Kokak Chocolates has plans to open a new store in Japantown this year, San Francisco Business Times reports. Taking over 2,500 square-feet of what used to be Hush Coffee Bar, owner Carol Gancia will make use of the new digs with a retail store and a larger production facility.
“I have so many recipes that I write up and never get to do because we don’t have the space,” Gancia tells SF Business Times. Gancia opened Kokak Chocolates in the Castro in June 2020. She creates specialty, small-batch heirloom chocolates made with “Arriba Naciónal,” a rare cacao variety that she sources from a fair trade collective in Ecuador.
With the new Japantown shop, Gancia will have a pick-up window to serve customers, while the larger kitchen space will allow her to expand the menu at both locations. “There’s really something fun about shopping in Japantown, like a treasure hunt. I want this store to be like a treasure hunt, you find us in the basement and we’ll have something surprising,” she says.
Gancia aims to open Kokak Chocolates in Japantown by the end of 2022. For more information, visit www.kokakchocolates.com.
