Mission Chocolate by Arcelia Gallardo: Sao Paulo, BRAZIL

Arcelia Gallardo, the founder of Mission Chocolate, is a truly international craft chocolate maker, and embraces the spirit of the local Brazilian farm-to-bar chocolate production. Arcelia makes her world-class chocolate bars almost exclusively with locally grown and processed ingredients, including Brazilian-grown cacao beans and Brazilian-grown nuts and fruits.

A Californian native with Mexican roots, Arcelia spent a good part of her professional culinary life in Berkeley, California, where she was exposed to the "buy/cook/eat local" philosophy of Alice Waters, and "bean-to-bar" philosophy of SharffenBerger Chocolates - back when SharffenBerger was the first bean-to-bar chocolate maker in the US. Now, she passionately dedicates her time to her business project: making award-winning bean-to-bar chocolate bars and confections and elevating the craft chocolate movement in Brazil through her small chocolate factory located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Besides running Mission Chocolate, Arcelia Gallardo is also the president of the Associação Bean to Bar Brasil.