Philadelphia Chocolate Tours

Our guide, Angie, was personable, knowledgeable, and absolutely perfect for this tour. Thank you, Angie.

We had a private tour with Beth on January 13, 2011. First and foremost, Beth was phenomenal. She was both knowledgeable and personable--by the end of the tour, she felt more like a friend. We loved her! For us, Marcie Blaine and Teuscher's epitomized what we thought the tour would be. It would have been nice for the chocolatier at M.B. to speak with us, but Beth did a fantastic job explaining artisinal chocolate. The gentleman at Teuscher's was wonderful, and spent quite some time with us. We certainly hope to visit him again in the future! The first two stops in Reading Terminal were fun, and we do love the 4th St. cookies, but for us, we were more interested in the places whose focus truly is chocolate. The people at the gelateria were incredibly nice (they even had a candle in my gelato, as the tour was a birthday gift from my husband), and they offered more gelato than we ever could have finished (especially on such a blustery day!), as well as the richest hot chocolate we've ever had. I do wish we had known in advance that "shopping time" was built into each stop, as we ended up buying a bag to carry all our purchases. It was definitely a more expensive day than we had planned for, with a greater emphasis on purchasing than tasting. It also would have been nice to hear more about Philadelphia's "chocolate story"--how chocolate has progressed in our city. However, overall, we really had quite a fun afternoon. Thank you so much!

My wife and I toured on the afternoon of 12/10/11. Our guide was exceptionally personable and knew her subject well. She is a true asset for the company. We found the tour itself to be uneven in quality. The cookies at 4th St. were cold and hard. While we enjoyed the Wilbur back story, I thought going to the PA General Store was not the best choice possible in the Market. As we left, we passed several merchants who made their own candies, whereas the General Store does not; I would rather focus on places that make what they sell. As a side note, there were several persons on the tour who arrived late and then had the audacity to hold up the group while they purchases some sandwiches (in between 4th Street and PA Gen). I don't know that there is much the guide can do beyond moving on regardless of off-topic agendas of some clients. Anyway, back to the tour! We enjoyed the whole vibe of Marcie Blaine, but would have really liked to have the opportunity to have one of the chocolatiers speak with us about their craft. Teuscher Chocolates was interesting - the gentleman told us a great story (a bit pretentious, but really neat nonetheless) and the champagne truffles are spectacular. We found the gelati shop to be anticlimactic; there was nothing particularly impressive.
Some other thoughts:
1. I agree with a previous post - offer a bottle of water at the start of the tour.
2. You script implies that we would sample significant quantities of chocolate and that was simply not the case. It was not a matter of the merchants running out of product. They offered only small amount and that was clearly by design.
3. Discount coupons that extend beyond the day of the tour seem reasonable for a $40.00 tour.
4. I know much of this has been what should be fixed but my wife and I had a very nice time walking in the city and discovering some new stores. You have a good product that has the potential to be a great asset for the city.
Yours in chocolate, Bill & Deanne Snelling

Had a great time on the tour. Beth was very knowledgeable about chocolate and I actually learned a few things. After reading some of the reviews, I was going in concerned about the size of the samples but, we found the samples to be ample and very satisfying.

For those chocolate lovers who were disappointed with the amount of chocolate they ate on the tour, I highly recommend, if you are ever in Seattle, to definitely visit the Theo Chocolate factory. The tour costs only $6, you can sample as much as you like and their products are of supreme quality:
http://www.theochocolate.com/

What a disappointment! This tour was definitley not worth the $40. fee or the 2 and a half hour time commitment. We spent an hour and a half in the Reading terminal, standing around, tasting a miniscule amount of chocolate and waiting for people to buy chocolate. The tour came off for us as more an opportunity for the merchants to sell chocoate than for us to learn much about the making of chocolate. We had hoped to see chocolate in the making and the only place we evern got a glimpse of making chocolate was in the back room of a gift boutique where we had to peer thru a window obscured by merchandise and the backs of the girls making chocolate. It was a waste of our time and money. Sorry, but even though Beth gave her all, it couldn't make up for what just wasn't there.

