During the pandemic, in early 2021, when people were experimenting with new hobbies, Antoine Lavoie was making chocolate directly from cacao beans in his kitchen. Lavoie was busy with work — as a medical laboratory technologist with the Canadian Armed Forces, he was helping with PCR testing — but wanted to also do something creative for a break.
After watching YouTube videos and researching bean-to-bar chocolate making, Lavoie “instantly fell in love” with the process.
“It was fun, and I couldn’t believe I had made something that is so widely consumed but that many people don’t think about where it comes from,” Lavoie says. “I was at a crossroads in my career and in my life, and I just decided to go for it.”
When Lavoie started making his own chocolate, he discovered the flavours behind cacao beans and decided to focus on single-origin chocolate — meaning each finished chocolate comes from a single, high-quality batch of beans, instead of a mix that uses lesser ones as filler. And “by changing the origin of the bean, but keeping the other ingredients like butter and sugar the same, you will have a totally different flavour,” Lavoie says. “I want to educate people and share the things I learned about chocolate. For instance, dark chocolate is not bitter or flavourless, you don’t need to add flavouring to make chocolate taste good, and chocolate doesn’t taste waxy if you don’t use additives like soy lecithin. I’m trying to broaden people’s views of chocolate… it can be very different than what you get from a big brand in a grocery store.”
Lavoie refined his craft of chocolate making, and opened Delavoye Chocolate Maker, a retail boutique and cafe in December 2023. Lavoie has lived in Edmonton for just six years, having moved around Canada extensively with his role in the military. He’s always enjoyed the walkability of 124th Street, and while visiting friends at Irrational Brewing in the Substation building, thought that it would be nice to have a chocolate-making business there. When he was finally ready to make the leap, a unit became available. “It was meant to be.”
Lavoie’s vision for Delavoye is for it to be a “chocolate experience.” When you walk in you’ll see the factory where the chocolate is actually made. As a chocolate maker Lavoie sources raw ingredients, processes them in-house, and makes chocolate directly from cacao beans. Each chocolate bar takes five to six days to make, and sometimes Lavoie’s team takes two hours just to hand sort through beans for a batch of chocolate. “I care a lot about my products, I set a high standard for myself,” Lavoie says. “The price of cacao is increasing, so people are paying a premium for chocolate at the moment and I want to make sure that we are providing them something of the highest quality.”
In the cafe, customers can purchase drinks and treats that showcase the cacao bean as an ingredient (including a tea made from the husk of cocoa beans, and a sorbet made from their pulp). In addition to the regular menu, Lavoie develops seasonal specialties — for the summer months the cafe will serve chocolate mocktails and sorbets. Throughout July, you’ll find a special Delavoye s’more leading up to K-Days’ Pride Day on July 26. While working in the military, Lavoie created a local defence advisory group for the LGBTQ2S+ community, and organized the first Pride parade on a military base in Canada. “I want to continue to support the LGBTQ2S+ community, so this opportunity really aligns with my values,” Lavoie says.
However customers experience Delavoye, Lavoie hopes they will learn something new about the ubiquitous treat. “I just want people to enjoy what I’ve experienced in my own chocolate journey.”
Delavoye
Westmount | 10639 124 St #105, Edmonton | 780.784.9967 | delavoyechocolate.ca
This article appears in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue of Edify
