The new Chocolate Academy, located in the Cologne MediaPark, offers a wide variety of top class courses for chocolate professionals, from confectionary and French pastry to cake design. Courses will be taught by internationally recognized chefs such as Steffen Blunck, Lothar Buss and Matthias Ludwig, since one of the goals of the center is to “teach the proper techniques to each participant and make them aware of the latest trends in chocolate, like the increasing demand for high quality and customized products”, explains Vera Becker, head of the new academy.

The Barry Callebaut Group has 18 training centers in Europe, Asia, North and South America and Australia where about 38,000 professionals have been educated, and now it goes one step further. “Germany is one of the most important markets for artisan chocolate” says Philipp Schoeller, director of Barry Callebaut Deutschland GmbH, “we can offer trainings and courses regarding the refining of individual cocoa and chocolate creations on the level of first-class gastronomy. That way, we provide an important contribution to the know-how of German chocolate specialists“.

The opening of this space took place in February at the Komed. 250 people from business, politics and the media attended the event where two very special moments were experienced: the show “from bean to chocolate” with a demonstration of the transformation of cocoa into chocolate, and the presentation of six extraordinary desserts made by Callebaut ambassadors.