I have to be perfectly honest here..we were promised an ample supply of choclate on our tour. The exact words the tour guide used over and over again were,"did I mention you will be having A LOT of chocolate today?" On the contrary, we got slivers of chocolate at places who would have benefited GREATLY by letting us chose our own sample with our possible purchase because of that sample. Instead they passed around a plate with very small slivers of chocolate or the littlest spoons you have ever seen to taste gelatti. For the price of this tour each person received about $2.50 worth of chocolate (if that)! My recommendation is to NOT say you are going to get ANY chocolate because that is more like the truth. Offer the customers a 20% or more discount as you are bringing these companies a target market willing to spend if they find something they like. Soemthing needs to change or a great tour is going to go away as people no longer pay for getting so little.

I bought the tickets on groupon.com, luckily for a discount. I would not recommend this tour to anyone. Although our tour guide Beth was great the establishments we visited lacked much! Our tour guide said we would be sampling so much chocolate we would totally get our fill...Well if "so much" is 1 lousy piece of chocolate, not even their signature piece is considered a lot it's very disappointing. We visited 5 different places and were very disappointed. The tour website was very misleading...Again i'm glad we got these tickets at a discount, even the $40 we did pay was totally not worth our 2 hours. Each establishment we feel would have made out a lot better if we were able to pick our own sample, not given 1 that looks like no one would buy in the first place... Very disappointing.

********

Hello, Zampetti's -

I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed in your tour.

Our Tourguides don't usually say you will sample so much chocolate you will get your fill, because that depends on the person. We do mention you will be sampling chocolate throughout the tour and perhaps there was a slip of a word or misunderstanding. I apologize you found the samples lacking. Sometimes the stops we visit run out of the product they usually sample, however they replace it with a product just as high in quality.

I'm glad you enjoyed your Tourguide, Beth.

Again, I'm sorry that you were disappointed in your tour and we welcome any other comments or concerns you have. Please feel free to call us at (215) 833-0044 or you can e-mail us at info@philadelphiachocolatetours.com.

Best regards,
Jean

Hi All

What a great tour we had. Our guide was exceptional & we really learned a lot but the BEST part was the taste testing-WOW

Awesome chocolate experience from cookies to gelati. Walking was great exercise to burn up those extra calories !

We will definitely do this tour again in the Spring- can't wait-see you then

Marcy & Bruce

I just wanted to write to let you know that my wife and I enjoyed your tour so much and will certainly spread the word!! It was a really fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and our guide, Angie, was terrific.
Thank you.

My sister and my mom came from Brasil to visit us and I bought this tour, We just LOVED!!!!!!! Thanks Sarah, you were great!!!!!
We all had a wonderfull time!!!!!

We had a great time on the tour. Our guide was very personable and knowledgable about the city and the shops we were visiting. Every shop was a new experience and the shop owners were very friendly and helpful.

Ray
Pennsville NJ

Thank you so much for such the GREAT Philadelphia Chocolate Tour. We all really enjoyed our time on the tour and with the group.
What a "treat" to experience such a "Delicious" time!! Definitely a highlight of our time in Philadelphia.

Thanks for sharing the pictures from the trip. What fun to see.
We will add them to our scrap book.

Sincerely,
Julie Wolff and family

We experienced a great tour with our guide, Angie. Our group was small, just the two of us, but she provided great insight into the city and the chocolate samples were wonderful! We understand that a tour is also available in the Chicago area. We will see you there!
We have been on another food tour and offer that the following would be helpful:
1. A booklet/brochure that covers the businesses that are visited so we can return and recommend them to friends.
2. Discount coupons for those business in the booklet/brochure so when we visit after the tour the discount is still available. We have observed this method of advertising while on a NYC food tour and found it to be very well received. It is cumbersome to make multiple purchases when touring, but a coupon brings guests back when they can make planned (and larger) purchases.
3. Offering each guest a free bottle of water at the beginning of the tour would be thoughtful and gets the tour off to a great start.
We really enjoyed our tour with Angie and look forward to touring with your company when we are in Chicago later this summer.

