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Hand-scooped Chocolates • Created Layer by Layer

When Josef Zotter started to create chocolate, he looked for a word to describe his vision of chocolate production: It was a mixture of inventive flair and manual labor covered by layers and chocolate coatings. Zotter was the first chocolatier to introduce the term "hand-scooped" in order to make a distinction between his and conventionally poured chocolates. The word “scoop” also represents the innovation and creativity inherent in Hand-scooped Chocolate bars. A masterly combination of ingredients produces a wide variety of singularly original chocolates.

It all starts with our homemade bean-to-bar chocolate

The chocolate is rolled out on 15 meter long tracks

A thin chocolate layer is brushed onto the entire track

The thin chocolate layer is topped with the filling

And the second filling ...

Layer by layer

One flavor requires the application of up to 6 layers

Sprinkling fruit and nuts

All the individual flavors are created by Julia and Josef Zotter

Each filling is prepared from scratch, like our delicious caramel

At the same time, on a different track ...

... a fine pumpkin seed chocolate is created

Up to 30 different flavors are made in a day

The filling is covered in a thin layer of chocolate.

The chocolate is smoothed

The long chocolate sheets are cut into bars

The fillings have to dry for 2 days

Then the bars take a chocolate bath!

The chocolate coat is applied as the last step

And the bars are finished and ready to go!

Explore our hand-scooped chocolate-bars in our online-shop


The invention of chocolate

Hand-Scooped Chocolate

Josef Zotter has reinvented chocolate – case in point: Hand-scooped Chocolates, which are basically giant bonbons. We are talking about veritable chocolate miracles consisting of several layers, which are spread by hand – one on top of the other – onto long lanes. This is how roses meet almonds, caramel meets fine praline and whisky meets bacon. Sometimes those original Zotter combinations are classic, sometimes eccentric, but they always produce a sublime and unique flavor experience.

Zotter has said goodbye to the ubiquitous chocolate cube patterns and dips his creations in a tender-melting, fine chocolate coat which covers a substantial, deliciously filled center, producing a wonderful bonbon effect. Zotter entirely rejects artificial flavoring and preservatives. All products are created by hand with love at Zotter’s in-house workshop, bean-to-bar and using fair traded ingredients, and then beautifully wrapped in elaborate and stunning designs by Andreas H. Gratze, who turns each individual chocolate bar into a beautiful, sensual present.

Labooko: Fine flavor cacao varieties from the best cacao growing regions in the World

Go on a trip around the world with us and discover the real taste of chocolate. Just like with wine, each type of cacao bean has its own very distinct flavor, formed by the terroir of its growing region. Sometimes that flavor is nutty, sometimes it has more of a flowery bouquet like the Ecuadorian beans, or more citrus notes like the beans from Madagascar.

Single-Origin chocolates and fruit bars

Each Labooko contains a rare cacao variety with a ton of history: the Maya cacao from Belize for example, descended from chocolate’s ancient ancestors, or the Peruvian Criollo cacao with its high content of white beans, the finest and rarest cacao in the world. Or deliciously fragrant cacao from the African continent, where the very first Fair Trade cooperatives are currently being developed, a beacon of hope in that region. All our chocolates are of course fairly traded. The Academy of Chocolate Awards in London saw the Labookos sweep several awards and achieve top scores in the international chocolate test.

Naturally Fair Trade

Our entire business is Fair Trade certified. We are a member of the WFTO – the World Fair Trade Organization (the fair trade umbrella association), who monitors the adherence to its 10 core principles of fair trade like fair prices, transparency, environmental awareness and no child labor. We buy our cacao directly from the growers and are happy to pay well above the global market rates for a high-quality product.

Sweet Passion: Bean-To-Bar

As a bean-to-bar producer, we are able to process small batches of cacao individually, turning them into a single-origin product. Each stage, from roasting to milling to conching, is adapted to the individual cacao variety. We produce small batches and focus on flavor variety in order to show how exciting the world of cacao can be. We also have a number of innovative, new fruit bars, their stunning colors and natural flavors derived entirely from berries and other fruit. And naturally, we also offer several delicious vegan creations.

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