'Nice little cafe out of a closet': Lake Champlain Chocolates expands Burlington flagship
The company has been around forever – well, 40 years anyway – but Lake Champlain Chocolates now has a revamped café and shop to highlight its celebrated chocolate creations.
What is the place?
The origins of Lake Champlain Chocolates go back to 1983, when Jim Lampman started the confections company. The business began in the alley behind what’s now Speeder & Earl’s coffee shop on Pine Street, moved across the street into the Maltex building and, 25 years ago, settled in its current home nearer to the southern end of Pine Street.
That location has had a café before, but as of Sept. 15, Lake Champlain Chocolates has a café at its flagship store worthy of being called a café. “It’s just over two times bigger” than its predecessor, according to Lampman’s son, company president Eric Lampman. “This is more of a café setting.”
The previous space only had a smattering of stools. The new café has seating for 23 people − shoppers at the adjacent store or simply those looking for a warm beverage − who can choose from a varied menu of hot-chocolate options and espresso drinks. Lake Champlain Chocolates now creates its own baked goods; at the Nov. 7 grand-opening celebration for the café, nosh options included muffins, brownies and coffee cake.
Lake Champlain Chocolates makes its own ice cream, sold only at its stores, and will offer specialty sundaes during prime ice-cream season. The Pine Street store also carries specialty confections, Eric Lampman said, including the Manhattan 40, a concoction named for the company’s anniversary year and the cocktail favored by his parents.
What’s the story behind it?
Starting in 2018, Lake Champlain Chocolates moved the bulk of its production to Williston, completing that project in 2021. While the company still has what Eric Lampman called an “innovation kitchen” at Pine Street, the move elsewhere of most of the production facility opened up space at the Burlington site.
That kitchen now includes Lake Champlain Chocolates’ research-and-development confectioners and a pastry chef/baker. The company also makes its own ice cream and marshmallows in that kitchen. The removal of so much of the production meant Lake Champlain Chocolates could expand the café within the retail portion of the building.
“We created a nice little café out of a closet,” Jim Lampman, who remains CEO and a majority owner at Lake Champlain Chocolates, said at the Nov. 7 opening celebration. “The good news is it was pretty much on budget. The bad news is it cost more than I paid for the building 25 years ago.”
The store, too, has more “elbow room,” according to Eric Lampman, and has been brightened with improved lighting. The shop now has additional company among Lake Champlain Chocolates’ retail spaces. The business oversees its Pine Street shop, another on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, one in Waterbury Center and the latest, a store in Stowe village that opened Veterans Day weekend.
Hours and location
Lake Champlain Chocolates café and shop, 750 Pine St., Burlington. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. (802) 864-1807, www.lakechamplainchocolates.com
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Lake Champlain Chocolates expands cafe at Burlington flagship store
