As Central New York’s largest gourmet chocolate manufacturer, Chocolate Pizza Company is synonymous with Syracuse chocolate. The company that has received online orders from chocolate lovers on 6 continents and is sold in retailers nationwide is also a hometown favorite. Syracuse chocolate fans have grown up with Chocolate Pizza Company’s handcrafted, gourmet chocolate specialties for holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and special occasions. Businesses large and small that want to give Syracuse chocolate at the holidays know that there is nothing as unique, delicious and impressive as Chocolate Pizza and Peanut Butter Wings.
Featured nationally on Food Network, NBC, ABC and internationally on Food Network Canada and Discovery Channel India, Chocolate Pizza Company has established itself as an iconic brand with broad appeal. And what’s not to love about a Syracuse chocolate maker that creates one-of-a-kind confectionery masterpieces! The company’s two signature products – Chocolate Pizza® and Peanut Butter Wings® – are so unique they are trademarked and have been enjoyed by A-list celebrities, hall of fame athletes, national political leaders and legions of chocolate lovers worldwide.
Chocolate Pizza starts by tempering the highest quality Swiss-style chocolate. Tempering is a process of carefully manipulating temperature during melting that adds strength, shine and a smooth mouth-feel to gourmet chocolate. It is a precise technique that true chocolatiers master. To this tempered chocolate, toffee is added. But this is no ordinary toffee. In a nod to its Syracuse area roots, Chocolate Pizza Company uses an English toffee recipe that dates back to 1919 from its small hometown of Marcellus, just minutes from Syracuse. They make the toffee in-house and in small batches so it is fresh and flavorful. The chocolate and toffee blend is then poured into metal pizza pans, topped with a wide variety of candies and nuts, sealed and served in a custom pizza box.
There is nothing like a Chocolate Pizza from Chocolate Pizza Company. Hundreds of thousands of Chocolate Pizzas have shipped everywhere with the largest single order to date being 31,000 Chocolate Pizzas! In fact, if you laid end to end all the Chocolate Pizzas that Chocolate Pizza Company makes in a year it would span the Grand Canyon!
There is only one Syracuse chocolate product that rivals Chocolate Pizza and that is, Peanut Butter Wings. These salty-sweet gems are infamous for their irresistable taste. Crisp, rippled potato chips are covered in peanut butter and dipped in rich milk or dark chocolate. It’s a simple idea executed to perfection that has become a sweet treat on everyone’s wish list. Food Network was impressed enough to feature Peanut Butter Wings on episodes of both “Unwrapped” and “Food Factory.” They were an “Editor’s Choice” in Fancy Foods and Culinary Products blog and have been covered by media sources nationwide.
A writer for Fancy Food & Culinary Products blog put it this way when they first tasted our Peanut Butter Wings, “It’s a fantastically rich experience that make your eyes pop out a little when you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into. Half way through one chip and I melted; all the stresses of the day faded and it was just me and my wings for a blissful 2 minutes. Then I sinned: I got up to have another. So that’s 4 minutes. OK, and then another. Count ‘em, 6 minutes of true bliss …”
Handcrafted means by-hand with this confectionery crown jewel – peanut butter is spread on each individual chip by hand before being drenched in chocolate. Painstaking yes, but it ensures that the ripples in each chip are literally smothered in peanut butter, making every bite a bona fide fiesta for your taste buds. How many Peanut Butter Wings does the company make every year? Stacked high, they would reach the cruising altitude of a jumbo jet! That’s a lot of Wings!
Chocolate Pizza Company has a 10,000-square foot production and retail facility located just 15 minutes from Syracuse on NY Route 175 between Skaneateles and Marcellus. Walking into the retail store, the first thing you notice is the beautiful aroma of chocolate. That’s because the company makes all its delicious chocolate specialties on the premises – there’s even a viewing window in the retail store so you can peek into production and see the magic. Browsing the displays, you can’t help but think of Willy Wonka and all the creative, handcrafted chocolate. The company makes over 100 different treats as well as gift baskets, Chocolate Towers and wedding favors.
Chocolate Pizza Company’s roots in the Syracuse area run deep. Owner, Ryan Novak, is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management where he earned a degree in entrepreneurship. He also played football for the Syracuse Orange as a place kicker and maintains close ties to the university. Ryan is a frequent speaker at Syracuse area events including keynotes for veterans attending entrepreneurship programs at Syracuse University, guest lectures at the Whitman School and as a featured panelist for 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. He is a “40 Under Forty” award winner and in 2016 Chocolate Pizza Company was selected as Business of the Year for small employers in the 12-county Central New York region by Centerstate CEO, the area’s premier economic development association. Ryan has been published in, Entrepreneur magazine and interviewed numerous times for a variety of media outlets.
Ryan started with Chocolate Pizza Company as a dishwasher when he was 15 years old and 6 years later, in 2010, he became the owner. At the time, it was a small-town chocolate shop that offered two kinds of Chocolate Pizza – with nuts and without. Today, the company makes over 50 varieties of Chocolate Pizza including ones for major holidays and custom orders. Many area businesses send Chocolate Pizzas every year for holiday gifts. The company’s products are found at local retailers, wineries, the SU campus and major orchards including Beak & Skiff, the nation’s #1 ranked apple orchard by USA Today. The company has grown exponentially under Ryan’s leadership and is quickly becoming an emerging brand. But no matter how big it gets, it’s roots are local. When you think Syracuse chocolate, think Chocolate Pizza Company.
