Li-Lac Chocolates

Founded: 1923
Home: New York City, New York
Founder: George Demetrious
Factory: Industry City, Brooklyn
Specialty: Small-batch handcrafted chocolates and confections
Known for: Original recipes, traditional techniques and more than a century of New York chocolate history
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Preserving an Old-School New York Chocolate Tradition

For more than a century, Li-Lac Chocolates has been part of New York City’s chocolate story.

Founded in Greenwich Village in 1923, Li-Lac is recognised as Manhattan’s oldest chocolate house. More than 100 years later, its chocolates are still made locally in small batches, with many recipes and techniques tracing directly to founder George Demetrious.

From France to Greenwich Village

Li-Lac’s story began with George Demetrious, a Greek immigrant who studied chocolate making in France before establishing his business in New York.

In 1923, he opened his shop at 120 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The neighbourhood was becoming a gathering place for artists, writers and independent thinkers, providing a fitting home for a small artisan chocolate shop.

Demetrious developed recipes for chocolates including Almond Bark, Butter Crunch, Hazelnut Truffle Squares and fudge. Many became enduring favourites.

His approach was decidedly hands-on. Chocolate was prepared using marble-topped tables and copper kettles, while teams of dippers and packers finished pieces by hand.

Recipes Passed From One Generation to Another

When Demetrious died in 1972, the business passed to Marguerite Watt, an employee who had worked alongside him for 25 years.

Watt maintained the founder’s recipes and production standards before selling Li-Lac to Edward Bond in 1978. Bond and, later, his sister Martha continued the tradition while introducing selected new confections of their own.

That succession is an important part of Li-Lac’s history. Although ownership changed, the company resisted abandoning its traditional production methods in favour of highly automated manufacturing.

Today, many chocolates continue to be produced from original recipes using techniques associated with the company’s earliest years.

Handmade Chocolate in Brooklyn

Li-Lac’s original Christopher Street shop eventually closed in 2005 as rising rent forced the company to relocate. Production moved to Brooklyn, while the business continued operating elsewhere in New York.

A major new chapter began in 2014, when Li-Lac opened its current chocolate factory at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

The factory continues the company’s small-batch approach. Some of the equipment used in production — including copper kettles, marble tables and scales — dates back to the 1920s.

More than 120 different chocolate items are currently produced, ranging from traditional bark and butter crunch to truffles, caramels, fudge and chocolate-covered fruits.

A Chocolate House That Remained New York

Li-Lac has grown well beyond its original Greenwich Village storefront.

Today, the company operates locations around New York City, including Greenwich Village, Bleecker Street, Grand Central Market, Chelsea Market, Hudson Yards and Industry City.

Yet its identity remains closely tied to the city.

Current owners Anthony Cirone, Anwar Khoder and Christopher Taylor took over the company in 2011. Khoder, who joined Li-Lac in 1989, serves as its Master Chocolatier. The trio has expanded the business while maintaining its emphasis on traditional chocolate making.

That combination of continuity and change has allowed Li-Lac to survive for more than a century without becoming simply a nostalgic recreation of its past.

More Than 100 Years of Chocolate History

Li-Lac’s importance within American chocolate is different from that of a modern bean-to-bar maker.

Its story is about continuity.

The company has survived changing neighbourhoods, ownership transitions, relocations and enormous changes in the American confectionery industry while preserving recipes and production techniques with roots in the 1920s.

In 2026, Li-Lac is celebrating 103 years in business. For chocolate lovers, that makes Li-Lac more than another place to buy a box of chocolates. It offers a surviving connection to an earlier era of neighbourhood chocolate houses — one that remains very much part of New York City today.