25 years of Chocolate Passion
It all began with a love story …
Sylvie Douce was running an events agency and was toying with the idea of organising a show based on chocolate.
At a dinner in 1994, she talked about her idea with her table companion, the architect and food critic François Jeantet. They found that they shared the same passion for chocolate!
… “It’ll never work!”, “What a crazy idea!”, “What? A Chocolate Show?” …
The couple met with a lack of understanding from the profession but they decided to give it a go and inaugurated the 1st Salon du Chocolat on 28 October 1995 at the Espace Eiffel Branly with 40 pioneering exhibitors…
It was an immediate success. The media were there in large numbers and 40,000 visitors turned up: the gamble paid off!
Celebrating 25 years!
You were many between 30 October and 3 November 2019 to celebrate the Salon du Chocolat’s 25th birthday!
This special anniversary event reserved a lot of surprises and happenings in store…
But do you know how the Salon du Chocolat was born?
Here’s the whole story!
A passion without frontiers
The Salon soon attracted a whole industry, which was looking for a way to put its message across to young people and make itself more attractive. The Salon was forced to move to the Carrousel du Louvre, then to the Porte de Versailles in 2004, to cope with the huge public interest.
Today, the Paris Salon du Chocolat hosts 250 exhibitors from all over the world, the greatest chefs and young talents from the world of patisserie and the leading cocoa-producing countries.
The Salon has also spread worldwide, with events in Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Moscow, Seoul and Hong Kong. The all-consuming passion for chocolate obviously has no borders!
