Bixby & Company Offers Fine Chocolates with Taste of Maine
By Lorrie Baumann
When Bixby & Company was founded in 2011, the company was Maine’s first bean-to-bar chocolate-maker. This fall, Bixby & Company expanded its product range with a collection of luxury bonbons, and other new products are in development, said Kate McAleer, the company’s Owner, Founder and Chief Chocolate-maker.
The company’s product range now includes Bixby Bars, which are the company’s signature craft candy snack bars; Bixby Bites, which are Crunchy Peanut Butter Maine Sea Salt Bites enrobed in either milk chocolate or dark chocolate and offered in a 4.2-ounce pouch; the fall collection of bonbons; a collection of chocolate-covered caramels in milk and dark chocolate with Maine sea salt as well as a Pumpkin Caramel nod to fall; and drinking chocolate. Some of the Bixby Bars are vegan; some are organic; all are made with ethically sourced chocolate in a dedicated gluten-free facility and no corn syrup.
The Maine Sea-Salted Caramel is the company’s best-seller. It’s non-GMO, corn syrup-free caramel enrobed in dark or milk chocolate and sprinkled with Maine coast sea salt made from evaporated ocean water. “I think it has the taste of Maine in that it has the ‘mar-oir’ of the ocean water,” McAleer said.
At the 1,900 square foot retail space attached to her factory in Rockland, Maine, McAleer often finds herself educating customers who’ve stopped in on their tour of Maine’s historic fishing villages. “We like to think that we’re a treasure hunt of our downtown area to find our tasting room,” she said.
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McAleer has found that her entry into the grocery channel has depended on retail chains with programs for diverse suppliers. She certified as a women-owned business, and through that certification she’s been able to get her products into chains that look for those businesses, she said. “We’re 100 percent woman-owned,” she said. “We’re one of three to four certified women-owned candy manufacturing companies in the U.S.”
She’s now venturing into more new products, focusing heavily on seasonality with products like her fall and winter collection of luxury bonbons, cleaner versions of American classics and white chocolate. “There’s been a lot of focus on dark chocolate – really dark chocolate. I think white chocolate and milk chocolate are going to be getting a new look,” she said. “I think it’s time for a new look at white chocolate with more flavorful options and interesting inclusions. We’d be looking at less tainted inclusions and more avant-garde inclusions.”
All the bonbons in Bixby & Company’s new collection are made with non-GMO and gluten-free chocolate. They also incorporate local Maine ingredients such as blueberries, lavender, roses, honey, strawberries, maple syrup, sea salt and more.
New for fall 2019 are the following bonbon flavors: Maine Blueberry Jam, Espresso Tahini, Maine Maple Vanilla, Coffee Brandy Truffle, Pecan Pie Truffle, Cranberry Orange Smash, Maine Apple Cider Caramel, Fig and Balsamic Truffle, Peppermint Dark Chocolate and also Champagne. Bonbons are available in six-piece collections with a suggested retail price of $16 or 12-piece collections with a $32 suggested retail price. Choose from all of one flavor or assorted flavors.