Whether or not one was exposed to Gene Wilder’s film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Johnny Depp’s chocolate film Willy Wonka, a “chocolate experience” is something real kids or the young at heart would likely cherish.
Hence, a search for this experience seems to be a toll order when Switzerland comes to mind.
It was a blessing in disguise that this author’s family lost slots in a tour of Lindt’s in Zurich. We settled for a Chocolarium instead.
Dubbed Maestrani’s Happiness Factory at Flawil near St. Gallen’s, around 50 minutes from Zurich, we were totally “happy” visiting the factory.
The tour started with a brief and animated history of how the factory began.
Interesting was how the founder Aquilino Maestrani, established the chocolate factory in pursuit of “happiness.”
In his video retelling of his journey, he says he observed smiles and happiness are almost automatically generated when people eat chocolates.
Inspired by the video presentation, it was almost surreal to pass through short, colorful alleys and equally-chololatey-themed cozy rooms. In some way, it was like living one or two scenes from the Willy Wonka film.
Young and older kids explored and played with some stuff, designed to deepen the appreciation for how chocolates are produced.
The favorite room as observed among visitors was the “taste-test room,” where chocolate fondue dripped from communal containers. The yummy liquid chocolates came in different flavors, which included hazelnut, strawberry and dark choco.
Families stayed inside this room longer than the other rooms, enjoying the party-like ambiance the “chocolate buffet” offered.
And true to founder Maestrani’s observation, large smiles and a lot of “happiness” was elicited from guests, who enjoyed every ounce of each chocolate drip!
Once outside this room, a hallway ushered in the site of large pipes that bore different-flavored mini-chocolates, which directly came from the production area via slim, ascending conveyor belts. These manufacturing tool kept pouring in solid chocolate units into container pipes, where visitors can just scoop out several of these mass-produced chocolate samples, according to their liking.
Unfortunately, because the hallway is situated between the actual production areas, guests were prohibited from taking videos or shots of these.
We settled with a single shot by a painted glass window, which concealed the production area.
Towards the end of the hallway, a set of mini-kitchen staff welcomed guests with freshly-prepared chocolate mango cubes, each a mouthful per unit. They were, of course, delightfully good!!!!
Other guests who wanted to bring home self-styled chocolates asked chocolate staff to assist them in creating their own and the staff were just too happy to assist and prepare the “to go chocolates” in boxes for appropriate fees.
Outside this kitchen, an alley allowed guests to enjoy the Chololarium just once more before ushering them out. Here, the glass walls bore drawings and stickers which told of a lot of fun facts about chololate and what has become of the factory over the years.
This walkway also provided mini-telescopes to allow visitors to appreciate the breath-taking view of the freezing suburb outside, in stark contrast with the warm, cozy setting of the chocolate factory.
That was the end of the “formal tour” and once outside, the chocolates produced at the Chocolarium, neatly packed and displayed, are sold. A coffee shop also stood by ready, offering hot chocolate and other snack concoctions.
It was a memorable and yes, “happiness-driven” tour, a unique way of enjoying the legend of chocolate!!!
