Seroogy's in De Pere goes through a literal ton of chocolate each day during the holiday season

DE PERE — Chocolate is almost always the perfect thing to gift, especially during the holiday season.

Seroogy's Chocolates, 144 N. Wisconsin St. in De Pere, has provided families and friends with giftable chocolates since 1899. In fact, Christmas is the candy shop's most popular holiday.

The confections company was started by brothers Joe, Jim and Sol Seroogy in De Pere, and is currently owned and operated — since 1980 — by third-generation brothers Jim and Joe.

"Christmas is our busiest season and this year is no exception," said Marjorie Hitchcock, who's been with Seroogy's for 31 years and is currently its director of marketing. "To give you an idea, even though we are a relatively small business, we go through a ton of chocolate a day."

One ton is equal to 2,000 pounds.

Candies are produced by employees in the back of the store throughout the entire work day, yet, sometimes the store is still unable to keep up with demand.

The store produces well over 10 different types of chocolate candy in various flavors to be purchased in-store or online, and ships to customers nationally, but what actually goes into the process of making signature Seroogy's chocolates?

Seroogy's puts a personal touch on every piece of chocolate

The front half of Seroogy's is the perfect combination of a candy store and a gift shop. Throughout the store, customers can find Seroogy's signature chocolates, cookies, cakes, chewy candy, coffee and hot cocoa.

Alongside the candy is Packers merchandise, pre-made gift baskets, clothing, cards and more. During this time of the year, the store looks like a winter wonderland of gifts and treats.

While customers browse the De Pere store's merchandise, the chocolate candy that they're purchasing is being forged and warehoused in the back by any of the 70 employees. Candy purchased online is also distributed from the store.

The Ashwaubenon store, 784 Willard Drive, sells many of the same items the De Pere store does, but is not used for the production of chocolates. Fresh candy and other products are shuttled there regularly.

Production on Seroogy's chocolates starts as early as 5 a.m., when employees come in to start the chocolate melting process.

Employees are stationed throughout the production area and assigned a task for each of the chocolate candies the store sells. Once the chocolate is melted, it courses through pipes that flow all around the production area, giving employees direct access to chocolate fountains for their tasks.

This can include pouring and cutting chocolate for the Meltaways, prepping the Snappers to be covered in chocolate, hand-dipping the nut clusters and running the candy wrapper machine. During the holidays, the workforce is sometimes doubled to keep up with the demand.

"Sometimes there's lines that have six people on them so we can push out more product faster than we would with, say, three people," employee Amber Hanson said.

Everything down to the markings on the chocolate is made by hand by a Seroogy's employee. The shape of the chocolate tells the customer what type it is and the markings tell what is inside. Seroogy's markings are unique to their brand, besides a few universal markings, like "O" used to signify orange and "L" for lemon.

A list of the shapes and markings can be found on the website.

Knowing that its chocolates are often purchased as Christmas gifts, Seroogy's sells pre-gift wrapped chocolate boxes in different sizes. Customers can customize their own box of chocolates, or purchase any of the pre-made boxes.

The store also has a gift wrapping station in the back, where customers can take the items that they've purchased to an employee who will arrange and wrap them.

Boxes of Seroogy's chocolate can vary in price from $16 to $85, depending on the contents, size and weight. Other snacks like chocolate-covered potato chips, popcorn, chocolate-covered nuts and fruits and peanut brittle are also popular gifting options from the store.

Seroogy's award winning chocolate can help earn money for your organization

During the holidays Seroogy's stops its fundraising deals to focus on the surge of business, but in the spring and fall the company offers a deal to any organizations looking to partner for fundraising events.

Organizations can earn 50% profit from selling Seroogy's Meltaway chocolate bars and 40% for selling its roasted coffees.

School organizations, church groups, sports teams, scouts, youth programs, day cares, community service organizations and many more have chosen Seroogy's award-wining chocolates to help raise money for their cause.

The company won Best Chocolatier/Candy Store and the Best Novelty Treat in the 2023 Green Bay Press Gazette Best of the Bay Community Choice Award contest. It has won Best of the Bay every year since 2014.

Reach Jelissa Burns at 920-453-5107 or jburns1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @burns_jelissa or on Instagram at burns_jelissa.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Seroogy's in De Pere uses a ton of chocolate per day during the holiday season