Director of Chocolate Production

Director of Chocolate Production About Us

Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment the beans we buy. We strive to make some of the best chocolate in the world, highlighting the individual nuances of each origin and emphasizing transparent sourcing practices at each supply chain step.

Today we’re seeking a Director of Chocolate Production to lead our public-facing flagship 16th Street chocolate factory where we continuously innovate our equipment, techniques, and tasting profiles to bring the bean-to-bar chocolate story to life.

The most successful leaders in this role have carried a humble, positive, servant‑leader style. We care the most about two things:
1) commitment to the flavor & quality of chocolate,
2) your ability to create a positive, respectful team culture. When these two are in place (and with a natural inclination to learn), we can put the scaffolding in place to train you on chocolate making, demand planning, and tooling. You’ll uphold a decade‑long line of traditions (apprentice chocolate maker training, birthday celebrations, field trips, monthly big bean, continuous chocolate education, spot performance bonuses, simulations, etc) while joining a team that has consistently grew 30‑40% year over year.

Prior manufacturing experience is a requirement though we don’t expect it to be in chocolate – other craft foods are great too such as wine, tofu, craft confections, or specialty jams. Some of our initiatives take 12‑18 months so to have long‑term impact, we’re looking for people who want to be in this role for a long while, growing with us and rolling up their sleeves when necessary to deal with finicky machines while still being at home running spreadsheet formulas and maybe even presenting to the Board of Directors on occasion.

Most of all, you are excited to inspire a new standard for American bean‑to‑bar chocolate.

Chocolate making is at the core of everything Dandelion does – allowing our Kitchen teams to make unique hot chocolates and pastries, supplying our Confection team with custom blends for their bonbons, and serving as the foundation for all of our Chocolate Education classes. Among chocolate‑making teams, what makes Dandelion unique is that we make chocolate with only two ingredients: cacao and sugar.

We travel to origin to build multi‑decade relationships with producers and then bring their beans to San Francisco where we sort, roast, winnow, conche, and temper beans into craft chocolate. When the focus is on finding the best cacao available (and when you see how much effort goes into each bean), you want to do everything you can to keep the focus on the beans and their flavor potential.

Therefore we don’t add soy lecithin, additional cocoa butter, vanilla, or anything beyond sugar so that everything that makes a bean special (terroir, genetics, production practices, and chocolate making) can shine through.

While that might sound easy (just two ingredients!), it’s actually tricky. Most chocolate bars include additional cocoa butter or soy lecithin to make production easier. Sticking to our minimalist approach means working with the inherent differences between bean origins – our craft comes from knowing how the bean’s moisture levels, inherent cocoa butter percentages, and acidity may potentially impact production. Belize beans have a particularly hard radicle that makes prerefining more challenging, Colombian beans have ample cocoa butter which migrates to the outside of the husk and coats hoppers, slowing down (or jamming) production.

Madagascar’s higher moisture content can make the chocolate extra sticky causing our ball mill motors and pumps to work a little bit harder. We’re always, always learning and we take pride in being able to assess, pivot, and coax out the very best in each bean.

Team huddles at 8am and 3pm are the heartbeat for our 7‑days‑a‑week production. The team starts…