It is the merriest season! It is the giving-est season! And, since 1955, thanks to Andre’s Confiserie Suisse, it’s the sweetest season!
Now, the third generation of chocolate mastery is happening at 50th and Main in KCMO, in the person of René Bollier.
When René was in kindergarten, he told his class he was going to grow up to be a chocolatier like his father and grandfather.
He did.
This time of the year, they go through between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds of chocolate and work from before the sun comes up until late afternoon making the holidays delicious.
While great chocolate is the foundation of the family business, they do bring something new to the process.
This year, it is the packaging: Gift boxes honor Swiss heritage with the colors of the Swiss flag and designs that would traditionally cover the walls of homes in Switzerland.
The design is called Scherenschnitte which means "scissor cuts" in German.
It is a beautiful and precise type of art that is matched by the precision of Andre’s chocolate-making process.
There is a tea room upstairs from the factory on Main and another tea room in Overland Park.
From chocolate covered orange slices to sea-salt caramels to all-edible gingerbread houses to a fifty pound chocolate Santa, it’s enough to satisfy any chocolate lover.
As they say around here: Three Generations. One Passion.
Lucky for all of us, that passion is delectable!
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