Escazu Artisan Chocolates, is a small, independently owned company, founded in 2003 in the historic town of Beaufort, NC. The founders, Hallot Parson and Robert Henkens, shared a passion for chocolate and Latin American Ingredients. Our name is taken from the town of Escazu, in Costa Rica, which served us as inspiration. Hallot Parson, the chocolatier and chocolate maker, comes from a background as a chef at restaurants in New York, Aspen and Dallas. After travels in Venezuela and Costa Rica, including visiting the cocoa farms to learn more about where the process begins, he and Robert formed ESCAZU Artisan Chocolates, offering all natural chocolates with Latin American influences.