The Xocolate Bar: twenty years of handmade chocolates, art, and delicious invention.

Beautiful. Delicious. Made with love.

We made chocolate into edible art using organic fair trade cocoa and natural ingredients.

A Story in Every Box: original chocolates, unexpected flavors, and inventive packaging.

Always looking for smiles.

World class flavors inspired by an international melting pot. Shaped with humor, poetry, and an appetite for the unexpected.

Delight in Every Bite: photographs of happy customers and shared chocolate moments.

Twenty years of reciprocal love.

Thank you for twenty years of showing up, celebrating, and believing in us. The love went both ways. This extraordinary community sustained The Xocolate Bar against all odds, and we will always be grateful.

See memorial photographs ↗Read the transcript of our closing ceremony →Listen to voice notes from our biggest fans ↗
Happy Clients Served With Care: a collage of client and collaborator logos.

Adventures in Chocolate.

At our peak our chocolates were sold at nearly 400 boutiques nationwide. In addition, we were commissioned by museums, television studios, colleges and corporations for custom work.

Selected honors:
San Francisco International Chocolate Salon Best in Show (2007) · Good Food Award (2020) · SF International Chocolate Salon Best New Product for Faux Brie / Chocuterie (2023) · USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice, #7 Best Chocolate Shop in the U.S. (2025).

Collaborations and appearances included Pixar Chocolate Fest, KQED, KTVU Channel 2, Telemundo, HBO, Mills College Art Museum, Chabot Space and Science Center, Asian Art Museum of SF, Oakland Museum, and more.

Explore the 2025 gift catalog ↗
The People Behind the Magic: an illustrated photographic collage honoring The Xocolate Bar's employees.

The heart of The Xocolate Bar was the people behind the scenes.

We are immensely proud of our final crew and everything they brought to the work.

Read the final crew's glowing letters of recommendation ↗

Meet the Founders.

We're Malena and Clive, founders of The Xocolate Bar. For twenty years, we transformed ideas into chocolates, from the first sketch and flavor test to finished products in the world.

Now available for hire as independent chocolate consultants.

Bring us your chocolate product ideas, formulation challenges, packaging questions, and production problems. We offer focused, practical advice in a live consultation.

Malena's specialties [view CV →]

  • Product and packaging design and development
  • Chocolate product concept, formulation, and recipe scaling
  • Technical troubleshooting
  • Flavor development and production planning
  • Brand voice and creative direction for chocolate products

Clive's specialties

  • International cacao & chocolate tourism — especially Bali, England, France, and Grenada
  • Artisan market event logistics
  • Technical crash course for absolute beginners

Live chocolate consultation: $150 per hour.

Tell us about your project, what you need help with, and where you are in the process. We'll let you know whether we're the right fit.

Email us about your project

Or write directly to founders@xocobar.com.

Malena and Clive smiling together with their child at a chocolate event.
Malena, Clive, and family, making chocolate memories.

Keep in touch.

Malena and Clive's story continues in the art, writing, and experiments that follow. Intricate sculptures, artisan products, and curious objects will always be their visual language.

See Malena's art ↗