For more than three centuries, Bissinger’s has endured by doing something increasingly rare in modern manufacturing: refusing to rush what was never meant to be hurried. Now, with the recent expansion of its St. Louis chocolate factory, the historic confectioner is proving that growth and tradition don’t have to exist at odds – they can, in fact, strengthen one another.
“This expansion didn’t happen overnight,” said Bissinger’s Chief Chocolate Officer Dan Abel Jr. “It came out of years of conversations – not just internally, but with our business neighbors on the Hill.” The result is a significantly larger footprint that allows the company to grow while keeping its commitment to the city it has called home for nearly a century. As Abel put it plainly: “As long as I’m here, Bissinger’s will stay in St. Louis.”
That commitment matters, especially as the brand enters a period of rapid momentum. The expansion includes new production space as well as a forthcoming event venue, a speakeasy-style bar and a coffee shop. These additions have been designed not only to support manufacturing but to invite the public more deeply into the Bissinger’s experience. The new spaces further transform the factory into a destination where history, hospitality and craftsmanship are experienced side by side.
Bissinger’s story stretches back far beyond St. Louis. The Bissinger family began crafting confections in 17th-century France, where their chocolates were favored by European nobility. According to family lore, their sweets were enjoyed by figures like Napoleon Bonaparte and the Rothschilds, earning the family the title of Confiseur Impérial under King Louis XIV in 1668. In 1845, Karl Bissinger brought those closely guarded techniques to the United States, opening the first American kitchen near Cincinnati. By 1927, the company had settled in St. Louis – a move that would define its modern identity. Next year marks the brand’s St. Louis centennial, a milestone Abel said the team is already preparing to celebrate.
Despite its growth into national retail, online sales and wholesale distribution, Bissinger’s chocolates remain 100 percent handmade in St. Louis. Every boutique – whether in Palm Beach, Nashville, New York or Miami – is supplied from the St. Louis candy kitchen. And while scaling often pushes manufacturers toward efficiency at the expense of variation, Bissinger’s has taken the opposite path.
“We actually had to do a course correction,” Abel explained. “Manufacturing logic says to reduce SKUs, streamline production. But that’s the opposite of who we are.” Instead of large-scale production lines, the expanded factory now houses eight smaller ones, each staffed by teams of three artisans. This allows Bissinger’s to produce eight to 10 different products a day and entirely different ones the next. Open a 25-piece box, and no two chocolates are the same.
“It’s exactly how we were doing it in the 1950s,” Abel said. “Same recipes. Same hand-dipping. Same hand-striping. Just more people in a bigger space.”
That philosophy extends beyond the factory floor into Bissinger’s rapidly expanding retail presence, where regional exclusives have become a signature of the brand. Each boutique offers a core selection alongside locally inspired creations designed specifically for its market. In Nashville, that means a guitar-shaped box adorned with nods to Music City with confections filled with exclusive flavors like a hot honey caramel. In Palm Beach, customers can find dark chocolate-dipped key lime and candied citrus peel. New York boasts a Manhattan cocktail truffle and a chocolate interpretation of the classic black-and-white cookie.
The idea began at home. Bissinger’s St. Louis Collection, featuring flavors like gooey butter cake truffle, Gus’s Pretzels salted caramel and a Red Hot Riplets-seasoned caramel, quickly became one of the brand’s most successful offerings. “We sold twice as much this year as last,” Abel said. “That told us something.”
What it told them was that people crave a sense of place – even, or especially, in something as fleeting as a piece of chocolate.
As Bissinger’s enters its next chapter, the expanded factory stands as both a practical investment and a philosophical one. It makes room for more artisans, more creativity and more community without sacrificing the painstaking methods that have defined the brand for generations. In an industry that often equates growth with compromise, Bissinger’s is choosing another way forward: one guided by memory, craftsmanship and a belief that some things are worth doing exactly as they always have.