Chicago Chocolate Tours

We thoroughly enjoyed our Chocolate tour last Thursday. Jenny was a wonderful tour guide,very knowledgeable and just perfect.

Dear Jenny and Valerie,

Thanks so much for the fantastic walking tour of Chicago. This was the first full day of our seven-day visit to Chicago and the Chocolate Tour set the tone for a great week. Jenny, our tour leader, gave fascinating insights into the city, its rich history, and its legendary confectioners. The samples were delicious and we returned to several of the stops to make additional purchases. Our tour group was very congenial and Chicago Chocolate Tours made the 2011 Christmas Season so very special to all of us. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for the wonderful photos of our visit and time together.

Best wishes for a wonderful New Year.

My friend, Connie, and I really enjoyed the Geneva Chocolate Tour!

Thanks again!

The girls are still talking about the tour! Thank you for "Making it a Sweet Day!"

Thanks again Valerie for inviting us to go on the new and improved Lakeview tour. As always (and expected), we had a great time! We truly enjoyed seeing you and meeting your mother.


I hope you and your family have a great holiday season!


Cheers,
Katie

**Note from the Founder:

Thanks, Katie!

It's always a pleasure to see you, and I'm glad you and your husband enjoyed the tour!

Sweet holidays from Mom and me!
Valerie
**

Big disappointment! We met in Macy's and spent an hour there for the 1st 3 or 4 stops of the tour. They took us to the candy section of Macy's- Really? I wanted to discover places I would not find on my own. They also took us to the Frango Viewing Kitchen- to look at two pictures on the wall and an empty kitchen with nothing going on inside. The other places we were taken were tea shops and chain stores: one served sandwiches and coffee and had a shelf of chocolates for sale.

Terrible waste of money. Terrible tour. I wanted to explore local shops and boutiques that were unique to Chicago, like Vogues Haute Choclolate and the like. Instead, we stopped at tea shops and department stores and chain restaurants.

Would NOT recommend this particular tour to anyone.

**Note from the Founder:

Hi, Sarena - thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm so sorry and surprised you had
a terrible time! Please let me know which tour you were on, and I'll find out from our Tourguide and the Partner Stores if something happened that was out of the ordinary. I was on two of our Downtown Loop route tours last week, and everyone had such a blast we were all practically singing and dancing by the end! Creating a first-class customer experience is our #1 priority, and my Team of Choc Stars and I work assiduously to make that happen.

Yes, as listed on the Tours page of our website, we visit boutiques and kiosks that are housed inside the grand old Marshall Field's / Macy's building on the Loop route, including Sarah's Pastries & Candies, a local woman-owned shop that rents space from Field's / Macy's. Sarah is a young Chicago native, and she and her team make the chocolates fresh by hand every day. They're a tour favorite, getting rave reviews from our customers, and they're unique to Chicago.

We also visit Charbonnel & Walker, housed inside Field's / Macy's. They're not a Chicago brand; they're a London brand, and the only 2 places I know of to get them in the States are New York City, and right here in Chicago, at their kiosk that we took you to inside Macy's on our tour. I'm told the Queen of England loves their truffles, and they often garner #1 votes on our tour.

We also take you to visit the enrobing machine at the top of Macy's, which used to make the classic Frango Mints, an iconic Chicago chocolate that our customers practically demanded we include! The machine is now part of the kitchen where fudge is made, and we sample the fresh fudge on the tour. Our customers usually rave about this, saying they can absolutely taste the freshness, and that they love the education we provide about how chocolate is made, while explaining the enrobing machine.

This route has more indoor-time than our other routes, as listed on our website. This fact is beloved by those who want to stay indoors due to hot weather, cold weather, or mobility issues, or who simply want to explore the hidden treasures housed there. We publish our Partner Stores, and details of our routes, and want to make sure our customers' expectations match with what we deliver - and then we want to exceed those expectations!

Argo Tea is also beloved on our tours; they create fresh tea/chocolate/fruit blends just for us, and bake fresh brownies. One of their blended drinks - the Red Velvet - usually leaves our tour customers feeling they drank a cupcake, which is a great feeling! They started in Chicago, and have now expanded to other cities, and we're cheering them on.

I'm not sure which stores you mean in the rest of your description; which store sold sandwiches and coffee and had a shelf of chocolates? Again, our list of stores is listed on the website, and they are all fresh and first class, and I'm sorry you had other expectations and did not enjoy the tour.

