Inside the Magical World of Li-Lac Chocolates

By Anthony Paradiso

During my first visit to Li-Lac’s chocolate factory in Brooklyn, I was taken on a tour by co-owner Christopher Taylor and corporate sales manager David Landeros.

Landeros started the tour by comparing the hustle and bustle at the factory during the holiday season to the world of sports. He said, “This is our most fun time of year because we’re gearing up. It’s game day for us in December.”

The hard work has been paying off as Taylor said that online orders had increased 36 percent in December 2025 compared to the previous December and that they had broken the previous single day record (445) on four different days this December with the highest number (766) set on December 2, 2025.

Before we entered the factory, we walked through a retail shop. Inside the shop, there is a candy case which holds 96 fresh chocolate items at all times. Above the candy case were big posterboards showing photographs of the original Li-Lac shop which was located at 120 Christopher Street and opened in 1923 by founder George Demetrious. Today, Li-Lac has expanded to six locations including two in the Village: one at 75 Greenwich Avenue and the other at 162 Bleecker Street.

For the first 82 years of Li-Lac’s existence, all of their chocolate was made in the back of the Christopher Street store. In 2005, then-owner Martha Bond moved Li-Lac to Jane Street in Greenwich Village. The factory opened in 2014 and today, visitors can watch Li-Lac’s enrobing machine and the kitchen through windows located in the lobby at 65 West 35th Street in Brooklyn.

Taylor explained how the windows impacted sales, “The second we put the window in the store; sales went up 30 percent.”

Li-Lac is more than just a company that sells quality chocolate—it’s a survivor that has stayed true to its original recipes and production methods in an era when few other chocolate companies have.

When we got to the kitchen, Landeros described the care that goes into making $50,000 worth of fresh chocolate every day. He said, “In this factory, we hand-make every single piece of chocolate. We don’t make it anywhere else. We still use the same recipes that we’ve had since the original founder in 1923, and we do all the molding here.”

As we moved on, we saw large marble-top tables, copper kettles and scales that date back to the company’s founding. Employees were setting and cutting French mint bars on the marble-top tables. “This marble table is the best way—because it’s so cold—to get that beautiful gloss onto the chocolate…You don’t walk into a lot of chocolate companies and see this kind of dedication and detail-work,” said Taylor.

I asked assistant chocolatier Cameron Angel Baylem what he likes about working for Manhattan’s oldest chocolate house. He replied, “I’d say the day-to-day, everything’s done by hand and locally. We don’t rely on modern machines and systems. It’s more like us doing the work every day. We’re that passionate about our customers. I also like the creative aspect of working in the factory, like coming up with better ways and new recipes.”

It wouldn’t have been a proper tour if we didn’t sample chocolate and I was given a maple fudge square, a dark chocolate pretzel and an almond toffee square. Each tasted amazing, but my favorite was the dark chocolate pretzel because it struck just the right balance of savoriness and sweetness. Regarding the toffee, Landeros said, “We like our toffee very soft, very delicate and very buttery. We don’t want it too hard where you’re going to crack a crown.” I can say that the toffee was as advertised.

Ninety percent of Li-Lac’s sales are milk and dark chocolate. The other 10 percent comes from sugar-free, white and bitter-sweet chocolate. The type of chocolate product that sets Li-Lac apart from other companies is their mold collection which is one of the largest in the world. One of their most popular molds in the U.S. is their Jumbo Santa Claus. Landeros added that Li-Lac uses molding equipment that you can’t find anymore rather than cheaper polycarbonate equipment.

Any person can have a custom-order made. This only requires a picture. Meanwhile, almost all of Li-Lac’s corporate orders are custom orders such as bars with a company’s logo on them.

Each business day, $50,000 worth of chocolate ($250,000 per week) is driven in a shuttle van to Li-Lac’s warehouse at the Brooklyn Army Terminal for storage before it is shipped. At the time of its construction in 1918, the “U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal” was the world’s largest concrete building complex and served as the United States’ largest military supply base during World War II. Back then, 25,000 military and civilian personnel worked there. Now over 100 businesses rent offices and warehouse space there.

The warehouse is twice the size of Li-Lac’s factory, and it needs to be because they store a lot of chocolate. During the summer, or the “snacking season” as Taylor likes to call it, Li-Lac ships as little as 10 boxes a day, but during Christmas, as many as 2,000. The company has mastered the chocolate business from every angle; from producing volume without sacrificing quality to maintaining a high level of aesthetics. This care and commitment is reflected in Li-Lac’s most loyal customers and Landeros described these relationships, “I still have some people that say ‘I used to go to Li-Lac when I was six years old. After school every day, my mother would bring me over and we’d grab chocolate. Now I have that same tradition with my kids and now my grand-kids.’ So, it’s really fascinating to see how many traditions we’re a part of.”

Li-Lac now has dairy-free and sugar-free collections, which include the new 30-piece continental assortment of fruits and nuts. With the holiday season winding down, Li-Lac will be shifting its focus onto Valentine’s Day.

The last word goes to Landeros who explained what makes the factory tick. He said, “We all give each other little tips about little details here. We all just try to become like one really big team. After 10, 15 years with a lot of people, I see these people more than I see my family so it’s a really great feeling to be around people who are so passionate and creative and artistic and just love chocolate.”