Our Origin Story

A Legacy Written in Chocolate

 

In 1865, H.O. Wilbur founded the Wilbur Chocolate Company in Philadelphia, building one of America’s first and most enduring chocolate houses. For over a century, the Wilbur name became synonymous with quality, craftsmanship, and the simple belief that chocolate, made well, has the power to bring people together.

That legacy runs in our family. And while more than 160 years have passed since those first batches were made, the conviction that started it all — that great chocolate begins with great care — is the same conviction that drives every bar we make today on Nantucket.

 

From Michelin Kitchens to the Island

 

My path to chocolate making wound through some of the most demanding kitchens in the world. I spent years training under Michelin-starred chefs in New York City, where I learned that excellence lives in the details — in the sourcing, the technique, the patience to get every element right. That discipline shaped everything about how I approach chocolate today.

In 2014, I was recruited to Nantucket to lead the culinary program at a private club on the island. My family and I came for the opportunity. We stayed because Nantucket became home.

 

A New Chapter

 

When the world slowed down in 2020, it created space to listen to something I’d been carrying for a long time: the pull of chocolate. Not as a pastry component or a dessert course, but as a craft in its own right — one that connected my culinary training, my family’s heritage, and the part of me that has always been drawn to where food comes from and how it’s made.

With the support of my wife Erica and our two kids, Chloe and Oliver, I started making chocolate from our family home. Bean to bar. Small batches. Organic, single origin cacao, roasted and stone-ground by hand. Nantucket Faraway Chocolate was born.

 

Why “Faraway”

 

The Wampanoag people, the original inhabitants of this island, called it Nantucket — a word meaning “faraway land.” Thirty miles out to sea, the island has always been a place apart. A destination that rewards the journey to get here.

That idea is at the heart of everything we do. Our cacao travels from faraway origins — small farms and cooperatives across Latin America and beyond — to be transformed here, on this faraway island, into something worth savoring. The name is a reminder that the best things often come from the places you have to seek out.

 

What We Make

 

Every piece of Nantucket Faraway Chocolate is handcrafted in our island workshop from bean to bar. We source organic, single origin cacao and transform it through roasting, grinding, tempering, and moulding — a process that takes days, not hours. Our bars are wrapped in handmade papers from Japan. Our confections are finished by hand. Nothing is rushed, nothing is outsourced, and nothing leaves our hands until it’s right.

We make chocolate the way it deserves to be made: with intention, with craft, and with deep respect for the people and places that grow the cacao.

 

We invite you to visit us at our shop on the waterfront at 16 Old South Wharf. Come taste the chocolate, hear the story, and see where it’s made. For those who can’t make it to the island, we ship our collections nationwide.

 

This is more than chocolate. It’s a heritage, a craft, and a journey, and we’re glad you’re here.

 

Warmly,

Andre, Erica, Chloe & Oliver