One of Toronto’s top chefs is opening a 16,000-square-foot chocolate factory
Brandon Olsen wants to keep chocolate Canadian
Brandon Olsen knows Canadians have a thing for chocolate. Canada ranks among the world’s top consumers of the sweet stuff, and with his new company, As We Do Chocolate Co., he plans to wean us off American and European supplies.
A chef who has spent his career cooking at some of Toronto’s top restaurants, including Bar Isabel and La Banane, Olsen has led a double life as a chocolatier. “I’m a serial entrepreneur,” he says. “This will actually be my third chocolate company—I had one way before CXBO.”
Despite having a loyal base of customers who were drawn to his hand-painted bonbons and viral Ziggy Stardust Egg, Olsen left CXBO in 2020 over disputes with his former partner, King Street Food Company. CXBO closed permanently in 2022.
Its lessons, however, lived on. Specifically, Olsen’s keen awareness of a gaping hole in the Canadian chocolate market. “I realized that all the food service industry—restaurants, hotels, caterers, bakers—all their chocolate comes from US and European conglomerates. It never made sense to me why there can’t be a Canadian chocolate manufacturer that is really going after the Canadian market.”
Olsen and his business partner, Michael Held, plan to do just that. Working with a Belgian importer, the team will blend beans sourced from around the world to make chocolate chips, nibs, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, flavoured bars—and rare appearances of Olsen’s Disco Eggs and beautiful bonbons.
Available through the company’s digital store, the products will also be lining shelves at the As We Do factory, where all manufacturing and packaging will take place. “I’ve got a 16,000-square-foot chocolate palace in the Design District,” says Olsen. “We’re going to have 14,000 square feet of production. The other 2,000 square feet will be divided between boardrooms, offices, testing labs, kitchens and a retail outlet. You can come in, buy all the chocolate you want and watch it being made. You can smell, see it and taste it.”
Designed to accommodate chocoholics as well as professional chefs, As We Do aims to provide a local alternative to the industry’s top players. “I’m not a dummy—I don’t think that I’ll be replacing Valrhona or Cacao Barry or any of the big ones,” says Olsen. “They’re just so massive. But what I want to do is get the Canadian market to realize that we don’t need to be beholden to these conglomerates. Canadians can make Canadian chocolate to support Canadian restaurants.”
While it began to take shape years ago, Olsen’s new chocolate company is debuting when national pride is at a peak. “What we have on our side is this whole buy Canadian, elbows up movement,” he says.
Currently launching via a Kickstarter pre-sale campaign, As We Do Chocolate Company’s full digital platform and e-commerce site is scheduled to go live on February 24. The factory will open for business this September—no golden ticket required for entry.