You mentioned Vosges brand chocolates; they are a very well-known brand, with a successful factory, which is wonderful, and we're happy to see their accomplishments. Also, they are not in walking distance on our tour, which as described above focuses more on handmade items.

You can always call or email us directly with questions or concerns. I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy our tour, and I thank you again for your time in sharing your feedback. I hope you'll reach out to us directly; I feel you were almost on some other tour, and would love to find out more about what happened, or about how your expectations and what we provide were so divergent.

Wishing you a sweet holiday,
Valerie
**

This tour was a huge disappointment and waste of money. The tour guide was good but most of the stops were a huge let down. Windy City Sweets was great and the owner Jerry talked with us and had a lot of samples and explained everything. If every stop was like this the tour would have been fantastic but that was not the case. The stops were more of a sales pitch to look around and shop rather than an opportunity to sample an assortment of goods and learn about the store or what they were offering.

Other issues:
This is a chocolate tour but two of the stops were at tea shops. I understand there is chocolate in the tea but I don't drink tea so 40% of the tour was a waste.

The tour description says to meet at House of Fine Chocolates but gives the address for Windy City Sweets. So that was one less place we were going to stop. If you went through the trouble of updating the address why not take out House of Fine Chocolates so I am not expecting to go there?

The biggest of all the disappointments was KC Chocolatier. Their "samples" were whatever was left over from the day that they offered to previous customers. Our experience was no different than anyone who would have walked in off the street.

Lastly, the area on the Chocolate Tour website to buy the tickets is not secure. Any time a site wants you to give your credit card information it should a secure page. I will be monitoring my credit card for the next couple weeks to make sure there is no foul play as should anyone else who has bought or will buy tickets.

**
Note from the Founder:

Hello, Ken - I'm terribly sorry you didn't enjoy the tour, and I thank you for sharing your thoughts.

To address your points: my Team of Choc Stars work hard to provide a first-class customer experience; that is our #1 priority, and I'm sorry that what we provide didn't match with what you wanted.

I'm glad you liked Windy City Sweets, and our Tourguide! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the other shops. Won't you contact us by phone or email, so we'll know which tour you were on, and I can find out if something unusual happened that day with the Tourguide and our Partner Stores? I was on our Lakeview route a couple of weeks ago, and the customers all had a blast at each store, so I'd like to find out what exactly happened the day you took the tour, or if this is a case where we could have managed expectations better.

We do visit 2 tea shops, and all of the stops are listed on the website in case people want to read about them in advance. The Lakeview route focuses more on alternative "delivery mechanisms" of chocolate, exploring chocolate in a variety of forms, including chocolate tea, ice cream, brownies, as well as some traditional bonbons. Both tea shops offer a sample of tea - and each shop's take on chocolate tea is totally different, which most of our customers really enjoy - plus a sample of a freshly baked chocolate pastry. We've had customers say they didn't like tea, until they tried it blended with chocolate and raspberry or other ingredients on our tours, and then vote it their favorite thing on the whole tour! Did you try the tea? I hope you gave it a chance; it's fun to try new things - especially when they contain chocolate! Even if you didn't try the tea, did you try the chocolate cookies or brownies at the tea cafes? Our customers tell me they love the freshness and richness.

We used to meet at House of Fine Chocolates for this route, but they are no longer on the tour due to simply not being a good fit at this time. They have great products, and we wish them all the best. We added new store KC Chocolates instead, with their amazing Belgian chocolates, so that our customers would have the same number of stops as always. Was there a lag time with our website updating, or did you see another posting somewhere else on the web with the wrong/old starting location? Again, please do contact us in the office, as we would love to have more details and solve any address problem if one is out there.

I'm so sorry you didn't like KC Chocolates! Most of our customers love them, love that they import their chocolates direct from Belgium with no artificial ingredients, and are thrilled that we added this new store in Chicago to the route. Our arrangement with them is to have you sample special items. Did you not receive these items? When I was last on the Lakeview tour, we sampled one of their dark chocolate hazelnut pralines, as well as truffles, and everyone received a sweet little bag of items to take away. I will talk with them, and please contact us in the office with any additional details.

As for our ordering page, ordering with us is secure, and we haven't had a single problem in 6 years. We take security seriously.

Our website is on a separate host from our domain, and when we put on the security certificate, it comes up as an error for most people because our domain is pointed to the site from a separate host. This alarmed people, so we took the certificate off. We've explored different solutions; the challenge is that we like to key in the information manually into the credit card processor, so that we can give discounts where applicable (to returning customers, for example), and so that we can monitor when a tour is sold out and not have those tickets automatically sold. We're always exploring new tour software, and want the experience for our customers to be as seamless as it is safe.

