Factory sweetens flavor of River West area
Blommer's draws Chicago chocoholics since 1939

Andrew J. Scott/Chronicle The shelves of Blommer’s Chocolate Co. have been stocked full of decadent goodies for more than 60 years.

By Hiroke Abe
Contributing Writer

Depending on the direction the wind is determined to blow, Chicagoans find themselves visited by whiffs of "sweet" little happiness.

Hyde Park resident Sarah Heaton, 23, said her nose unexpectedly lured her to the four-story brick building in River North that houses Blommer's Chocolate Co. in the 600 block of West Kinzie Street.

"I stopped by, because I smelled [chocolate]," she said.

What she then found was a sweet tooth's delight.

Since then, Heaton said she has become a repeat shopper in the company's street level outlet store. With hundreds of types of chocolate, including pecan patties, espresso melt balls, pretzels and chocolate covered gummi bears, the outlet store has all anyone could want, she said.

In the center of the small shop, a tentative cashier is continually filling little red paper bags with chocolates. "I was lucky to find [the factory]," Heaton added.

Kevin Schultz, Blommer's shop manager, said most customers have the same reaction.

"This is something like a hidden gem place," Schultz said. "Usually, people walk by and say, 'I knew there is a smell of chocolate, but I had no idea where it's coming from.'"

The sweet chocolate smell is generated when the factory processes the cocoa beans.

"Also, we remove cocoa shells and mill meats of chocolate," said Bill Dyer, the director of technical sales and services for Blommer's. "The ingredient is called chocolate liquor [it doesn't contain any alcohol], a key ingredient of chocolate."

Another ingredient is cocoa butter, which adds fluidity to smooth chocolate, Dyer added.

Henry Blommer, established the company in 1939, along with his two brothers, Al and Bernard. Henry formerly worked for a different chocolate company but decided to start his own factory, according to Craig Caswell, a plant engineer of the Blommer Chicago factory. Since then, the family has owned and run the company, according to Caswell.

The company built its second plant in California in 1952 and a third plant in Pennsylvania in 1980.

Blommer is currently the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America, wholesaling products to many chocolate companies in the United States, from mom and pop shops like the Fudge Pot on Wells Street, to national corporations such as Fannie May and Nabisco.

According to Caswell, the factory has more than 400 different recipes for each customer.

"We offer good prices [to customers], so we are always very busy, running the factory 24 hours a day," Caswell added.

Blommer's three plants produce 500 million pounds of chocolate per year, he said.

Winter is the factory's busiest season. Although Blommer doesn't have its own brand products, chocolate lovers in the United States will literally taste tons of Blommer's chocolate throughout the season.