Compartés easily has some of the most artistic packaging I’ve seen which almost certainly is a big part of their brand. They are secretive about their heavy metal testing and the sourcing of their cacao and in their statement about heavy metals they state they do not test, but rely on the supplier to do so. Their business model doesn’t emphasize quality or transparency, but flavors and artistic packaging. Since no testing or transparency is available I probably wouldn’t buy a bar, but if I wanted some funky flavors and were in the mood to throw caution into the wind, I might grab a bar of one of their wilder flavors.
Company Background
Compartés is a gourmet an Los Angeles based chocolate company founded in 1950 by owners of the same name, Mr. and Mrs. Compartés . 50 years later, the company was sold to the Grahm family, and the then 15 year old son, Jonathan Grahm, started working at the chocolate shop and eventually bought it from his parents when he turned 24 somewhere around the mid 2000’s. From there, Jonathan has been the CEO of Compartés to this day. Included in each bar is a poem written by Jonathan himself, as he’s still actively involved with the operations.
Jonathan states he loves mixing art and chocolate; hence the incredible designs on each packaging. His favorite design is Campfire S’mores featuring 25 separate images of California’s forest formed into a single nature photo.
The chocolate is self-described as gourmet, a marketing term with no meaning and it’s not a Federally regulated word in advertising. When companies are self-described as gourmet it’s more often than not a red flag; such as Dunkin’ and Starbucks referring to themselves as gourmet coffee beverages. Gourmet typically means full of artificial flavors and sugars to mask low quality flavor. Compartés checks this box on some of their bars which I guess is to be expected considering the artful nature of their chocolate. It’s difficult to achieve the vibrant colors with natural food coloring and a lack of preservatives.
Gifting Over Quality
Compartés also describes themselves as Avant-garde which I can appreciate since it adds some flair to the branding. I like when companies take a bold stance to carve a niche and be the best at it. Compartés fulfills this feature quite well.
What Compartés does well is selling you the artistic experience and less the chocolate. When you buy Compartés , you’re not really buying their chocolate at all, you’re buying a feeling of exploration and creativity and just so happens a generously flavored chocolate product awaits inside. While this can be a great thing, it also means there’s no external recognition about quality and sourcing. You are buying an avant-garde experience, not an ethically sourced or reduced-heavy metal chocolate bar.
Sourcing is Not Transparent
Compartés doesn’t source the chocolate themselves, but from third party vendors which is industry standard for companies that don’t emphasize quality. The issue is the lack of transparency of who the supplier is and the level of quality offered. Flavored chocolate can mask much of the poor quality just like it can with coffee (e.g. Starbucks and Dunkin’). Without seeing a balance sheet, I’d reckon Compartes’ best selling products are their very impressive range of flavored truffles. It appears Compartés shares a similar market to Forerro Rocher, Lindt, and Russell Stover, where gifting the chocolate is more important than consuming it.
Conclusion
With an emphasis on corporate gifting, truffles, and box sets, it’s clear to see where their priorities lie. Many of their best sellers are chocolate covered fruits and truffles that include corn syrup, sulfur dioxide, lecithin, seed oils, and tons of artificial coloring. As I stated earlier, you’re not buying chocolate, you’re buying a gift-friendly avant-garde experience that happens to include chocolate. I’d probably try some of their chocolate bars but I’d veer far from their truffles and other “gourmet” chocolate products. For that reason, I give this one a shrug.
