchie what so far has been her quirkiest creations: “That will be when I put anchovies on chocolates as a limited edition choco bar during the Dubai Expo. Then right now, I made hot chocolate which makes people relax and forget about their worries! I put herbs like ashwaganda and maca in there,” she tells us with a twinkle in her eye.

True enough you’ll see them in their retail shop alongside chocolates that also make people get “Laser Focus” and chocolate bars that are “High on Happy.” 

We asked them how until when are they running the golden tickets and they tell us until December when the new Willy Wonka movie comes out. 

Now while this 2023 rendition of the 1963 book by Roald Dahl promises the same magical characters, audiences are promised to see something fresh and new as they “discover how Will became Wonka”. True to the spirit of this generation, the movie will look at Will’s eccentricities and passion to challenge the chocolate cartels, as the trailer says. This resonates much with the co-founders of Co Chocolat who touts their brand to offer finally, truly healthy chocolates. 

“Chocolate making is all about creating happiness through this brown piece of heaven, but I’m pretty excited about this supposed prequel of the movie because it tackles issues that people were not discussing before. For us here in the UAE, we share with kids and adults who visit the factory how this happiness can be shared both by customers and cocoa farmers. This is what you call ethical chocolates. If we are able to bridge that gap, then here is where the real magic happens.”

As the first Farm-to-Table Chocolate Factory in the Middle East, Co Chocolat offers an indoor experience of the journey of cocoa beans from their very own cocoa farms in Mindanao all the way to the table as chocolate bars, spreads, drinks, baked goods and kitchen essentials. Customers are able to dine in and make their own chocolates, or go for interactive tours where they explore every step of the process including how farmers are significantly benefited by customers’ chocolate choices. Generous tastings of different types and forms of chocolates including the fresh cacao fruit ultimately tell visitors how chocolates are actually great for the body. 

If Willy were indeed to come to the UAE right now, I guess he’d be proud to see we’re doing something different here, for indeed, “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

Link here for Images

Link here for Videos

About Co Chocolat

Co-founders Luchie and Iman are certified “Cacao Doctors” after they were able to directly grow cacao trees in their farm after one year of graduation in 2015. They co-founded the social enterprise www.OFWparasaMagsasaka.com in 2016 and continue to empower farmers through healthy chocolates. Their farm-to-table factory is in Warsan 3, Dubai. 

Chef Luchie as she is now called by her team of chocolatiers, not only dictates roasting profiles at the cacao farm level, but she also creates all the recipes that Co Chocolat creates here in the UAE. She accomplished her chocolate education in the USA for bean-to-bar chocolate-making and furthered it by attending the school of Valrhona, France in Tain L’Armitage making her the UAE’s first and only maître chocolatier from farm-to-bar. People will see her in action in the factory and on school tours and will have dedicated time to talk to the youth about being both a social entrepreneur and a professional chef.

Instagram: @co_chocolat

Website: www.cochocolat.com

For more info and images/videos:

Whatsapp and Mobile: Iman Suguitan – +971526931041 or Paula - +971582986871

Email: info@cochocolat.com

###