Crowdfunding push to relaunch The San Francisco Chocolate Factory brand
Bridge Brands - which was formerly known as The San Francisco Chocolate Factory - has launched a campaign on crowdfunding site Fundable.com to resurrect the brand.
The San Francisco Chocolate Factory was started in 2000 and manufactured city-themed chocolate products to the tourist trade in the Bay Area.
“As tourists went home, we started getting more calls for shipments to other parts of the country,” said CEO Mike Litton. “We changed our name to Bridge Brands about five years ago to accommodate other parts of the country that wanted less of a San Francisco affiliation.”
“As we started developing more products for other cities and other niche markets, we lost our focus on simply selling gourmet chocolates under our original name, The San Francisco Chocolate Factory, our strong base,” he added.
Chocolate discs
Bridge Brands offers chocolate discs including 31% white chocolate, 38% milk chocolate and 72% dark chocolate. They retail between $7.50 and $10 for a three-ounce tin and are primarily available in specialty shops, duty-free shops, wineries, souvenir shops, as well as Marshalls and BevMo throughout the US.
“We are unique insofar as we sell gourmet chocolate in bite-sized pieces in tins designed for different niche markets,” said Litton.
The business said it has opted for the crowdfunding route to relaunch The San Francisco Chocolate Factory brand as it doesn’t have “deep pockets like Hershey, Nestlé and Mars.”
“We started the business with personal savings and have plowed everything back into the company as we have grown,” Litton said. “We need the capital to finally hire the sales support and marketing experience we need to grow sales of our products.”
The old-fashioned way
Otherwise, it will “keep doing things the old fashioned way, with blood, sweat, and tears,” added marketing consultant Skip Sanzeri.
The company hopes the funding will help to grow the business by at least 30% per year and to increase its national distribution.