*****

Hello, Dave and Debbie!

Thank you for your wonderful comments about Angie! She a a wonderful Tourguide!

We also appreciate your comments and suggestions to improve the tour. We love getting feedback from customers and is a great way to judge our progress as a growing company. We will think about your suggestions!

I'm so happy you enjoyed the tour!

Best,
Jean

Had lots of fun and was a new and different concept for a day trip. However, we were disappointed w/ the samples- with exception of the choc chip cookie from 4th st, all were barely bite sized... looking at the pictures on the web site, we were expecting decadent cupcakes, moose's etc. We brought a lunch bag to bring home the leftovers and put nothing in it. My kids who gave me the tour for Christmas were very upset as they had been advised this would be a major chocoholic high. Hope this helps in your planning going forward.

*****
Hello, Lynn

Thank you for joining us on a tour and I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed! We've experimented with different amounts of samples, and we want to give you enough that you're happy with the tasting and savoring, without pushing anyone into a chocolate coma, since with a quality product, a little can go a long way! It's a very subjective thing of course, and I apologize that you thought there wasn't enough chocolate.

Please feel free to reach out to us at (215) 833-0044 or at info@philadelphiachocolatetours.com with any other comments and concerns.

Thank you again!

Best,
Jean
*****

I had to write and tell you what a wonderful time we had on our Chocolate Tour!My friend and I, both retired teachers, spent a fabulous afternoon with Angie. We were the only people scheduled for the day, so we had our own private tour. Angie is a real gem and we enjoyed her company and conversation as much as the chocolate infoshe gave us. We were 3 "girls" having a great afternoon in the city!

You also provided a beautiful breezy day, following days of scorching hot weather. I don't know how you managed that!

I've been telling everyone I know about your tours and I'm sure I'll back for a second round. Thank you.

HI Jenny, its John.We had such a great time and I have told everyone. You were such a great host. Not only was it fun but also very informative. Thanks for making this a great day for my wife and I.

What a fun tour. We live in the 'burbs and are familiar with Philly, but we learned new things. The tour guide was charming and informative. And oh, the chocolates! I recommend this tour to anyone who loves the elixir of the gods and wants to have some fun.

What a fun day!! I have recommended this tour to ALL of my friends. Can't beat the price for the amount of fun and chocolate!!!

We just got home from our tour and it was marvelous! Sarah was a great guide and shared some terrific history as well as chcolate with us. We loved all of the stops and plan to do the tour in Philly again.

My boyfriend and I took the Valentine's special Chocolate & Champagne tour tonight. We had Jaylene as our tourguide and she was wonderful! She was so personable, upbeat, and friendly. Even though she had done the tour already today, she gave ours as if it was her first. She really did a great job! We will be recommeding this tour to fellow chocolate lovers and hopefully taking our moms for Mother's day! Thanks Jaylene!

FABULOUS!!!!

My wife and I took the tour Saturday 1/15/11 with Julia as our guide. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Julia was a font of knowledge about chocolate and the shops on the tour. She added a personal sparkle to the tour. We will be back for another round. . .once we work off the calories from this past one.

This was a marvelous Christmas present from my daughter. Both being Chocoholics we had a refreshing walk between sampling & hearing the wonderful history of chocolate. Ours was a rainy day, but it did not dampen our spirits. Our guide was very enlightening & bubbly & we appreciated her. The only thought I had to help the tour was that it was only one way & people had to make it back to their transportation as best they could. It would be better not to just be dropped but to offer a ride back somehow. But otherwise I would highly recommend this tour.

Truly loved the tour today, January 8th. The snow was invigorating and made us enjoy the Italian hot chocolate at the end of the tour all the more. Our tour guide, Jaylene was phenomenal. All the employees at shops we visited were friendly and helpful. I plan on coming again for one of the other tours to try more chocolate! Thanks for a great day.