We run an honest business. We love chocolate, and our customers. Our mission is Uplift Through Chocolate, meaning that we share first-class chocolate, exciting and entertaining chocolate facts and history, and aim to give our customers the time of their life.

I'm sorry we didn't give you that experience, and I hope you'll contact us directly so we can move forward from there. Thank you again for your time and thoughts.

Have a sweet holiday,
Valerie
**

We would like to thank you for your time and knowledge on this tour. It was absolutely a chocolate learning not to mention delicious experience. I didn't know exactly how much time was and is invested in making exquisite chocolate. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Happy Holidays :)
Joseph and Mariane

**Note from the Founder:

Thank you, Joseph and Mariane!

I'm thrilled that you loved the tour!

I know what you mean: seeing and hearing the artistry and care that goes into making first-class chocolate helps us appreciate it even more, doesn't it!

Sweet holidays to you!
Valerie
**

Via Facebook:
Took your tour on Sunday, Nov. 20. What a treat! Literally! I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates exceptional chocolate. Thank you for a delicious morning!

Valerie,

Wanted to congratulate you on the Influential Woman of 2011 Award, and on an inspiring & I'm sure delicious business success story. As a Choco-holic, I look forward to taking advantage of future tours.

Mario Bilotas, President, CEO
Four Daughters Real Estate

Customer called in to share: On the Tuesday, November 8, tour at 2:45pm tour "we had such a great time on the tour and loved our tourguide Kirsty!!"

What a great tour. My husband and I had an awesome time and we couldn't enjoy the tour more. Jenny was great and really kept the tour moving and entertaining. She has so much energy that it spread to the group! Thanks!

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every delectable treat. And we were even more excited to learn the hidden gems in the city to visit again and again!

The tour guide was amazingly friendly and very knowledgeable.

The little architectural facts were a nice bonus. I would recommend this tour to every chocolate lover!

I enjoyed the tour immensely. It was a Groupon Christmas gift from my brother and sister-in-law, and I was thrilled to let them know what a good time I had. Our guide was Kirsty and what a DELIGHT she was! So cute and bubbly and enthusiastic. She is such a treasure!!!!

Thanks,

Thanks for the fun tour. So glad that you introduced me to Hendrickx!

Well, today we left from 900 N. Michigan Ave. with hardly a clue what to expect. We want to tell everyone it was one great experience! Or maybe we should say a series of great experiences. What a treat to not only sample many of Chicago's best sweets but also to meet some of its creative entrepreneurs. Not only was it time well spent but so very enjoyable too. Sarah explained everything so well and with such contagious joy and enthusiasm that our spirits soared almost like being kids in a chocolate factory. A bit of a dream come true. We think it would be great fun to try the other tours and even those in another city. Thanks Chicago Chocolate Tours!

My mom and I had a great time on the tour. I was concerned at first that my 85 year old mom would have trouble walking the entire day, but she did great. Jenny was very energetic and enthusiastic and the rain did not diminish the experience. It was a wonderful way to spend time with my mom who is a huge chocoholic. She even has chocolate for breakfast! Thanks for the fun time.

I want to thank Jenny for the great time we had. It was a small group but we prepared her for the Big Groups and all the questions they will ask-She was so much fun and very knowledgeable-Next time we can get a group together, we will ask for her. Everyone we met on the tour was such seeing them in their elements and having such a passion for what they do and putting out such amazing products.
Thank you again-Much success
Mark

Hi Valerie,

I met you today on the chocolate tour in Geneva. The tour was beyond my expectations.

The reason I am writing is to tell you that Jackie did a wonderful job. If I had not been told it was her first tour, I would have never known. She has an energy and enthusiasm about herself that is contagious. What was most impressive is that my three boys always wanted to walk next to her and talk to her during the tour. She took the time to memorize their names and would always refer to them by name. Even my 14-year old son who does not think it is cool to be seen with me enjoyed talking to Jackie.

Continued success to you in this exciting business venture. My boys can't wait to take a chocolate tour in downtown Chicago.

Went on chocolate tour and had lots of tasty treats to eat. Learned interesting chocolate facts. Going on cupcake tour soon. Enjoyed meeting the owner of Chicago Chocolate Tours. Kudos to Valerie Beck!