Bixby Chocolate Cafe Opening in Waterville
Waterville, ME 12/7/2022 - Award-winning Bixby Chocolate, a Rockland certified Women-Owned chocolate company, will open a chocolate café in the Paul J. Schupf Art Center on Main Street in Waterville on Saturday, December 17. Offering grab-and-go options ranging from Bixby’s “Bixenta” brand of coffee and chocolate drinks to confections, including winter bon bons, Bixby Chocolate supports cacao-growing communities by utilizing ethically sourced chocolate from around the globe. Meaning “victorious woman”, Bixenta coffee will be served exclusively in the café.
“We are thrilled to open our Bixby Chocolate Café—this has been a long-time dream come true,” states Bixby Chocolate Founder and Owner Kate McAleer. “We look forward to delighting central Maine with locally crafted artisan beverages, sustainably sourced treats, and chocolate crumpets galore.”
Founded in 2011, Bixby Chocolate has received numerous accolades for its innovative products, including five national and international awards for the Cremé Brulée Bar, Allagash White Beer Brittle, and the Milk Chocolate Salted Almond Bar. Kate has also received awards from Gorham Savings Bank’s LaunchPad program, was named the 2016 Tory Burch Foundation Fellowship pitch competition winner, was selected as the Maine Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019, and received a $25,000 pitch prize from Greenlight Maine in 2020; in addition to her accomplishments with Bixby, Kate was named MaineBiz Women to Watch in 2022. Distributed throughout nationally recognized stores, including Macy’s, Whole Foods Market, Hannaford, Reny’s, LLBean, and Stonewall Kitchen, Bixby Chocolate sweet treats will be offered for sale in the café, located at 93 Main Street in Waterville.
“Kate and Bixby Chocolate represents the best of Maine’s entrepreneurial landscape through a dedication to sustainability, social responsibility, and community,” elaborates Central Maine Growth Council Director of Planning, Innovation, and Economic Development Garvan Donegan. “Welcoming Kate and Bixby onto Main Street comes at such an important time during Waterville’s revitalization; the Bixby Chocolate Café will add to highlighting and positioning the City as a destination for diverse food, art, and culture for years to come.”
Developed in partnership with Colby College and Waterville Creates, the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, which officially opens to the public on December 17, is a hub and destination for the visual and performing arts, arts education, and film in Waterville, Maine. Connecting directly to the historic Waterville Opera House, the $18-million Schupf Arts brings together under one roof some of the city’s most important arts institutions. With a diverse set of flexible, multipurpose spaces for art and cultural programming, it is home to community arts organization Waterville Creates and its three programming divisions—the Maine Film Center, Ticonic Gallery + Studios, and the Waterville Opera House. Schupf Arts will also include an extension of the Colby College Museum of Art via the vibrant new Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art.
Hours of operation for the Café will be Wednesday - Monday from 11 am - 6 pm and closed on Tuesdays. For more information on Bixby Chocolate, please visit https://bixbychocolate.com/.
About Bixby Chocolate:
Founded in 2011, Bixby Chocolate is a Rockland, Maine confections company specializing in bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing. All Bixby products are manufactured in a 125-year-old former ice plant located on a working marina in Rockland, ME, on Maine’s mid-coast. Bixby Chocolate’s innovations include producing its own chocolate straight from the cocoa bean for several new bean-to-bar chocolate bars, and its newly created chocolate bonbons, chocolate nibs, and chocolate-covered coffee beans. For more information or to place an order on Bixby’s website, please visit https://bixbychocolate.com/.